Elected Officials, Delivery Workers, Labor Leaders Rallied Against Diminished and Delayed Minimum Pay Rule for Deliveristas

New York, NY – New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Council Member Marjorie Velazquez (Chair of Consumer & Worker Protection Committee), delivery workers, and labor leaders decried the delay and substantial pay reductions to New York City’s minimum pay rule for app-based delivery workers. The event was livestreamed here.

Delivery app companies DoorDash, Grubhub/Seamless, and Uber are lobbying aggressively to cut delivery worker pay below the minimum wage and water down the rules. Elected officials, advocates, and workers urged the Administration to stand up to lobbyists’ pressure.  

Local Law 115 of 2021—sponsored by then-Council Member Brad Lander— required the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to study working conditions of delivery workers and promulgate rules establishing minimum per trip payments by January 1, 2023. DCWP initially proposed rules in the fall of 2022. After lobbying by the app companies and months after the deadline for implementation, DCWP issued a second, revised set of rules in March 2023 that would substantially reduce the pay formula by more than $3 an hour and result in a subminimum base wage of below $13 per hour. 

DCWP will hold a hearing for public comment on the second set of proposed rules on Friday. 

“DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber are lobbying aggressively to deny their workers a $15 minimum wage and City Hall must not capitulate to the pressure of billion-dollar app companies,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Under the law I sponsored back in 2021, deliveristas should have received well-deserved raises by January 1 of this year. The delay grossly violates the law and worse is the duplicitous effort to bury a pay cut in regulatory double-speak, all to pad corporate profits off the backs of the most excluded and essential workers. DCWP must guarantee that workers are paid at least the minimum wage for every hour they work, including the time they spend waiting for their next delivery.”  

“Multi-billion dollar delivery app companies will stop at nothing to prevent New York City’s food delivery workers from earning a minimum wage,” said Ligia Guallpa, executive director of the Worker’s Justice Project, which organized Los Deliveristas Unidos in 2020. “Alongside Comptroller Lander, Worker’s Justice Project and Los Deliveristas Unidos fought for and secured a commitment of a minimum pay rate for delivery workers – but the Adams administration continues to bend to the pressures of big app companies and refuses to implement this historic law. Enough is enough. New York City must guarantee a minimum wage for delivery workers now.” 

“New York City’s 65,000 app-based delivery workers are essential workers. When the world shut down, we kept New Yorkers fed and countless small businesses afloat,” said Gustavo Ajche, a member leader of the Worker’s Justice Project and cofounder of Los Deliveristas Unidos. “During the height of the pandemic, we risked our lives so that families could enjoy fresh food from local businesses while staying safe in their homes. More than two years later, we still aren’t guaranteed a minimum wage. There’s no more time for delays or public hearings. The Adams administration must immediately enact the minimum pay that essential food delivery workers deserve.” 

“Deliveristas deserve to have basic rights to be able to survive in this city.  We want DCWP to recognize the abusive nature of this industry, of the essential role these workers play, and to do the right thing,” said Israel Melendez, Vice President of 32BJ SEIU. “We’re gonna stand behind you guys 100% for as long as it takes.”

On March 27, Comptroller Brad Lander and twenty-five elected officials sent a letter to DCWP expressing their frustration over the delay and laying out that the new rule would pay delivery workers below the state’s $15 an hour minimum wage.  

“DCWP is working towards finding a solution that meets the needs of all stakeholders. After the initial hearing, public comments were taken into consideration, which led to this moment. We want to get this right, especially since many delivery workers utilize different apps,” said Council Member Marjorie Velázquez, Chair of the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection. “This process has taken longer than expected, but I want to be clear – the final rules must meet the needs of deliveristas. They deserve fair pay just like the rest of us.”

“Our Deliveristas have delivered food to New Yorkers in the sleet, snow, and torrential rain. They keep the city that never sleeps running through every form of inclement weather and public health emergency, and it’s time we give them a raise,” said Council Member Shahana Hanif. “Our City has strung these hard working New Yorkers along for months and is now offering them a minimum pay far less than they deserve. It’s time to end the delays and stop the corporate fearmongering. Our Deliveristas deserve better.”

“Deliveristas have made significant strides in advancing workers rights and well-being. These hard working New Yorkers deserve to be paid a fair wage, and should be able to negotiate a minimum wage with the City without the influence of big corporations. I support the Deliveristas in their efforts to secure fair compensation, and urge the Adams’ administration to be transparent and consistent in their discussions,” said Council Member Carlina Rivera. 

“The mayor’s proposal unfairly penalizes workers for taking on multiple jobs to make ends meet. Instead of holding true to a strong hourly wage that would largely eliminate the need for multi-mapping in the first place, the mayor’s new proposal for paying deliveristas cuts wages and gives companies the ability to opt out of paying workers for all the time they spend on the job. We simply cannot allow the biggest employers in the delivery platform industry to keep using a predatory wage model that pays people inconsistently and encourages them to work under the most dangerous conditions, like snowstorms, flash floods, and heat waves,” said Anthony Capote, Senior Policy Analyst at Immigration Research Initiative. 

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