REGINA — Concerns about unfair algorithmic pricing, or AI price gouging, were back at the legislature this week, with grocery store workers weighing in on the issue.
At the legislature were members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1400, who were there to support NDP legislation to crack down on AI pricing. The local represents 7500 employees but largely in the retail food industry.
Lucy Figueiredo, president of Local 1400, wanted to see regulation come in to put a stop to what she called predatory pricing.
“If you look at different regions in North America, already in the States, and in some cases here, studies have shown that the collection of data, predominantly of you as a consumer, being used to target or change prices as you're coming into shop or purchase online items, is being used,” Figueiredo said.
“And I think that if we don't address it and highlight that there are no regulations here now, we are just allowing for our large corporate entities to continue to make an extra $0.05 or $0.10 on products from a group of workers that don't make much more than minimum wage.”
She added that the majority of the workers in Saskatchewan are “not workers that are making $50 an hour. They're workers that are working part-time, trying to collect as many hours as they can, and trying to pay all the bills that they possibly can with the meager earnings that they get, adding this level of predatory pricing just takes money out of their paychecks.”
Figueiredo explained that the way AI pricing works has a lot to do with those membership cards and apps people use when they go shopping.
“We all walk around with those member cards, the reward cards, the apps, that identify you as a consumer, that track what you're purchasing,” she said.
“It is not an unreasonable extrapolation to think at some point those member reward cards are going to identify you, and when you go to the grocery store, your formula is going to cost you 25 cents more than it costs me because I'm just buying it for my cousin. And so I think that's the issue, is that they take very private information and they use it as a way to basically gouge prices for you, and I have a different price for me.”
She said if the province is “not already anticipating or ignoring the fact that it can happen here, then you're leaving us at a disadvantage, and that's workers who can't afford another bill or an extra cost or an increase to any other bill.”
Figueiredo said she would “absolutely” be willing to meet with Premier Scott Moe and the government on the issue.
“We're here lobbying. It's the first time that we've actually been in Leg organized by our national office, so I'd be happy to meet and talk,” Figueiredo said. “I know that there is an element, we're not naive, an element of federal co-operation. It's all the conversation and making sure that we're willing and doing the right thing for all the workers.”
Status of the proposed bill on AI pricing
Last week, the NDP’s Brittney Senger moved a private member’s bill to crack down on AI pricing.
So far, that bill has gotten nowhere at the assembly, still in the second reading stage with less than three weeks left in the session, and Senger was accusing the government of refusing to pass the legislation into law.
“This will protect consumers, it will protect workers,” said Senger to reporters, “… and it's about transparency. It's ensuring that people aren't paying more for their groceries, for their goods, for essential services, based on algorithms and data that is collected.”
In response to the NDP in question period, Justice Minister and Attorney General Tim McLeod said the province already has legislation in place to deal with these concerns.
McLeod also confirmed that he had written a letter to the federal minister on the issue last week, expressing his desire to align provincial legislation with federal rules and the Competition Bureau of Canada.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, McLeod said the government was “certainly aware of potential risk in this space,” but added “we're not aware of any circumstances where this has actually arisen. And we do have protections already in place in Saskatchewan through the Consumer Protection and Business Practices Act.”
McLeod said the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority regulates in this space and “we feel that there are a lot of protections already in place. But that doesn't mean that we're not willing to work together with the federal government to align what we're doing in Saskatchewan with what the practices across the nation are, because obviously when it comes to the Internet and online pricing, that could be very much a national concern, and we're happy to align our policies and practices with the federal government, which would, again, be in line with what the Competition Bureau of Canada has suggested.”
As for the NDP’s proposed legislation, McLeod said “I understand that the NDP are wanting to look like they're doing something new, but really what they're proposing, we don't see anything that they're suggesting that either isn't already being done or that we aren't already working with the federal government to do.”
McLeod reiterated that the province does “have consumer protections here, and again, our legislation already speaks to that. The FCAA certainly wants to hear about and will deal with any concerns that Saskatchewan residents bring forward that might be happening, but to date we haven't heard of any.”
