Ontario’s move to legislate a $15 minimum wage for gig workers is facing mounting criticism from workers rights groups, who say that the language in the proposed bill will effectively result in them earning less than minimum wage.

The condemnation of this particular clause in Bill 88 (which the government has also termed the Working for Workers Act) comes as the bill inches closer to achieving royal assent ahead of the provincial election on June 2.

On Tuesday, RidefairTO, a coalition of organizations aiming to change the rules around ride-sharing, released a brief report demonstrating that under the new law, ride-hailing drivers for platforms such as Uber and Lyft will end up earning 52 per cent less than minimum wage on average every hour, or $7.20. They say this is because drivers will only be paid for “engaged time,” that is, the time they spend completing a passenger pick-up and drop-off, as opposed to the entire period in which they are out on the road.

“Bill 88 won’t help gig workers. Rather, it allows the government to introduce ‘engaged time’ as a legal principle to allow employers to cut away at workers wages in all sectors as soon as their work is organized by gig platforms,” said Earla Phillips, a veteran Uber driver and member of RidefairTO.

The issue of how wages are calculated for gig workers – which include not just ride-share drivers, but grocery and food delivery couriers as well – is at the heart of a heated global debate over whether these...

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