Gig work has officially become essential — each state which has required residents to shelter in place has officially decreed that food delivery platforms like Instacart, DoorDash, Postmates, and Grubhub are essential businesses that can continue to operate during the emergency orders. As customers increasingly rely on gig delivery services to help them stay at home and stay safe, these platforms are seeing booming business — Instacart alone is recruiting 300,000 new workers to meet surging demand.
But the people doing this essential gig work lack any essential protections in this crisis. They aren’t covered by minimum wage standards or other basic rights. They don't get paid sick leave to use when they need it. They’ve seen no pay bump, and often don't even have supplies to keep them safe at work.
We’re calling on gig companies to take four immediate steps to protect public health & provide workers some basic economic security during this crisis. And we’re calling on the government leaders who deem this work essential to require that workers get these essential protections from companies that continue operating during shelter-in-place orders.
A minimum of 14 days of unrestricted, immediate paid leave, plus access to additional leave when necessary, so that workers can stay at home to protect ourselves and the public.
Hazard pay of $5 for every delivery, and an additional $5 for any job that includes shopping, to acknowledge the risk we’re taking on and the extra time and attention our work now requires.
Protection & safety standards on the job — give us the supplies we need to stay safe, like gloves, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant, and contactless delivery as the default to reduce the risk of exposure on the job.
Compensation for lost income — don’t block workers from receiving unemployment benefits, and commit to provide aid for workers who aren’t eligible, so this crisis doesn’t push us over the edge.
Economic security is critical to public health. We need immediate steps from gig companies and government to ensure that the people doing this essential work are paid appropriately, provided basic protective equipment, and have access to paid leave so they can stay safe & healthy.
More details including the full petition & call to action are available on our website. Contact Sage Wilson at sage@workingwa.org to schedule an interview with a worker joining the call for these steps.
###
Contact: Sage Wilson, Working Washington: sage@workingwa.org
The Pay Up campaign is a national effort uniting thousands of workers on Instacart, DoorDash, Postmates, and other platforms to reboot the gig economy with new laws and policies that make these multi-billion-dollar companies pay up. Pay Up was sparked by Instacart workers who organized to take back their tips & push back against pay cuts, and has been established as a project of Working Washington, a workers’ rights organization based in Seattle that has led numerous groundbreaking efforts to advance labor standards at the local, state, and corporate levels. For more information on Pay Up, visit payup.wtf. For more information about Working Washington, check out workingWA.org