App-Based Gig Workers Get General Minimum Wage Established By Ontario Government

The Ontario Government introduced new legislation that will give app-based gig workers a $15 minimum wage and transparency regarding their tips announced on Monday.

According to a survey conducted by Ipsos, 62 per cent of Ontarians agree that the province should guarantee a certain minimum level of income for technology platform or ‘gig’ workers. Screenshot.

The “Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act” permits app-based employees — such as ride-share drivers and couriers — to a $15 minimum wage and their tips.

Workers will also receive a recurring pay period and payday with their tips prohibited from being withheld by platform operators.

“As part of our plan to build a stronger economy that works for everyone, we want all workers to have every opportunity to earn a good living and provide for their families,” said Doug Ford, Ontario Premier. “It doesn’t matter if you work for a big company, a small business or for a rideshare app. Our government won’t leave any worker behind.”

Ford added that five Canadians work in the gig economy and says data predicts an increase in app-based workers.

The government’s proposals have laid out the following rights and protections for digital platform workers:

• Earning at least the general minimum wage for time worked

• The right to keep their tips along with regular pay periods

• The right to information and clarity around algorithms including

  • how pay is calculated; and

  • how and why a worker might be penalized in the allocation of work

• Written notice if they are being removed from the platform and why

• The right to resolve their work-related disputes in Ontario

• Protection from reprisal should they seek to assert their rights.

“No one working in Ontario should ever make less than minimum wage for an hour's work," said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour Training and Skills Development. “No one working in Ontario should be dismissed without notice, explanation, or recourse. No one should have to travel out of the country to resolve a workplace dispute or sign a contract they do not understand. These core rights are a foundation in our mission to help all workers earn bigger paychecks to take care of their families, not an endpoint.”

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Ontario Government Raises Minimum Wage to $15 Beginning Next Year

The Ontario Government will raise the minimum wage from $14.35 to $15.00 effective on Jan. 1, announced at UNIFOR Local 414 in Milton on Tuesday.

The 43rd Ontario general election will be on June 2, 2022. Screenshot.

The increase would add an extra $1350 in income to minimum wage workers according to Doug Ford, Ontario Premier.

“As a result of these changes, more than 760,000 Ontario workers will be getting a raise,” he said. “I can’t think of a better way for our government to be working for workers than ensuring hundreds of thousands of people take more pay home.”

Servers and hospitality workers go from $12.55 to $15.00, a 19.5 per cent pay raise.

Students under 18 will go from $13.50 to $15.00. Hunting and fishing guides and homeworkers will also be a part of the minimum wage increase.

In late 2018, Ford had scrapped the scheduled wage hike to $15 for Jan 1, 2019 and kept it at $14. The move was made shortly after he was elected into office during the 2018 Ontario general election.

The 43rd Ontario general election is on June 2, 2022. Ford will be contested by NDP leader Andrea Horwath, Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, Green Party leader Mike Schreiner and New Blue Party leader Jim Karahalios.

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