Victoria Uber Drivers Unionize in Groundbreaking Effort

Uber drivers in Greater Victoria have become the first workers for a ride-hailing app to unionize in Canada.

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 1518 was certified Wednesday to represent more than 500 drivers. “It’s awesome,” said Victoria-area driver Beatrice Nahirnick. “Anytime workers can represent themselves or have representation in their workplace, it’s never a bad thing.”

She hopes the union will push for transparency around pay — which the ride-hailing app keeps obscure.

The union calls the certification, which comes after a driver vote in March, a landmark victory for gig workers.

“This is a defining moment for the labour movement in Canada,” Shawn Haggerty, UFCW Canada national president, said in a media release. “Workers in every sector — even in the platform economy — can organize and win. These drivers are setting a national precedent.”

The certification is the latest step in the struggle to protect app-based employees who have been notoriously difficult to organize and often fall through the cracks of Canadian labour protections.

Laura Miller, Uber Canada director of public policy, said in an email that the union certification happened because of the BC NDP’s new labour laws for online platform workers.

The legislation, which came into effect last year, extended existing labour laws to app-based gig workers and established a minimum wage for ride-hailing app drivers.

There will be no immediate changes to the experience for Uber drivers or riders, Uber Canada corporate communications lead Keerthana Rang said in an email.

The company is scheduled to sit down with the union to negotiate an agreement. “We will be sitting down with UFCW 1518 to discuss the issues raised by drivers,” Miller said.

UFCW 1518 president Patrick Johnson said on July 3 that he’d spent the day with the newly-unionized drivers.

“The large majority of them are very excited,” Johnson said. “Gig work has changed what work means for a lot of folks, and this is a big change for Uber drivers and an economy that doesn’t have union density at all.”

Johnson said he plans to negotiate for better transparency around the platform’s rating system and pay algorithm during collective bargaining.

Back in Victoria, Nahirnick said she’s “excited” to have union representation. She said it’s not clear to drivers how their earnings are calculated.

Her earnings are not consistent with the hours she works, Nahirnick said. Drivers’ pay is determined by an algorithm to maximize profits.

“It’s like three card monte — chances are you’re not going to win,” Nahirnick said. “The only hope you have of coming up halfway to an understanding is to have a union to represent you, because they can see their books.”

She added the union can push for answers on other mysteries of the app too, like how trips are distributed to drivers and how ratings affect drivers’ work.

Nahirnick said she’ll be participating in talks with the union and company and hopes to see a contract this summer.

Back at the union, Johnson said the UFCW 1518 will reach out to Uber to start negotiating a collective agreement this summer.

“We’ve heard from many drivers that Uber works really well for them. They like the job, they like meeting folks and they like the flexibility,” Johnson said.

“Balancing the good things that work well for workers with the precarity that comes with being a gig worker is really exciting, and is one of the big things that really makes this certification unique and historic.”