[US] NYC’s delivery workers guaranteed minimum pay under new City Council laws

On July 14, the New York City Council passed a package of bills that expand wage protections for delivery workers and extend a groundbreaking minimum pay requirement to thousands of workers who deliver groceries on apps such as Instacart, Gothamist reports.

This is the second significant legislative change for NYC’s more than 80,000 delivery workers; organisers secured a guaranteed minimum hourly pay rate in 2021.

The bills will reportedly require apps to request tipping when a customer places an order, rather than after delivery, and they will require companies to restore the range for suggested tips to begin at 10 per cent. The current hourly minimum wage is $21.44.

Delivery workers have previously disclosed that app companies made it harder for customers to tip, following the landmark minimum pay rule, including by moving the tipping option to after food was delivered and lowering the suggested tipping amounts. 

According to city estimates, prior to the increase, delivery drivers made an average of $5.39 an hour before tips.

“Tipping still complements every time a deliverista is making that last mile delivery in the snow, in the middle of traffic, in the middle of a heat wave,” Ligia Guallpa - executive director of the nonprofit Worker’s Justice Project - said. “[Tipping] can really go a long way to ensure workers can still take home a dignified pay.”

City Councilmember Sandy Nurse - who sponsored the bill - said it was the right thing to do.

“They do similar tasks, they have similar risks and they face similar exploitation by apps,” Ms Nurse said at a rally on the steps of City Hall before the vote. “If your business model cannot survive without paying minimum pay wage to workers, it is not a successful one.”

An Instacart spokesperson reportedly called the legislation to expand the minimum pay laws to grocery delivery workers “unconscionable” and said the city’s numbers showed it would drive up grocery delivery costs by 46 per cent.

The spokesperson cautioned that the added costs could make grocery delivery less accessible for families and communities already struggling with the rising cost of food and necessities.

A Grubhub spokesperson stated that the company is working closely with delivery worker advocates and the City Council and plans to continue collaborating to ensure the new rules are clear, practical and centred on the needs of delivery workers.

A City Hall spokesperson reportedly said that Mayor Eric Adams was reviewing the legislation.

Source: Gothamist

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

On July 14, the New York City Council passed a package of bills that expand wage protections for delivery workers and extend a groundbreaking minimum pay requirement to thousands of workers who deliver groceries on apps such as Instacart, Gothamist reports.

This is the second significant legislative change for NYC’s more than 80,000 delivery workers; organisers secured a guaranteed minimum hourly pay rate in 2021.

The bills will reportedly require apps to request tipping when a customer places an order, rather than after delivery, and they will require companies to restore the range for suggested tips to begin at 10 per cent. The current hourly minimum wage is $21.44.

Delivery workers have previously disclosed that app companies made it harder for customers to tip, following the landmark minimum pay rule, including by moving the tipping option to after food was delivered and lowering the suggested tipping amounts. 

According to city estimates, prior to the increase, delivery drivers made an average of $5.39 an hour before tips.

“Tipping still complements every time a deliverista is making that last mile delivery in the snow, in the middle of traffic, in the middle of a heat wave,” Ligia Guallpa - executive director of the nonprofit Worker’s Justice Project - said. “[Tipping] can really go a long way to ensure workers can still take home a dignified pay.”

City Councilmember Sandy Nurse - who sponsored the bill - said it was the right thing to do.

“They do similar tasks, they have similar risks and they face similar exploitation by apps,” Ms Nurse said at a rally on the steps of City Hall before the vote. “If your business model cannot survive without paying minimum pay wage to workers, it is not a successful one.”

An Instacart spokesperson reportedly called the legislation to expand the minimum pay laws to grocery delivery workers “unconscionable” and said the city’s numbers showed it would drive up grocery delivery costs by 46 per cent.

The spokesperson cautioned that the added costs could make grocery delivery less accessible for families and communities already struggling with the rising cost of food and necessities.

A Grubhub spokesperson stated that the company is working closely with delivery worker advocates and the City Council and plans to continue collaborating to ensure the new rules are clear, practical and centred on the needs of delivery workers.

A City Hall spokesperson reportedly said that Mayor Eric Adams was reviewing the legislation.

Source: Gothamist

(Link and quotes via original reporting)