In an attempt to collectively bargain with their employer, Uber drivers in Canada have joined one of the country’s largest union groups.
According to United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) officials, more than a hundred Uber drivers have signed union cards to join the 250,000 member trade union. "Drivers are fed up with the low pay, long hours, and lack of basic worker protections that shlepping strangers around entails," Bryan Menegus writes in Gizmodo. UFCW held a press conference last week announcing their intention to bargain with Uber and to encourage other drivers to join them.
Uber has yet to respond to the call to recognize the union. The company classifies its workers as independent contractors in Canada (and the United States as well) and they are unlikely to give up on that classification voluntarily. How Uber and Toronto handle this case is likely to have impact throughout the country.
Read the full story: Hundreds of Uber Drivers in Toronto Are Joining a Union
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
NYC cools commuters with city's first rain garden above a bus stop
New York City officials say the plants in the rain garden can absorb 16 gallons of rainwater during heavy storms.
Brightline West’s future may rely on $6 billion federal loan
The company has until Nov. 2 to make a $400 million equity investment into its proposed high-speed rail line.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association