OTTAWA – Foodora couriers across the country will receive a $3.46 M settlement after the company filed for bankruptcy and shut down its Canadian operations in April of this year. The settlement was finalized by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Delivery Hero, the parent company for Foodora Canada.
TORONTO - Foodora couriers and drivers in Toronto and Mississauga voted in favour of unionization with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, becoming the first app-based workforce in Canada to do so.
OTTAWA – On Monday, May 11th, Foodora Couriers will work their last day as the company will officially exit the Canadian market. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is fighting to ensure Foodora takes responsibility for its workers and demands that the Canadian federal government immediately intervene to protect vulnerable gig-workers, ensure couriers, including undocumented workers, are paid severance, and have adequate income supports.
TORONTO - Today at 3 PM, Foodora Couriers and CUPW staged a safe, physically distanced protest at Foodora Canada’s headquarters. This protest comes as a response to Foodora abruptly announcing earlier this week that it would be exiting the Canadian market. The Canadian company is claiming financial trouble, yet Foodora’s parent company, Delivery Hero, boasted this week about a near doubling of their year over year revenue in their first quarter.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Union of Postal Workers alleges that Foodora Canada and its parent company Delivery Hero are breaking several sections of Ontario labour law, by closing down in order to defeat a union organizing drive. The unfair labour practices complaint has been filed today with the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB). Anti-union actions, as CUPW alleges the closure to be, are illegal.
OTTAWA – CUPW and the Foodsters are shocked to hear about Foodora’s decision to leave the Canadian market. The two-weeks’ notice that has been provided is grossly unfair and unreasonable. We call on Foodora and the Federal Government to ensure that workers and food couriers be protected.
OLRB rules that couriers are dependent contractors - TORONTO - The Ontario Labour Relations Board ruled today that couriers working for Foodora are, as Foodsters United and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers argued, dependent contractors – which means they have the legal right to organize and certify a union.
TORONTO – Hearings continued in Toronto today in which the results could be a defining moment for gig economy workers in Canada. The misclassification of gig workers as independent contractors instead of dependent contractors or employees is being fought by Foodora couriers at the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB).
Toronto – Postal workers and their allies took to the streets of Toronto this afternoon, marching to Nathan Philips Square, to support Foodora bike and car couriers who are fighting for their rights as workers.
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Canada needs a postal bank. Thousands of rural towns and villages in our country do not have a bank, but many of them have a post office that could provide financial services. As well, nearly two million Canadians desperately need an alternative to payday lenders. A postal bank could be that alternative. Download and sign the petition urging the Government of Canada to instruct Canada Post to add postal banking, with a mandate for financial inclusion.
Unfortunately, our scheduled meetings for Friday, August 15th and Monday, August 18th, have been postponed. The Federal mediators will not be able to assist CUPW and CPC due to their current involvement in the Air Canada negotiations.
This September, CUPW joins its Malayali brothers and sisters with joy and pride to observe Onam celebrations in Canada. Onam is one of the most significant regional festivals celebrated in Kerala, the southernmost state of India.
After pressing the Employer to come back to the bargaining table early last week, we received a response from Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger on Friday evening, just hours after we posted Bulletin 128, “CUPW is Waiting for Canada Post.” In his letter, Mr. Ettinger stuck to the lines we’ve heard from Canada Post for many months now.
A week ago, CUPW members spoke loudly and rejected what Canada Post called its “best and final” offers. The goal of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers remains negotiating ratifiable collective agreements which meet postal workers’ needs, help grow the current services provided by a public post office and to better serve Canadians with new services.
Last week, postal workers decisively rejected Canada Post’s “best and final offers” in the government-forced vote. With a turnout of over 80%, nearly 70% of our members told Canada Post, “No, these offers won’t do it!”
Every employer in the Federal and Provincial sector has been watching us. Rejecting these offers was a victory not only for our Union, but for the labour movement as a whole.
To all CUPW members,
Thank you for showing up, for standing together, and for participating in the government forced vote. Regardless of how you voted, your participation was an act of solidarity and strength. And for those who voted to reject the final offers, your decision sent a powerful message: “We know our worth, and we deserve better”.
After almost two weeks of voting, the results are now in: CUPW members in both bargaining units have spoken, and they have rejected Canada Post’s global offers.
We’ve now entered the second and final week of the government-imposed forced vote on Canada Post’s “final” offers. As of July 28, 69 % of Urban members and 71.4 % of RSMC members have already casted their vote. Voting continues until 5 pm EST on August 1.
On March 24, 2021, the House of Commons voted to designate August 1st as Emancipation Day to commemorate the slavery abolition act of 1833, which took effect in 1834 and paved the way for the liberation of over 800,000 enslaved Black people across the “British Empire”, including parts of the Caribbean, Africa, South America and Canada.
On July 23, Canada Post shared some information about its “final” offers and the vote that is currently underway with members. Information was shared via email as well as distributed in some workplaces.