Class Struggle

..from post #45

..i contacted the author who generously sent me the pdf file. i don't know how to place the file in this post so i will quote from it. if anyone want's the pdf file send me a message with an email address.   

Essential but not empowered: reflections on the working class in Canada under COVID-19

Introduction In the cold evenings of early spring 2020, with most of Canada under lockdown, people in cities and small towns across the country would step out onto their front porches or balconies to clap, cheer, or bang pots and pans to show their gratitude to health care workers at the frontline of the COVID-19 outbreak response. While this phenomenon began in mid-January in the shut-down city of Wuhan, the epicentre of China’s coronavirus outbreak, it had “migrated, alongside the virus and enforced quarantine to cites and countries around the world.” 1 At 7 pm on a Friday in late March, the City of Calgary’s police and fire services put their own twist on this evening ritual. In an event dubbed “Lights of Hope,” a cavalcade of emergency vehicles, lights flashing and sirens blaring, drove past the city’s major hospitals in a salute to the frontline heroes of the pandemic.2 Eight months later, hundreds of workers at those very same hospitals walked off the job in a wildcat strike. The workers, members of the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE), were protesting the United Conservative Party (UCP) government’s plans to cut 11,000 hospital jobs by contracting out work in cleaning, laundry, linen, and food services to private nonunion companies. Three days before the strike, the government had announced the first phase of the plan, leading to the layoff of 425 AUPE members.

At the peak of the strike, it is estimated that more than 2,000 workers at 45 facilities in 33 municipalities across Alberta were participating.4 Speaking to the media, AUPE president Guy Smith said hospital workers had “no other option but to fight to protect Albertans at risk, especially during the deadliest pandemic in a century … This government is pushing our members to the breaking point exactly when Albertans need them most.” 5 Dina Moreira, a striking hospital porter, told reporters that “we’re really exhausted. … We are essential services, and our jobs are very important. … The majority of us are already living paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet.” 6 While the majority of striking workers were housekeepers, porters, food-service workers, and maintenance staff, nurses and healthcare aides joined picket lines in solidarity. The strike lasted 14 hours before the provincial labour relations board, at the request of the government, declared it illegal and ordered workers back to work. Facing steep fines and possible contempt-of-court charges, union leadership instructed members to comply with the board’s decision. The next morning, workers showed up for their shifts and the strike was over.7

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Unions in the pandemic

Organized labour entered the pandemic on the back foot: weakened by successive waves of neoliberal restructuring and the decades-long assault on trade-union freedoms, unable to make inroads in sectors with relatively high levels of job growth (for example, in retail and other private-sector services), and more politically fragmented than at any time since the 1990s. Furthermore, workers are less likely to belong to a union and those who do are far less likely to exercise their collective muscle via a strike than at any time since the end of the Second World War.73 The current state of organized labour cannot be solely attributed to external factors.74 As Gindin has argued, despite years of stagnation, unions in general “have not opened themselves to strategic debates involving their members about what needs to be changed in their structures, their relationship to their members, the breadth of their internal membership education and of staff training, their bargaining priorities, cooperation across unions in organizing, and the leadership roles in their communities and politically.” 75 For Ross and Thomas, organized labour is at a strategic impasse.76 While some labour federations and local labour councils prioritize struggles and campaigns that speak to both union and nonunion workers’ interests, “most unions have generally remained focussed on the defence of their members’ interests defined in fairly conventional ways,” demonstrating a “strategic and tactical conservatism.” 77 This strategically weak starting point is the necessary context for understanding how organized labour in Canada has navigated COVID capitalism.

At the onset of the pandemic, employers and governments alike showed no shame in using the crisis to their advantage:78 In Quebec, Premier Franc¸ois Legault used COVID-19 as a pretext to unilaterally suspend key provisions in collective agreements with the province’s teachers’ unions. In Saskatchewan, a prolonged lockout at the Coop Refinery over pension contributions was extended, with the employer invoking COVID-19 as cause for rejecting the terms of settlement proposed by an independent mediator. In Ontario, after weeks of rotating strikes were cut short by the provincial state of emergency, teachers’ unions took major demands off the bargaining table and reached settlements with the Progressive Conservative government of Doug Ford.79 Emergency powers allowed hospital and health-services providers to unilaterally alter terms and conditions of work, despite “any evidence that employers had encountered problems in achieving their missions by the conduct of their unionized workforces and the unions representing them.” 80

The first few months of the pandemic did see a flurry of job actions in response to unsafe working conditions. Fiat-Chrysler’s Windsor minivan plant was forced to halt production when Unifor members walked off the job to protest unsafe conditions.81 In Hamilton, sanitation workers, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, engaged in a one-day work refusal to demand adequate supplies of personal protective equipment [PPE].82 Montreal transit workers staged a wildcat strike in defence of a local union leader suspended for 25 days after denouncing management’s failure to introduce COVID-19 health and safety measures.83 Nurses in Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta engaged in a record number of work refusals after hospitals barred them from wearing higher-grade—that is, N95—masks. In Ontario and Manitoba, this wave of work refusals led to agreements, struck between conservative governments and nurses’ unions, that gave nurses more say over when they can upgrade PPE.84 Yet some workers and their unions appeared hesitant to engage in shop-floor action in response to the dangers of COVID. Perhaps the most high-profile instance of workplace COVID-19 infection came in April, when an outbreak occurred at the Cargill meat processing plant in High River, Alberta. Out of a total workforce of 2,000, members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401, 950 employees tested positive for the virus and three died, including a union steward. Workers at the plant are primarily racialized immigrants and some are recent migrants hired through the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program.85 Conditions in meat processing plants are particularly conducive to the spread of viruses and bacteria among workers, who work shoulder to shoulder at a fast pace for long periods of time.86 At the time, Cargill High River, which supplies 40 percent of Canada’s beef, was the largest COVID-19 outbreak connected to a single site in North America, with over 1,500 cases linked to the plant.87

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Unremarkably, the Cargill High River case demonstrates that neither the employer nor the state could be relied upon to protect workers’ health. Internal government documents show that the UCP government and public-health officials clearly prioritized the continued operation of the plant over work health and safety.95 But the case also demonstrated, on one hand, the inability or reluctance of unionized workers to engage in coordinated job action, such as an organized work refusal, and, on the other, an unwillingness of union leadership to stray from the highly circumscribed parameters for collective action under the law.96 Amid the pandemic, unions have scored important organizing victories, often “hot shops” in which employee anger with management failure to protect worker health and safety proved fertile soil for an organizing drive.97 One commonly used indicator of the health of the labour movement, union density, rose to 31.3% in 2020 from the annual average of 30.2% in 2019.98 Yet newspaper headlines declaring “a sudden growth in unionization” 99 told a misleading story: union members were half as likely to lose their jobs in the COVID recession, largely due to nonunion sectors, such as retail and food services, being shut down for longer than union sectors. The uptick in density also reflected the larger share of total employment represented by the public sector, where union coverage is greater.100

In August, 1,400 workers at 11 Loblaw-owned Dominion grocery stores in Newfoundland, members of Unifor Local 597, went on strike demanding paid sick days, more full-time positions, and the restoration of pandemic pay. Several weeks into the strike, Unifor ratcheted up pressure with secondary pickets at Loblaw distribution centres, including two outside the province, and at Loblaw-owned No Frills stores in Newfoundland. According to Darrah and Nesbitt, the tactic effectively disrupted supply lines, “cost the company big money, emptied some store shelves, and raised the strike’s profile.” 109 With police engaging in heavy-handed tactics, threatening arrests at secondary pickets, and the employer refusing to negotiate in good faith, bargaining broke down and the provincial government appointed a mediator. Twelve weeks into the strike, Unifor agreed to put a final offer, similar to the one Loblaw tabled ahead of the strike, to the membership. Members ratified the contract and returned to work with a raise of $1.35 over four years, a commitment from the employer to create just twenty-two full-time positions, and company gift cards valued up to $500.110 Throughout the strike, Unifor attempted to mobilize public outrage over Loblaw’s mistreatment of “pandemic heroes,” who were putting their health at risk to ensure that consumers had access to basic goods.111 And yet the impact of these efforts at the bargaining table appeared to be limited. As with the Alberta hospital strike, while the “essential work” classification recognized certain workers as indispensable, its deployment by labour had not proved an effective tool “to subvert the relations of power that [made] them disposable.” 112 While struggles to protect jobs, to ensure workplace health and safety, and to hold the line in bargaining are vitally important, the pandemic provided unions with an opportunity to demonstrate their relevance as class organizations and “swords of justice” that were not just sectionalist in their orientation.113 Yet campaigns for employer-paid sick leave, an extension of prepandemic fights to raise the minimum wage and improve employment standards under the banner of the Fight for 15, revealed the political weakness of labour, even when it departed from bread-and-butter unionism....

..i'm going to stop here for now. it's a large file that i will pick through. 

..the debate is now available. i have the link set for when it begins but if that doesn't work go to the 27 min mark.

Debating Eco-Socialist Futures

Will BC Be Ground Zero for a New Era of Union Battles?

Successful unionization drives targeting corporate employers like Amazon and Starbucks have been big news in 2022.

But much larger scale collective action in the Canadian public sector — and in British Columbia — may also be in the cards.

In May, the Public Service Alliance of Canada — the country’s largest federal union — walked away from contract negotiations. In B.C., almost 95 per cent of the BC General Employees’ Union backed a strike vote this month after negotiations broke down over cost-of-living adjustments and wage protection from inflation.

It is not only workers in B.C.’s public sector who voted to take job action in recent weeks — the transit and transportation sectors face possible strikes by truck drivers at the Port of Vancouver and drivers and other bus company workers in West Vancouver.

And in addition to the approximately 33,000 BCGEU members covered by the recent strike vote, more than 350,000 public sector workers have agreements that expired or will expire in coming months.

The BC Teachers’ Federation contract expired June 30 and BC Nurses’ Union members have been working without a contract since March, with bargaining delayed to the fall.

In other words, B.C. could be on the cusp of a major period of labour unrest, similar to what we are seeing in other parts of the world like the United Kingdom. If the labour movement in Canada can mobilize working people who are seeing and feeling how corporations have profited from the pandemic while ordinary people have paid the price, the change could be significant.

Why are workers striking?

Statistics Canada announced a rise in consumer inflation to 8.1 per cent in June. Skyrocketing inflation is the major cause behind worker unrest and collective action.....

Chipotle to Pay $20 Million over Worker Protection Violations

Here in New York City, the fast-food chain Chipotle has agreed to pay a potential $20 million as part of a settlement over violations of worker protection laws. The city contended that Chipotle violated scheduling and sick-leave laws for 13,000 employees over the course of four years. It’s the largest settlement of its kind in New York City’s history.

Strikes and Communist Party manoeuvres point to rising class struggle in Vietnam

A wave of class struggle, rising all over the world, is approaching Vietnam. Under increasing financial pressure, sections of the Vietnamese working class have engaged in furious wildcat struggles. The rising tension is also reflected in the actions of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (VCP), which is now led by its most powerful leader in decades. While making a show of proactively addressing corruption in Vietnamese society in an effort to appease the masses, it has simultaneously increased repression.

Strike wave

2022 has seen a wave of strikes in Vietnam, as workers fight to regain what they have lost during the COVID-19 crisis. In January, there was a strike of between 14,000 and 16,000 workers at Pho Chen shoe factories in Dong Nai, Southern Vietnam. This Taiwanese-owned enterprise is the largest supplier for Nike and Adidas. The workers launched the strike to fight against a reduction of their holiday bonuses over Tet (the Vietnamese Lunar New Year). 

In the following month, Viet Glory, a footwear manufacturer in Nghe An province, agreed to a 6 percent increase in basic pay after 5,000 workers went on strike from 7-14 February over 11 demands. On 15 February, 500 workers at a goods inspection department of a factory in Central Vietnam went on strike and won a 5 percent pay increase and more time off for senior workers. Vietnam Express, a VCP state mouthpiece, reported that there were 30 strikes as of March 2022.

For two years amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnamese workers accepted salary deductions and freezes, while not returning home for Tet holidays. Some workers lost hours and others faced increased overtime. Now workers are moving to gain back rights lost during the pandemic.

The Vietnamese working class faces exceptional obstacles to their struggle. All strikes and demonstrations are illegal as the VCP refuses to pass a Law of Demonstration, which for the past decade has specified who can protest and for what reason. As such, all strikes are subject to unrestrained police aggression, at a time when police brutality is already commonplace. Workers not only have no democratic rights at all, but all unions are banned except for those approved by the government and under the control of the state-run Vietnamese General Confederation of Labour (VGCL). 

Class struggle on the horizon

This strike wave marks a definite development in Vietnam’s class struggle. As an economy that depends on exports, Vietnam is far from immune to the crisis in the world economy, and the working class there is bearing the brunt of all of the effects. Some have projected Vietnam’s economy to recover well from the pandemic, with 6 percent growth in 2022, and 7.2 percent in 2023, far above the 2.6 percent in 2021. However, this optimistic forecast is mired by inflation and substantial bad debts held in the economy.....

Over 2,000 Mental Health Workers Begin Strike at Kaiser Permanente Clinics in California

In California, thousands of unionized mental healthcare providers in multiple cities have gone on strike, demanding the country’s largest nonprofit healthcare organization provide better care to people who desperately need services. Kaiser Permanente serves some 9 million people in California. According to the Union of Healthcare Workers, Kaiser has just one mental health provider for every 2,600 patients, forcing people to wait months for an appointment. Union members are also accusing Kaiser of violating treatment clinical guidelines and California state laws. The strike comes after a year of negotiations between the National Union of Healthcare Workers and Kaiser, which has rejected union proposals to expand the workforce and improve access to care. 

Unions on brink of ‘synchronised’ strikes, says RMT’s Mick Lynch

The leader of the RMT union, Mick Lynch, has suggested unions are on the brink of calling for “synchronised” strikes over widespread anger at how much soaring inflation is outpacing wages.

Speaking from a picket line in Euston as railway workers staged another strike in their dispute over pay and conditions, Lynch predicted “a massive response coming from working people”.

Asked by Sky News how close the UK was to a general strike, Lynch said: “Only the TUC can call a general strike.” The TUC’s general secretary, Frances O’Grady, was on the picket line behind the RMT boss as he spoke.

Lynch added: “There is a wave of reaction amongst working people to the way they’re being treated. People are getting poorer every day of the week. People can’t pay their bills. They’re getting treated despicably at the workplace. I think there will be generalised and synchronised action. It may not be in a traditional form.

“But we’ve seen the Post Office workers and BT [on strike] we’ve seen the bus workers in London out on strike tomorrow and over the weekend. I think there is a massive response coming from working people because they’re fed up with the way they’ve been treated.”.....

2,000 Workers on Strike at Large U.K. Container Port

In labor news, nearly 2,000 dockworkers at Britain’s largest container port began an eight-day strike on Sunday. It’s the first strike at the Port of Felixstowe in 30 years. Meanwhile, here in the United States, over 500 staffers at American University are set to begin a strike today as they demand wage and benefit increases. The workers are represented by SEIU Local 500.

Thousands of Indian farmers return to New Delhi in fresh protests

Protesters broke barricades and shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Indian capital of New Delhi on Monday, after thousands of farmers gathered to protest against what they said were unfulfilled promises by the government.

More than eight months after farmers called off a year-long protest and the government conceded to several of their demands, more than 5,000 farmers gathered in the center of the capital to protest against Modi and his government.

Farmers are demanding that the government guarantee a minimum support price for all produce and clear all farmer debts, among other things, according to a statement from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the farmer organization that organized the protest on Monday.

A spokesperson for the Federal Agriculture Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

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Last November, Modi said he would roll back three farm laws that had aimed to deregulate produce markets but which farmers said would allow corporations to exploit them.

The federal government also agreed to set up a panel of growers and government officials to find ways of ensuring Minimum Support Prices (MSP), as the guaranteed rates are called, for all farm produce.

Farmers try to break through barriers during a protest called by some farm unions at Jantar Mantar on August 22, 2022 in New Delhi, India.

Ecuador

AS IT HAPPENED | National shutdown: Saftu, Cosatu protest rising cost of living

The central business district in Polokwane and surrounding areas were relatively quiet as a call despite calls for workers in the city and Limpopo broadly to down tools today.

Many businesses, including major retailers and shopping malls, remained opened, though with little consumer activity ahead of the march.

At the same time, taxis and buses operated as normal. Taxi associations had earlier indicated their reluctance to join the action. 

The march was divided into two blocks - one led by South African Federation of Trade Unions officials and the other by Cosatu president Zingisa Losi.

This showed a distinct lack of unity among the trade federation unions.

Later, at the office of the premier Stan Mathabatha lost his cool with the Saftu block when he indicated he couldn't climb on a bakkie that was used as a stage because he had a sore knee.

However, Saftu members mocked him and tried to force him to ascend. It was at this that the premier left without accepting the memorandum.

But after much persuasion and threats by the marchers that they won't leave the premises, the premier returned after almost two hours to accept the memorandum.....

If the working class is back, a united left fightback is all the more essential

“THE working class is back.” So said RMT general secretary Mick Lynch at the recent rally launching the Enough is Enough campaign.

It is the most important declaration in British politics this year, maybe this century. In it lies the seeds of the only possible solution to the imposing range of crises besetting the country and the world.

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The years of austerity and slump since have proved that no situation is so dire that the elite cannot survive if there is no-one bidding to take over control.

Corbynism challenged that vacuum, and it sent the ruling class into a tailspin of panic.

Yet among the causes of Corbynism’s ultimate defeat was the fragmentation of the working class and, above all, the fact that it was not reinforced and refreshed by mass movements and struggles outside Parliament.

The ever-deepening social crisis, spinning beyond the Tory government’s control, is now providing the fuel for those struggles. The cost-of-living emergency is achieving what mere invocation could never, a mass movement of working-class organisations against further social degradation.

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The launch of Enough is Enough by leading trade unionists from the CWU and RMT and left MP Zarah Sultana has injected a massive shot of the energy required.

Hundreds of thousands have signed up to the campaign so far. It brings together the leaders of the unions which have been in the forefront of the summer’s industrial action together with some of the few MPs not to have lost their voice under the Starmer dispensation.

It has given a sense of leadership to all the frustrations felt by not just the Corbyn supporters systematically alienated from today’s Labour but by a wider public too......

Jobless burn energy bills in Naples cost-of-living protest

ROME, SEP 2 - Hundreds of unemployed people on Friday burned their utility bills in central Naples in a protest at the plight amid the cost-of-living crisis.   

The protest by jobless belonging to the '7 novembre della 167' movement took place outside the central post office in the southern city's Piazza Matteotti square.

"We are tried of promises," said one of the protestors.

"We have been waiting for jobs for years and now we cannot pay these figures, which have trebled (for gas and electricity).

"Our families are at the end of their tether.

"Up to now there have been lots of words for us but not much action". 

Seattle Teachers Vote to Strike, Forcing Cancellation of First Day of School

In labor news, teachers in Seattle have voted to authorize a strike beginning today, forcing the city to cancel the first day of school. The Seattle Education Association says 95% of teachers supported the strike in a recent vote. Key demands by teachers include better support for special education and multilingual programs and smaller class sizes.

Protests Throughout the Global South Signal International Opposition to Austerity

It has now been two months since tens of thousands of Sri Lankans stormed the presidential palace and toppled the country’s president in a powerful rejection of price hikes on food and fuel. As shocking and inspiring as the news was, many economists and geopolitical experts were quick to point out that Sri Lanka would not be the last country to experience a mass-uprising.

Around the world, the policies of the neoliberal era are straining economies as the neoliberal system is pitched into crisis after crisis. In the last several years, these crises have been fueled by supply chain disruptions from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and rapidly worsening climate change. With the people of the Global South facing greater precarity and threat of displacement or death, the austerity measures imposed by imperialist institutions like the IMF and each country’s national bourgeoisie are becoming more unbearable.

Though Sri Lanka’s uprising is the most advanced to take place so far this year, a brief survey of other protests against austerity throughout the Global South demonstrates that combative opposition to austerity and imperialism is on the rise in many regions.

Haiti

As of this writing, Haiti is in its third week of non-stop nationwide protests against rising costs of living. The country’s inflation is the highest it’s been in ten years. In Port-au-Prince, protesters have set up flaming barricades. Protesters are resisting violent police repression and tear gas and demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. In fact, Haitians have been in the streets continuously for three years, following the former president Jovenel Moise’s attempt to extend his term past its limit. Following Moise’s assassination, Henry took power without a democratic mandate and has failed to resolve the many crises Haitians face, such as dire poverty and gang violence due to the long legacy of imperialist intervention. In the 21st century alone, the country underwent a U.S. coup in 2004, years of military occupation by the United Nations’ MINUSTAH forces which carried out various human rights violations, including rape, and last year’s presidential assassination.

Argentina

One of the most dynamic movements against austerity has been taking place in Argentina. With socialist groups and trade unions at the forefront, including Left Voice’s comrades in the PTS, protesters have placed a spotlight on the role the IMF plays in maintaining imperialism throughout the world by making semi-colonial countries pay fraudulent foreign debts. The IMF’s readjustment plans make workers pay for the crises that capitalism creates. For this reason, tens of thousands of Argentinians came out to protests under the demand that their government refuse to pay the foreign debt and end its pact with the IMF. Currently, inflation in Argentina is at nearly 80 percent and the poverty rate is as high as 40 percent in most urban centers. 

Ghana

Ghana is one of the first African countries to join this year’s wave of protests against austerity, though many countries on the continent have had their own uprisings against military coups, many of which are a product of U.S. military intervention. The protests in Ghana took place in the capital for two days, with hundreds taking to the streets despite a heavy police presence. One of the main demands was opposition to a recently established tax on electronic payments which hurt poor and working-class Ghanians. The protest was organized by a recently formed coalition, Arise Ghana. The protesters faced off with police and ended in 29 arrests. As of May, the country hit a record inflation level of 27.6 percent. The government is meeting with the IMF for a bailout which will only hurt Ghanians even more. Whether or not the protests grow remains to be seen.

Indonesia

Some of the most recent cost-of-living protests are taking place in Indonesia, with students, workers, fishermen, and farmers at the forefront. Thousands of people have rallied in the country’s major cities. This comes as fuel prices have risen 30 percent, the first price hike in eight years. Food costs have also been rising. The president of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions has said that workers are planning more rallies and are considering a national strike against the fuel price hike. The government sent thousands of police to guard petrol stations expecting them to become sites of protest. Indeed, the early stages of Sri Lanka’s crisis saw protesters gathering at petrol stations. Protests have also taken place at petrol stations throughout Bangladesh amid a 52 percent hike in fuel prices. These protests outside petrol stations and the demand to lower the cost of fuel should be used by leaders of the protests in different South and Southeast Asian countries to unite their struggles at a regional level....

115,000 Railroad Workers Prepare to Strike Friday to Demand Safer Working Conditions

In more labor news, U.S. freight railroads have reduced service and Amtrak has canceled trips on three long-distance routes, as more than 110,000 rail workers threaten to go on strike this week to protest deteriorating working conditions. So far 10 of 12 unions representing both freight and passenger rail workers have agreed to new contracts, but unions representing some 60,000 engineers and conductors remain at an impasse, and other workers have pledged to join them if they begin a strike, currently scheduled for 12:01 a.m. on Friday. Workers want paid sick leave and say they’re being pushed to work grueling schedules that threaten their safety and that of the public.

..over and over we see political parties selling out the working class in the middle of a struggle.

Photos of a defiant, "First mass demonstration of Berlin social democrats against Hitler" shortly AFTER the Nazis were handed power by the political representatives of the German ruling class. There was massive potential for physical resistance to the Nazis, but the leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) decided not to use it.

The Nazis destroyed the German workers' movement without a concerted fight. The Stalinist leadership of the Communist Party of Germany shares the blame for this because of its sectarian attitude to the SPD's membership and complacent assessment: "after Hitler, us".

After UFCW-Uber revelation, gig workers ramp up fight for decent work

Ride-hailing platform Uber and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) announced a “historic national agreement” in January, which they billed as a step toward union representation for gig workers. 

But after an investigation found that both organizations pressured the government to weaken regulations and deny workers’ their legal rights, organizers are calling the deal a setback.

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Collaborating to weaken regulations

Globe and Mail reporter Vanmala Subramaniam obtained documents through access to information which revealed that Uber and UFCW collaborated to pressure the Ontario government to exempt gig workers from Ontario’s Employment Standards Act. Among other things, the Act mandates companies to provide a minimum wage to employees. 

The Uber-UFCW alliance pressed a sympathetic Ford-led Ontario government to maintain gig workers’ classification as “independent contractors”, rather than employees. The designation prevents gig workers from being covered by the Act’s basic protections. 

The result divided workers.

The Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, or Bill 88, which Premier Doug Ford signed into law in April, essentially created two tiers of workers in Ontario, with one class given all the rights afforded under labour laws while many gig workers are denied the same protections.

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Organizing in the gig economy

Brice Sopher, who delivers meals for Uber Eats, woke up to news of the deal through an early morning push notification on the Uber app on his phone. There was no direct communication from UFCW. 

Sopher, who is also an organizer with Gig Workers United—an effort to organize gig workers under the aegis of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers—said he had two reactions to the announcement: one as a worker, and another as an organizer.

For Sopher the gig worker, the deal seemed like “just another tactic” that Uber was using to squeeze its workers for as much as they can. 

“When you’re working for these apps, they never bring in something that’s going to end up being a positive change in your life,” said Sopher. “Changes are always for the worse.”

As an organizer, Sopher saw an opportunity. 

“It made me feel like it was more important than ever to go and organize in the real way, in the proper way, that we had always been doing with Gig Workers United,” Sopher said. He describes this approach as “going out there, talking to every worker that we can, having the most democratic union that we can have, having the highest level of involvement of workers, so we get to a point where we can certify a local.” 

While Uber reached an agreement with UFCW without consulting workers, Gig Workers United, he said, can seize on the company’s tactics to deny workers’ rights to organize and make material gains on behalf of those who work for Uber and other apps. 

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Working hours, legislated as unpaid

The company’s efforts “put a veneer of legitimacy” on gig workers’ systematic misclassification, Sopher explained. 

“Basically, Uber’s job is to lower the minimum to ensure that we have a new worst employment standards regime in Ontario, throughout the country and throughout the world.” The independent contractor classification is a “fiction that has been invented by Uber” to justify treating its workers as a subclass of the working class, Sopher said.

As this article goes to publication, Gig Workers United has announced a new “unfair labour practices” complaint against Uber under the Ontario Labour Relations Act.

Bill 88 does ostensibly provide gig workers with a minimum wage, but this wage only applies to “engaged time”: when workers are actively making deliveries or driving with passengers. Sopher says this is an underhanded way to deny workers their rights while purporting to uphold them. It sets, he said, a dangerous precedent that allows employees to determine what aspects of a job count as work, and which don’t. 

“Even when I’m waiting, I’m still working. Even when I’m going to the restaurant, I’m still working. When I’m going from the place I dropped off the food at, and then going back to a busier area so that I get more orders—that’s all part of the work,” he said. 

“[Bill 88] discounts a large part of our work, so it’s completely unacceptable.”....

Posties take Uber to court

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has filed an unfair labour practices complaint against Uber for its backroom dealings with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which it alleges has violated workers’ right to choose their own union representation.

CUPW filed the complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board on Sept. 15 on behalf of Gig Workers United, which seeks to unionize app-based delivery workers under CUPW’s aegis.

Brice Sopher, a Toronto-based Gig Workers United organizer and Uber Eats courier, told me Uber has interfered in the organizing process by giving UFCW preferential treatment and entering into an agreement with them over workers’ heads.

“It’s a preemptive effort to try to stop the inevitable organizing of workers of Uber and other gig economy companies,” Sopher said of the Uber-UFCW alliance......