Delivery drivers and cyclists for UberEATS in Toronto woke up to discover that they were suddenly making less money.
The contracted workers received an email Tuesday morning that laid out the company’s new compensation policy, without prior warning that it would be implemented. One bike courier, Julia Pak, estimates that the new wages will reduce her income by 30-50%, The Star reports.
Before Nov. 29, delivery people made $6.50 for each order they picked up, plus $1.85 per kilometer traveled. This adds up if they collect several orders from one restaurant. But now, delivery people are making just $2.90 per pickup—a flat rate per restaurant versus getting paid per order. Their distance rate has also been reduced by 80 cents, while Uber’s cut of delivery fees remains 35%.
An Uber (UBER) Canada spokesperson told Fortune that this new policy comes with an added “boost” feature, a potential compensation bonus for workers in certain delivery zones. “Delivery fees are now made up of three parts—a pickup fee, a drop-off fee, and distance fees,” the spokesperson said. “Maximizing delivery partner earnings is a priority and we will continue to work to ensure a competitive income for all our partners.”
Pak isn’t sure what she’s going to do because she doesn’t “necessarily feel OK with it,” according to The Star. She added that she’s unsure whether the new UberEATS “boost” factor will really help her to recover wages she was earning prior to the change.
Another bike courier, Brett MacNeill, sounded skeptical as well. As he told The Star, “They like to call us partners, but they never consulted us on these changes.”
