By Toby Bartlett
Ottawa’s bicycle messengers have formed an association in order to provide medical and dental benefits to its members as well as information on services that will help give messengers certain protections in their job.
“There is a bicycle messenger association in almost every major city,” says Bill Tippett, president of the recently-formed Ottawa Cycle Messenger Association (OCMA), listing Toronto and San Francisco as examples. “There have been many attempts to start one in Ottawa, but it never happened until now.”
Tippett started organizing the OCMA in December 1999. He says his main goal is to create a strong, unified body to voice concerns.
Tippett says messengers need an association to improve the flow of information about insurance and other assistance because of the high risk and low security of the job.
Messengers are independent subcontractors, not employees of the companies for which they work.
They face angry drivers and dangerous weather conditions and are not guaranteed any sort of insurance protection if they are injured on the job.
Tippett says a messenger’s pay comes from commission on deliveries, some paying as little as 50 cents. There are no hourly wages and commission remains the same all season.
So far, response to the association has been good, says Tippett. Membership is between 45 to 50 out of an estimated 80 bicycle messengers in Ottawa, 60 of whom work full time.
“There are enough of us that we could get management to read a lot of proposals,” says OCMA member John Nagle of Speedy Messenger Service. He says he hopes the association will organize a medical and dental plan, as well as life insurance.
The OCMA is a non-profit organization that Tippett describes as “a brotherhood,” not a union.
He says an association works better for bike messengers because members do not have to pay union dues and are granted more autonomy.
“In a union, if there is a vote to strike, everyone has to strike even if they voted against it,” says Tippett. “The OCMA is a resource centre and it provides a voice. We provide information about things like workers compensation.”
He says many messengers are unaware of how to get proper compensation.
“If they get hurt they end up on welfare, and that’s not good,” Tippett says.
Aside from providing messengers with helpful information, heightening public awareness is another major goal of the OCMA, says Tippett.
He cites involvement with the Sierra Club of Canada’s Critical Mass bicycle parades as one way to reach the public.
The monthly parades follow a set course through Centretown and the downtown core at 5 p.m., blocking traffic in an attempt to increase awareness of bicycles and other alternative transportation.
Nagle says he would also like to see drivers more aware of bike messengers working alongside their vehicles. “All they have to do is look in their mirrors or over their shoulders.” He hopes an association can help voice that concern.
Tippett is glad to have the association in place. “We just finished the incorporation draft,” he says. “It took four months.”
He says finishing the draft means the association is now officially registered with the province. It also establishes bylaws within the association and a guideline book for members.
“There were a lot of late nights,” he says. “We had to organize general meetings and elect a council.”
“We also just put out the first copy of our e-zine,” Tippett continues. “It covers messenger-related issues and has spots from our sponsors – also messengers and the media.”