What is this project about?

The rise of app-based delivery service jobs has shifted formerly full and part-time delivery driver jobs to precarious, piece-meal work. Companies like Uber and Skip the Dishes now engage drivers under “contract”, claiming they are akin to freelancers. Pay is opaque and drivers rarely know their hourly wage until they end their shift. Drivers are not paid for time spent getting from one delivery to the next, and are sometimes left unconnected from the app for unusual lengths of time between deliveries, prolonging their unpaid time.

The people driving for these delivery apps are predominantly low-wage workers that are unable to get a full time job. Many are recent immigrants to Canada trying to establish themselves in a market where there is still unconscious bias against foreigners, despite new regulations.

Many newcomers are unaware they are signing up to precarious gig-work that isn’t classified as employment. Some of these workers might have been able to find work as a dedicated delivery driver for one or a few businesses in the past but over the last decade, dependable delivery jobs have disappeared. Delivery apps flood the job market with far more drivers than necessary, keeping customer prices low at the cost of someone else’s poverty.

Because of anti-competitive and market distorting pricing practices by big app companies, customers have come to expect deliveries at very low fees. Small businesses cannot offer dependable delivery jobs and Canadian work experience because of the pressure to maintain low delivery rates as demanded by low price-oriented customers.

We propose to pilot a program that creates dependable delivery jobs at an affordable cost. By sharing a driver, vehicle, and logistics system between a few businesses, there would be sufficient volume between them to comprise at least one full-time delivery job.

In the pilot project, a founding member of the Better Way Alliance will convene two to three business owners to create a jointly-owned social enterprise structure to hire a delivery driver. The social enterprise will oversee the delivery of goods.

The social enterprise will have a governance structure with clearly stated roles and responsibilities for each participating business owner. The social enterprise will be the sole employer for the driver. This keeps employment responsibilities clear and well-documented for all parties. The social enterprise can add more drivers as other businesses add delivery volume and pay for the service, charged at a fair cost.