[US] DoorDash and GrubHub sue over NYC minimum wage

In New York, Grub Hub and DoorDash - two of the biggest employers of delivery workers - have gone to court to block a wage rise that was scheduled to go into effect later this week (July 12), The Spirit reports.

The delivery platforms claim that the pay hike would have an adverse impact on their business model. 

A DoorDash spokesman told Straus News, “Bad policies cannot go unchallenged, and we will not stand by and let the harmful impacts of this earnings standard on New York City customers, merchants, and the delivery workers it was intended to support go unchecked.” 

He continued, “We - and others - clearly and repeatedly warned the city that using such a flawed process to underpin its rulemaking would have lasting and harmful impacts for all New Yorkers who use these platforms, but the approach that DCWP took was sadly not one that reflected this and has left us no choice but to take our concerns to court.”

It is a position that has reportedly angered some of the wage boosters. City Comptroller Brad Landers is among them. Mr Landers is said to have initially felt that the hike was a Trojan horse. He had helped spearhead it in its original form as Local Law 115 when he was a City Councilmember, however, when the bill was signed, he reportedly indicated feelings of betrayal in a Twitter thread. 

Mr Landers claimed that his office had data that would put the rise at $13 in actual wages. He said, “City Hall acquiesced to the lobbying of billion $ [sic] app companies, delaying raises owed to deliveristas & padding corporate profits off the backs of some of NYC’s hardest working NYers.”

The City Comptroller is now criticising the companies for the suit. “No surprise that @GrubHub, @DoorDash, & @Uber are out to squeeze every last penny they can from delivery workers,” Mr Landers wrote in response to a Wall Street Journal report on the lawsuit.

Los Deliveristas Unidos - a group representing delivery workers - was equally straight-talking on the subject of the lawsuit. In a statement, it claimed that “After a 7-month delay in implementation of a minimum pay rate, it’s unconscionable that multi-billion dollar companies would now turn around and continue to do everything in their power to prevent New York City’s more than 65,000 app-based delivery workers from earning a livable wage.

The group added that, “this latest legal maneuver to prop up their business model comes at the expense of workers who can barely survive in a city facing a massive affordability crisis.”

Source: The Spirit

(Quotes via original reporting)

In New York, Grub Hub and DoorDash - two of the biggest employers of delivery workers - have gone to court to block a wage rise that was scheduled to go into effect later this week (July 12), The Spirit reports.

The delivery platforms claim that the pay hike would have an adverse impact on their business model. 

A DoorDash spokesman told Straus News, “Bad policies cannot go unchallenged, and we will not stand by and let the harmful impacts of this earnings standard on New York City customers, merchants, and the delivery workers it was intended to support go unchecked.” 

He continued, “We - and others - clearly and repeatedly warned the city that using such a flawed process to underpin its rulemaking would have lasting and harmful impacts for all New Yorkers who use these platforms, but the approach that DCWP took was sadly not one that reflected this and has left us no choice but to take our concerns to court.”

It is a position that has reportedly angered some of the wage boosters. City Comptroller Brad Landers is among them. Mr Landers is said to have initially felt that the hike was a Trojan horse. He had helped spearhead it in its original form as Local Law 115 when he was a City Councilmember, however, when the bill was signed, he reportedly indicated feelings of betrayal in a Twitter thread. 

Mr Landers claimed that his office had data that would put the rise at $13 in actual wages. He said, “City Hall acquiesced to the lobbying of billion $ [sic] app companies, delaying raises owed to deliveristas & padding corporate profits off the backs of some of NYC’s hardest working NYers.”

The City Comptroller is now criticising the companies for the suit. “No surprise that @GrubHub, @DoorDash, & @Uber are out to squeeze every last penny they can from delivery workers,” Mr Landers wrote in response to a Wall Street Journal report on the lawsuit.

Los Deliveristas Unidos - a group representing delivery workers - was equally straight-talking on the subject of the lawsuit. In a statement, it claimed that “After a 7-month delay in implementation of a minimum pay rate, it’s unconscionable that multi-billion dollar companies would now turn around and continue to do everything in their power to prevent New York City’s more than 65,000 app-based delivery workers from earning a livable wage.

The group added that, “this latest legal maneuver to prop up their business model comes at the expense of workers who can barely survive in a city facing a massive affordability crisis.”

Source: The Spirit

(Quotes via original reporting)