Victoria Uber workers could be first in Canada to unionize

Uber drivers in Greater Victoria are waiting to learn if they will become the first unionized workers for a ride-hailing app in Canada.

“We’re feeling good about it, certainly,” said Patrick Johnson, president of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 1518.

“There’s been very, very strong support.”

Drivers voted last week on certification, but a decision on whether a union is formed could be some time away.

UFCW 1518 initially sought certification by signing up drivers who wanted a union. BC’s labour code calls for automatic certification if more than 55% of potential bargaining unit members sign union cards. If more than 45% sign, the BC Labour Relations Board would order a vote on unionization.

Johnson said more than 500 drivers signed union cards before UFCW applied for certification on March 10.

Diana Pérez of UFCW 1518 said in an email that the union believes the bargaining unit consists of 600 workers, but says Uber disputes the figure.

Pérez said that because of that dispute, the board ordered a vote.

That vote allowed drivers to make a choice, said Uber spokesperson Keerthana Rang.

“We encouraged rideshare drivers to participate and have their say.”

Tougher to unionize because workers aren't concentrated in a single place

UFCW’s Johnson said the union drive was challenging because drivers don’t have a workplace or schedule.

“It’s a different industry. You can’t just go to the shop floor and engage folks,” Johnson said. Since 2022, UFCW has helped Uber drivers suspended or banned by the app without reason have their accounts reactivated.

Instead, he said organizers waited at electric charging stations, ferry terminals, and airports to meet with drivers and discuss union representation.

That’s how Beatrice Nahirnick found out about the union drive.

She said that about a year and a half ago, she was waiting in the car at the Victoria airport when an organizer approached her vehicle.

After retiring from a career as a bus driver, Nahirnick bought a Tesla—a car she says she loves driving despite the politics of Elon Musk—and started driving for Uber.

Nahirnick says she was the first Uber driver in the region. She remembers picking up Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto in June 2023 as the app’s ceremonial first trip in Greater Victoria.

Now, she says she clocks in whenever she needs to get out of the house, and drives around the city with her service dog—a 14-pound Shih Tzu—in the front seat.

“I’m retired, and this is a perfect job as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “I have this job where I only work when I want to, I get to drive this beautiful car, and I get to bring my dog to work with me. I don’t know how it gets any better than that.”

'Horror stories' from different cities

But she said she’s heard “horror stories” from other cities about drivers getting cut off from their main source of income for no reason.

“If they did that to me, my wife and I wouldn’t starve to death,” she said. “But I know another driver… he’s got a three-year-old at home, there’s another one on the way, and he does this full-time.”

She added that contract negotiations often make employers consider investing in employee benefits, medical coverage, and pensions.

“A union is the only one that’s going to at least be able to explore those things,” she said. “They never let me sit and talk to them about putting in a pension plan.”

Nahirnick said she’s seen overwhelming support for the union from her colleagues.

“I’m pretty pumped,” she said. “I’m pretty sure it’s coming through, and that’s just exciting. That’s democracy at work.”