Ending "hazard pay" is a crisis for gig workers who earn $2 a job

The official COVID emergency period may have ended, but for gig workers, this change is a crisis of its own. We’re facing extreme financial instability, and even with hazard pay we’ve found ourselves unable to pay our bills. For many of us, losing hazard pay means having to put in 70-80 hours of work a week, facing homelessness, or going without essential medical care. Workers fought hard to win a permanent pay standard that will go into effect at the end of 2023. But the reality is that until it’s implemented, ending hazard pay means a huge pay cut with no accountability for gig companies.

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Danielle Alvarado testimony before the U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity & Fairness in Growth

“Today, our Seattle minimum wage is $10 higher than the federal, and the movement that started here has spread nationwide. Over the past decade, we’ve increased wages by more than $150 billion dollars for 26 million workers across the country.

Our victories in Washington aren’t just about what we’ve won, but who has benefitted. We have taken on some of the most deeply entrenched and racist labor standards exclusions in federal law. In Seattle, nannies and house cleaners passed the first municipal Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to establish basic protections like minimum pay and breaks. And this year, for the first time, Washington farmworkers are earning overtime. These victories are chipping away at an economic system that for too long has trapped workers of color at the bottom.”

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