A first-of-its-kind Seattle-specific analysis of gig worker pay just released today finds 92% of gig delivery jobs in Seattle pay less than minimum wage after accounting for basic expenses, with pay averaging just $9.58/hour after accounting for the costs of mileage, payroll taxes, and other basic expenses borne by independent contractors.

Media briefing with Councilmembers will review key details of the #PayUp policy & highlight the need to eliminate subminimum wages across the gig economy.

Gig workers are making a special delivery to City Hall with hundreds of to-go bags and one giant 6-foot-tall bag. It’s a message calling on city leaders to deliver for workers by passing a new law eliminating subminimum wages on apps like DoorDash, Instacart, and UberEats. These workers are currently paid as little as $2 a job for their work and excluded from basic labor standards.

Seattle City council is taking a big step towards making the gig economy pay up: draft legislation to be discussed in committee would dramatically raise pay and provide other protections to 40,000 gig workers on apps like DoorDash, Instacart, and Uber Eats who are currently paid subminimum wages and not protected by basic labor standards.

Gig workers garner strong support from immigrant rights, workers rights, and other community based organizations for effort to win citywide policies to raise pay, protect flexibility, and provide transparency

Five workers from two locations of Dick’s Drive-In have filed formal health & safety complaints with the Department of Labor & Industries, documenting a range of severe workplace issues including lack of hot water, frequent burns, poor sanitation practices, and failure to comply with COVID safety guidelines. The extent of issues underscores the crisis of labor standards enforcement in our state

TODAY, lawyers suing the Employment Security Department to compel the agency to promptly pay unemployment benefits filed a “Motion for accelerated review and immediate relief” calling for immediate intervention by the courts. With tens of thousands of unemployed workers still awaiting resolution of their claims, the new filing argues that "the procedural nightmare at ESD is an affront to dignity". Further, the motion argues, "delays in providing… workers the unemployment benefits they are owed and on which they depend for daily existence have reached crisis levels."

TODAY, Seattle City Council voted by unanimously by a 9 - 0 vote to pass the nation’s first hazard pay law for gig workers. When signed by the mayor, CB 119979 will require large food and grocery delivery companies to pay workers an additional $2.50/delivery to reflect the added risk and expense they are taking on as essential workers during a global pandemic.

Gig delivery workers have been officially “essential” since the COVID crisis began, but the multi-billion-dollar companies they work for aren’t providing them the essential protections they need to stay safe, stay healthy, and have basic economic security. That could begin to change with a Seattle City Council vote set for 2:00pm today on an emergency ordinance (CB 119799) that would require food delivery companies to provide gig workers hazard pay for each essential delivery they complete during this crisis.