DoorDash, Instacart, and UberEats apparently consider the idea of having to pay gig workers at least minimum wage to be a major crisis.
How do we know?
Gig companies shelled out $25,000 to hire a corporate “crisis communications” person to testify at a Seattle City Council committee hearing yesterday, where he strung words together in opposition to our PayUp policy, which would raise pay, protect flexibility, and provide transparency for 40,000+ gig workers on apps like DoorDash, Instacart, TaskRabbit, and Rover.
>>> Gig workers are facing the true crisis in the gig economy—subminimum wages as low as $2/job. Add your voice: Tell Seattle City Council to pass our first PayUp ordinance to ensure tens of thousands of gig workers have access to basic labor protections. <<<
He wasn’t alone. Lobbyists for Instacart, Uber, Shipt, and DoorDash also spoke against being required to pay a livable wage to workers on apps like Instacart, Uber, Shipt, and DoorDash.
But gig workers outnumbered the corporate lobbyists at the hearing, communicating about the crisis of subminimum wages that leave them struggling to make ends meet.
“This isn’t a side gig. I’m doing this to pay rent, buy food, buy medicine, and survive. What I’m making doesn’t give me enough to build up any savings.”
“I live on the edge every day. I got into a car accident while working, and I had to take out a $13,000 loan to buy a new car. Then I got breast cancer and couldn’t work as much. I had nothing saved up, so I could not keep up with bills, and I still owe $12,000 on my car loan.”
“Like many others, I depend on gig work to make a living. Gig workers are tired of being taken advantage of by multi-billion dollar companies...for me, a flat tire or health issue could mean possible homelessness. We need to pass the PayUp policy now—because gig workers like me deserve protections.”
Whenever corporate lobbyists start scrambling to find their favorite sky-is-falling arguments, we know we’re doing something right. Years of relentless organizing led by gig workers through our Pay Up campaign have paid off—and now we’ve got an ordinance the City Council can pass into law to protect gig workers’ rights.
It’ll take all of us raising our voices to make it a reality.