Sign On to Support Deliveristas!
New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection will hold a public hearing this week to hear comments on their new proposal for setting a minimum pay standard for app-based delivery service workers. The main topic of the hearing will be a revised version of the rule the agency originally proposed in November 2021. In the first proposal, DCWP recommended setting an hourly wage of $23.82 for all delivery workers, which would have phased in by 2025.
In the new proposal, driven by Mayor Eric Adams’ revisions to the first rule, the standard wage would fall to $19.96 per hour, largely due to a $3.60 penalty the mayor wants to impose for “multi-apping.” Multi-apping is an industry myth that is both uncommon and undesirable to workers. A strong hourly wage, in many cases, eliminates the need for multi-apping, as most workers would prefer to only work for one delivery platform at a time.
The new proposal also establishes a loophole for major delivery companies like Door Dash, Grub Hub, and Uber EATS. DWCP’s first proposal would have been the first wage standard in the nation to require companies to pay workers by the hour rather than just paying for the time from pick-up to drop-off.
The loophole, euphemistically called the “alternative method,” not only gives the biggest employers in this industry a way to avoid paying workers for time they spend waiting for orders, but it also upholds the existing issues of inconsistent pay for deliveristas and incentivizes them to work under the most dangerous conditions like snowstorms, flash floods, and heat waves.
Below is an explainer of how the new proposal form DCWP shortchanges workers by lowering the standard pay and gives companies a way to avoid paying them for all the time they spend on the job.
If you think workers deserve a strong hourly wage that doesn’t penalize them for working multiple jobs or gives companies a loophole to avoid paying workers fairly, add your name or organization to our sign on letter by Friday April 7.