Reminder to have your say about app-based ride-hailing, food-delivery work

Time is running out to share your thoughts about app-based ride-hailing and food-delivery work in B.C.

Time is running out to share your thoughts about app-based ride-hailing and food-delivery work in B.C.

Ride-hailing and food-delivery workers are invited to provide insights about the work they do and the benefits and challenges they face. The public is also welcome to share their perspective on this work.

The survey is open until Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, at 4 p.m. (Pacific time) and is available online in English, French, Punjabi, Tagalog, Arabic, and traditional and simplified Chinese: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/gig

The Province is taking an in-depth look at how to ensure gig work is fair for workers and sustainable for businesses. Such work involves income-earning activity outside conventional long-term employment relationships, such as through ride-hailing or food-delivery apps.

The survey results, along with information received during in-person worker roundtable discussions and meetings with businesses, labour and worker organizations, academics and researchers, will contribute to a provincewide strategy that reflects the diverse needs and unique situations of today’s workers and workplaces.

Janet Routledge, newly appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Labour, is leading the government’s provincewide strategy on precarious work to ensure that appropriate employment standards are in place for gig workers. This work was previously led by Adam Walker, former parliamentary secretary for the new economy.

Quick Facts:

  • In 2019, Statistics Canada estimated approximately one in 10 Canadians in the workforce (1.7 million people) were gig workers in 2016, which was an increase from approximately one in 20 workers in 2005.
  • Companies often treat app-based ride-hailing and food-delivery workers as independent contractors, and not as employees entitled to B.C.’s minimum employment standards.
  • The law in B.C. sets standards for payment, compensation and working conditions in most workplaces.