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Delays, infighting, lobbying: The battle over NYC food delivery workers’ pay
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Apr 8, 2023
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By
Arya Sundaram
Published Apr 8, 2023
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New York City’s groundbreaking minimum wage law for food delivery workers remains in limbo – months after it was supposed to go into effect – as delivery workers, elected officials, and app companies battle over how and how much they will be paid.
A public hearing on the question Friday didn’t resolve the issue either.
The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection reduced the proposed pay rate last month to $19.96 an hour plus tips by 2025 – down from its initial suggestion of $23.82. The change was intended to limit overlapping payments when workers deliver for more than one app at a time, called “multi-apping,” which they said accounted for 18% of workers’ time according to their study.
Nonetheless, DCWP officials say they will consider dozens of critiques on all sides of the issue before taking a final vote. Friday’s virtual public hearing ran three hours past schedule, as the interested parties addressed sundry issues besides pay.
Do not allow DoorDash, GrubHub, and Uber to continue to profit by paying subminimum wages to their workers. It's a violation of the law and it's a violation of what's right.
Brad Lander, city comptroller
The months-long delay – the minimum wage was supposed to be set at the start of the year – and the new proposed pay rate have inflamed labor advocates, some of whom were once pushing for $30 an hour. And the rewritten rule still hasn’t satiated delivery app companies, like Uber and DoorDash, which argue that they’ll be forced to boost prices, limit workers and their flexibility to choose their shifts.
But the battle lines have shifted in recent months, as more workers rail against the minimum wage, echoing fears cited by apps companies. Some leaders have defected from the prominent delivery worker group Los Deliveristas Unidos, as the CITY first reported earlier this week. In the hearing and a rally beforehand on Friday, elected officials, workers and current group leaders said they blame food delivery app companies for sowing fear among workers in targeted messages urging them to testify against the proposal.
“We are pleading with DCWP and City Hall, do not capitulate to corporate lobbying,” said City Comptroller Brad Lander, the original 2021 bill sponsor when he served as a council member, in a morning rally at his office ahead of the hearing. “Do not allow DoorDash, GrubHub, and Uber to continue to profit by paying subminimum wages to their workers. It's a violation of the law and it's a violation of what's right.”
Lander also called the multi-apping claim “fabricated,” saying that workers aren’t paid by two companies at the same time. Under the latest DCWP proposal, base wages after subtracting expenses, time off, taxes, and worker compensation would be $12.69, he added, as outlined in a recent letter signed by more than twenty other elected officials.
Responding to the criticism, DCWP spokesperson Michael Lanza said the agency had received over 2,000 comments last year on their initial proposals. He said, “We want to make sure we get this right.”
Representatives of app delivery companies said that even under the new proposals, they’d have to raise consumer fees and change their current operations. Workers would have less flexibility to choose their own shifts, the representatives said.
Sascha Owen, senior manager of government relations at DoorDash, said while the company didn’t disapprove of a minimum wage for workers, the proposed rate would lead to more than $200 million in lost revenue for restaurants and other local businesses each year on their platform. Josh Gold, Uber communications and policy director, said the revised rules force the company to "lock out" workers from their accounts during certain periods, as other similar apps do.
“While we support fair pay for delivery workers, the structure of the proposed pay standard presents a false choice that limits independence and choice and must be altered,” he said.
Several workers — some video chatting from on their phone in the midst of deliveries — echoed those concerns, saying they were worried about “lockouts,” losing the ability to set their hours, and losing out on tips and deliveries as prices rise. Some specifically singled out Los Deliveristas Unidos and its leaders, saying that the group didn't accurately represent them or their interests.
“All of us will be affected,” said Rodolfo Ministro. “Restaurant owners as much as us as deliveristas.”
But many workers and their advocates say they’re already facing fewer deliveries as the workforce expands and an algorithm penalizes them when they decline orders.
“They claim that we have the freedom to be our own boss, but that's far from the truth,” delivery worker Joshua Wood said.
A former leader from Los Deliveristas Unidos, Manny Ramirez, who has recently voiced opposition to minimum pay standards, also appeared to walk back his staunch opposition.
In Friday's hearing, he said the law was "great" to help delivery workers support their families and criticized apps' messaging to workers.
"They tell us we're going to lose our job if we don't help, if we don’t be at the side of the companies," he said. "And that is not right."
Tagged
new york city
minimum wage
brad lander
delivery people
Race And Justice Unit
restaurants
Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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