Heavyweights Uber, Foodora in separate battles that could impact gig economy
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

Hearings are underway in two precedent-setting battles over the future of the Canadian gig economy and workers’ rights, with the practices of two of the sector’s biggest heavyweights — Uber and Foodora — under scrutiny.The Supreme Court heard opening arguments Wednesday in an appeal that will determine whether Uber can require drivers to lodge employment disputes through mandatory arbitration in the Netherlands — a process that costs an individual worker around $14,500. This January, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Uber’s arbitration clause was an “unfair bargain” for workers and improperly denied drivers the protection of provincial employment laws. Following that decision, Uber sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Toronto-based couriers seeking to become the first app-based workforce in the country to join a union faced off against Foodora Wednesday at the Ontario Labour Relations Board.Earlier this year, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) launched a union drive and subsequently held a union vote in the hopes of addressing couriers’ concerns around low pay and safety risks. But Foodora challenged the process, and the ballot results are sealed until the board rules on the legal issues under contention.The hearing Wednesday delved for the first time into the battle’s defining question: whether or not the couriers are independent contractors, as Foodora maintains. Independent contractors do not have the right to unionize under provincial labour laws. Lawyers for CUPW opened by briefly presenting an exhibit of a weekly Foodora email advising couriers that declining 10 per cent of orders would result in a warning, while declining more than 15 per cent would result in being “de-prioritized.” One of the hallmarks of a true independent contractor is that the company providing work doesn’t have the right to discipline them. Other defining features of an independe ...