Millburn Moneybags Posts Up at Pike Place

Last week, we gathered at Pike Place Market for a visual demonstration of the importance of fair pay for all workers — and how the app corporations’ retaliation with fees makes the megacorps look as greedy and out of touch as they are.

Mr. Moneybags himself came through to make a compelling case on behalf of app corporations like DoorDash and Instacart. Some of his more ~ salient ~ points:

  • “If I can’t build my business model off subminimum wages, then my customers need to make up for it!”

  • “I don’t give two craps if customers can’t afford an extra $5 on their orders! I didn’t get to where I am today, looking like a million bucks, by caring about anyone but me. Maybe fewer orders will teach those greedy gig workers that minimum wage is selfish!”

  • “Paying my workers minimum wage hurts me – and I’ve never known pain in my entire life!!!”

  • “This is about pitting worker against worker. Restaurant against worker! Customer against worker! This is divide and conquer, baby! Good ole fashion union busting style power grabbing.”

As tear-jerking as the corporation’s arguments may be, we know that they have been getting away with paying us steeply subminimum wage and building their billions off our underpaid labor (and our subsidization of the work we do), for years. Now that they’re required to pay us a living wage for our time, the corporations have turned on the water works – and are using those crocodile tears to try to wash away minimum wage for gig workers. Read more about our action in King5, The Seattle Times, and KIRO.

The key takeaway? App corporations are applying a huge amount of pressure to the city council to roll back minimum wage for gig workers and council leadership is giving every indication that the corporate lobbying is working.

Send an email to the council NOW to tell them you support minimum wage for gig workers!

Tell the council you support living wages for all workers!

Gig workers finally won the right to a minimum wage – help us defend that right!

Gig workers in Seattle are holding the line on our minimum wage victory and we urgently need your help.

Research showed that 92% of gig delivery jobs in Seattle paid less than half of the city’s current minimum wage after accounting for the expenses we pay to do this work, so we organized to fix that. And in May 2022, we won! We passed a new law to ensure we would no longer be paid subminimum wages. 

Fast forward to this January when the law took effect. The app companies immediately launched a coordinated effort against the law that workers, small businesses, city agencies, and apps themselves developed together to provide minimum wage for gig workers in our city. 

You’ve seen it in the news – app companies are using all the big business political tactics (like imposing outrageous new fees) and spreading deliberate misinformation (like claiming workers now make $26.40) to argue that raising wages is bad for our economy.

All because they don’t want to have to pay us fairly.

This looks exactly like the big business reaction when Seattle workers won the $15 minimum wage almost a decade ago. Despite all the corporate hand wringing, the sky did not fall. Instead, our local economy grew and wages went up, making it easier for us to to afford housing, take care of ourselves and our families, and keep money here in Seattle. 

We need you to help us fight back.

We’re asking you to show the new council that Seattle agrees: minimum wage standards are essential for protecting every low-wage worker in our city and keeping our local economy strong and resilient. 

Drop a line to the city council now in support of gig worker minimum wage!

Have a screenshot you want to share of these outrageous corporate tactics raising the price tag on your order? Send it to us here and join us in the fight for the wages and protections we deserve. 

Gig worker minimum pay is working — don’t let the apps divide us!

A very good thing has happened: for the first time, gig workers are making a minimum wage!

And a predictable thing is also happening: corporate app companies are mobilizing against gig worker minimum pay. 

Just three weeks ago, the groundbreaking minimum pay ordinance for gig workers went into effect. This law grants us one of the first-ever gig worker minimum wages along with transparency safeguards (so we can work on our terms without fear of punishment through reduced orders or deactivation of our accounts). And it's working. 

Predictably, paying workers a living wage makes multimillionaire app execs sad. :( They’re bending over backwards to make the implementation of this law feel bad for workers and customers alike — tacking on new and unsubtly-named “Regulatory Response Fees” and generating media coverage designed to make minimum wage for gig workers look like a bad idea.

“My name is Talisha. I am a gig worker on the Instacart app. And I wanted to express my immense pride for being part of the campaign that created fair pay to thousands of gig workers in our city. Every day we provide a wanted and needed service to the people of Seattle, and I can say personally since the PayUp policy was implemented a month ago, I’m already seeing improvements in my life ”
— Talisha Herald, gig worker with Instacart

Three things to know:

  1. The minimum pay law – just like all minimum pay law victories led by workers before it – is working. How well the apps are complying (which they’ve proven before they’ll try not to do) are things we’ll find out as the months and years unfold.

  2. The apps are trying to generate public opposition to workers being paid fairly. This is in the apps’ interest. Giant corporations lost the battle to keep paying subminimum wages to workers here in Seattle, so they’re working double-time to make workers/customers/policymakers in other cities back down from that fight. Well bad news for them: minimum wage is super popular! 

  3. Brush up on the facts of the law so you can remind them that workers are making a living wage now if you hear someone saying something untrue about the minimum pay ordinance.

The bottom line:

Workers are making more money per order under this law. 

Seattle gig workers organized for and won a minimum pay standard because we could not afford the food we are delivering or the service we are providing. We are a huge population of workers who, prior to the law, were making subminimum wage. We have created a path to gig work being sustainable and dignified and we’re proud of that. At the end of the day, raising pay for delivery workers keeps money in the community and that means a stronger economy here, for all of us.


Nothing about the law makes the apps charge customers a single additional fee. 

The apps are choosing to do that to customers so their Silicon Valley CEOs and shareholders can keep raking in millions in record profit, just like they did last year and the year before.

This law passed unanimously because it’s a good, popular policy. 

It was crafted over the course of years, with workers, big and small businesses, and policymakers at the table. From passage to implementation, corporations had over 18 months to figure out how to comply. It’s time to implement.

Engaging right now is vital, and being informed is the most important element of fighting back. To do that we need data, stories, and facts. If you’re a gig worker, come to our Feb. 15th Know-Your-Rights clinic to get your questions answered about this law, meet other gig workers, and speak to our legal team. If you’re a customer, join us in making sure this law is implemented and send us screenshots so we can track the lies apps are telling the public. 

We’re strongest when we stick together against the corporations who try to divide us in order to get rich. 

Stay tuned. La lucha sigue.

Our Statement on the 2024 Seattle City Council Appointment

Today’s vote by the Seattle City Council to appoint Tanya Woo to the vacant council seat marked the new council’s first action and the working-class community’s last chance to shape the makeup of our council until November. Now, the people who live in Seattle, work in Seattle, and love Seattle need to keep our focus on improving our day-to-day lives in our city by holding the council accountable to our values.

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About that Seattle City Council seat...

The Seattle City Council just wrapped up the first of two days of public comment about the vacant seat. Dozens of people were there in person to speak out against the moneyed corporate interests trying to manipulate our city government process. But the push isn’t over. The council is voting TOMORROW 1/23 on who should fill the vacant seat. 

This is our last chance to urge the council to do the right thing. Here’s one thing you can do before the council votes tomorrow at 2pm:

  • Write to council@seattle.gov. Use your own words to oppose the corporate manipulation, or use this template: “I am a member of our Seattle community. I urge the Seattle City Council to appoint a candidate with demonstrated public service chops in stakeholder engagement, anti-austerity budget investments, and the ability to see and serve our most marginalized community members. We need an inclusive economy that uplifts and supports workers. We want to be able to afford life in this city, to feel safe raising our families here, and to invest in our schools and the public services everyone needs to thrive. We need thoughtful, experienced, trusted leaders who are qualified and ready to find the best solutions – not people who will simply do what well-paid consultants and their corporate clients tell them to do. This appointment decision is your first act as a council: use it to fill this seat with an experienced public servant who’s ready to tackle our biggest challenges.”

Your quick action – whether you signed the Concerned Citizens for Good Governance petition, turned out for public comment or emailed the council – is vital today. Let’s keep up the momentum all the way to the final vote. It’s not over ‘til it’s over.

Calling Out Shipt's Bullshi(p)t

In 2022, Seattle gig workers won a first-in-the-nation minimum pay standard so that gig companies could no longer pay subminimum wages to the workers who make app-based services possible. This new law goes into effect Jan. 13th, but instead of following it and paying workers a livable wage, Target’s delivery service Shipt announced it would rather skip town. 

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We WON funding of workers' rights enforcement!

Amazing news: The collective gig worker support petition signatures were the final, essential push for Seattle City Council to shield funding for workers’ rights enforcement.

As of late yesterday, the Seattle City Council has approved the budget that includes first-ever dedicated funding for enforcement and outreach about gig workers’ rights!


Despite a massive corporate campaign of blatant lies backed by endless resources, we pulled off what workers need. Now the game has been changed from an underfunded Office of Labor Standards to a fully funded, robust enforcement system that shows Seattle cares about building a more equitable, pro-worker economy.

Now gig workers will have both the protection of new laws in place and the teeth to follow through so that we’re treated with the dignity and respect we deserve. The app companies have proven time and again that they'll violate our rights if they can get away with it. Now we have the funding to make sure they can't.

Securing dedicated funding is a good first step -- next, we need to make sure every gig worker in the city knows about the rights we've won and continue the fight to protect funding for community-based education and enforcement. Follow us and stay updated as workers continue to level the playing field and show other workers, customers, and the gig industry nationwide what’s possible when we organize.

Support Working Washington in worker leadership development, organizing, and collective liberation work by donating at this link.

Invite others to sign up for our list and join the fight at this link.

give workers' rights laws teeth

Our rights as workers are hard won, but the only way to actually make them real and effective is through enforcement.

“We created these laws — it’s time to give them teeth. If not, these companies will continue to abuse the independent contractors that are the lifeblood of their organization.”
— Bobby Bourne, gig worker

Without enforcement, app companies have repeatedly violated our rights and will continue to do so with no accountability.

We support the ten-cent fee that Seattle gig workers are championing to establish dedicated funding for the Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) and Community Outreach and Education Fund (COEF).

Community-based organizations leading education and outreach to workers is the most effective form of organizing for stronger workplace protections and higher pay. OLS and COEF have been essential, helping workers enforce our rights, educate other workers about our rights, and win back nearly $14 million for workers from app companies caught violating our rights. 

“All of these companies have already shown us, that they will break the law any chance they get. They’ve taken money from workers and have lied to their customers about this legislation implying it’s a “tax on groceries,” which is a blanket lie about this fee.”
— Joelle Craft, gig worker

The app companies are lying to the public about this fee and about the workers advocating for it. 

By dropping over a dozen last-minute, bad-faith amendments to weaken or kill the fee so that they don’t have to pay it, they’re blatantly making a bid to continue to break workers’ rights laws, and keep their wealthy shareholders happy at the expense of the gig workers who are actually building their business. 

Despite paying $14 million in penalties in just the past three years, apps claim there really isn’t a need to fund enforcement. And they are trying to paint the gig workers fighting for the fee as dark-money, special-interest, and political operatives. 

But the apps are the ones with expensive lobbyists working to kill our bill and spending money on fearmongering ads trying to mislead consumers.

The apps claim that funding enforcement will make their services unaffordable – all while continuing to charge delivery and service fees that are often THIRTY TO FIFTY TIMES more than the fee we’ve proposed. 

Workers deserve to have enforcement and outreach adequately funded.

With DoorDash making a record $6.6 billion in revenue last year, Instacart’s stock prices surging, and GrubHub reporting year-over-year growth, it looks to us like they’re doing just fine.

“ These apps are a chamber of doom for this economy if they continue to try to dismantle enforcement mechanisms for laws that hold them accountable to their workforce. ”
— Jake Laundry, gig worker

Within 24 hours of launching a petition in support of the fee and funding enforcement, over 500 workers and supporters have signed.

The community recognizes the importance of workers having the tools to enforce our rights and educate other workers about those rights.

“This is not just about dollars and cents; it’s about our rights and dignity as workers. Gig workers in Seattle deserve fair treatment, and we can’t afford to let these misleading tactics hinder the progress we’ve made.”
— Wei Lin, gig worker