OTTAWA – The Ontario Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee today released its anticipated report on the future of work, and as expected, its recommendations call for the creation of a third category of worker that will not have full employee rights and will not be able to legally unionize.
“This is what Uber and app-based companies wanted,” says Jennifer Scott, President, Gig Workers United. “They lobbied for the creation of a third category of worker and for portable benefits. If the Committee and the Ontario government cared about workers in a just recovery, they wouldn’t kneel to app-based employers lobbying for legislative change to enshrine worker precarity into law.”
While the Ontario government said the Committee spoke to over 700 people before determining its recommendations, the entire process didn’t include meaningful participation from workers and didn’t include worker voices. Because of this, the recommendations end up being a gift to Uber and all other employers that want to gigify work.
“All workers should feel threatened by this report and its recommendations,” says Jan Simpson, National President, CUPW. “These recommendations will result in the gigification of more work. It isn’t raising the bar for gig workers – it’s lowering the bar for ALL workers. We have to fight back against greedy bosses and the governments who support them. We need to make sure workers’ right are protected and expanded, not taken away.”