#BreakingNews: Seattle City Councilmembers deliver for DoorDash for a week, gain respect for gig workers

April 1, 2024: 

The Seattle Council has been considering a rollback of gig workers’ rights to a minimum wage, but that all changed when they signed up to be Dashers.

After dealing with the hazards that come with being a delivery driver, and seeing how much less than “$26.40/hour” their pay shakes out to be, this council of Dashers vows to protect Seattle gig workers’ hard-earned labor protections.

Even Council President Sara Nelson saw the light when she got deactivated after being unable to complete an impossible order: “I was tasked with getting from Capitol Hill to deliver in Renton within 8 minutes at 5pm. For $2! I find that unreasonable. I believe the app corporations created a problem, and it’s our responsibility to fix it.” 

The council has now suspended all future meetings with greedy DoorDash lobbyists seeking to revert Seattle gig workers to making less than half the city’s minimum wage with a simple note on council letterhead: “Nevermind, Seattle. Implementing minimum wage for low-wage workers is good governance."

As reported by Ivana Livingwage

#AprilFools

Our statement on the 3/28 Seattle City Council Hearing on Minimum Pay for Gig Workers

“The Seattle City Council is trying to cut low-wage workers’ pay. 

The council is about to tell tens of thousands of workers in our city that, actually, they don’t deserve the right to minimum wage after all. They’re poised to take money out of the pockets of workers and put it into the profits of corporations that pay their CEOs millions of dollars.

Through a rushed, closed-door process that has taken place less than two months after the implementation of the #PayUp gig worker minimum wage law, Council President Nelson has allowed the app corporations to present ‘solutions’ to a problem they created by imposing massive new fees on customers. The corporations have recklessly gouged everyone in Seattle’s regional economy and made it harder for workers to realize our minimum wage win, and have used misinformation and massive lobbying resources to convince the council that the law is the problem.

The law was organized for and written over the course of several years with gig workers, corporations, small businesses, agencies, and policymakers at the table. It was voted on unanimously by the council and supported by the mayor. Workers then and now support the law and regularly report making living wages because of it. The law is the product of good governance, shaped thoughtfully and deliberately by a workforce that is largely made up of immigrants and refugees, people with disabilities, working parents, and young people – with buy-in across sectors.

Rolling back minimum wage for gig workers who have always been exploited by this industry but were deemed essential over the past four years – after barely two months of the right to fair pay – would be irresponsible policymaking informed by nothing but unverified claims from the app corporations.

Seattle is better than this.”

The Seattle Times: ‘Whiplash’ – Cutting worker pay is on the table

The Seattle Times has confirmed that the Seattle City Council is getting ready to CUT gig worker pay by repealing the #PayUp minimum wage law. 

For the last two months, app corporations have done everything they can to keep workers from making minimum wage, including piling on massive new fees to squeeze local businesses, customers, and workers. And now, they’ve finally come clean about what this is really about:

“...some council members have raised the idea of striking down the law entirely…”

“a spokesperson for DoorDash said the company’s preference remains a full repeal.”

— from The Seattle Times, March 22

The apps want to cut your pay – and they think the Seattle City Council will help them do it. No matter what changes they propose, we know the goal is to go back to being able to pay workers whatever they want, with zero transparency or accountability. 

As the Seattle Times article points out, there’s a rushed closed-door process underway at the Council, being led by Council President Sara Nelson, to help make that happen – but there’s still time for us to stop it.

“Am I able to recognize the backlash around it? Of course. However, any and all backlash around it has been the result of the companies, their resistance to paying more adequately, being accountable and being more honest. It saddens and frustrates me that the customer is the ultimate sufferer.”

— Michelle Balzer, Instacart worker, in The Seattle Times

If city councilmembers are looking for a way to help Seattle’s economy, they should focus on reigning in the apps’ unrestricted ability to gouge local customers and businesses. That’s the real problem. And for the council to consider rolling back minimum pay protections for low-wage workers by doing the app corporations’ bidding? That’s a problem too.

We can’t believe we have to say this, but we need your help reminding Seattle city councilmembers that all workers deserve a living wage, and that repealing or undermining any worker’s right to minimum wage is a huge step backwards for our city.

HELP US REMIND THE COUNCIL WHAT THE REAL ISSUE IS: 

ALL WORKERS DESERVE A LIVING WAGE

Gather 'Round: Multi-Billion Dollar Corporation Wants to Give Us Budgeting Tips!

DoorDash put out an ever-so-helpful blog post yesterday aimed at customers on a budget.

Stretch your dollar! Master the art of budgeting! Pinch pennies while our app executives point at you and laugh!

DoorDash cites polling data saying that 71% of voters think inflation and prices increases are here to stay, but the company sidesteps the fact that it’s the one raising prices.

Maybe prices are on the rise because corporations like DoorDash continue to raise fees to line CEO and shareholders’ pockets at the expense of workers and consumers alike.

Here are DoorDash’s “suggestions” for using its platform on a budget:

• Wait until happy hour, or when it manipulates order costs most, to “save an average discount of nearly $5 per order.” That’s odd 🤔– we thought $5 per order was an unacceptable loss when it comes to paying gig workers!

• Go around the worker and pick up the order yourself! That way, DoorDash remains the middleman that rips off the restaurant, nothing more.

• Use foodstamps, you peasants!

• Pay for a monthly DoorDash subscription! The corporation knows it can simply rename its mysterious Service Fee the It’s-Workers’-Fault Fee and get away with it, so why don’t you pay extra money to get around paying… extra money?

Obviously DoorDash cares so much about its customers, which is why it continues to add outrageous and unnecessary fees to gouge all of us.

Wrapping up this groundbreaking life hack list, DoorDash says it saved customers an estimated 446 million hours in 2023.

Let’s be clear: DoorDash did not work those hours – workers did! And the pay we received for that number of working hours was not mathing. 

We fought for and won a minimum pay standard to put a stop to subminimum wages and make corporations like DoorDash #PayUp. DoorDash has been at the forefront of the lobbying effort to crush worker organizing at every turn. Don't let corporations use our rights as workers as an excuse to retaliate with extra fees.  

Since DoorDash has been so generous with advice, we’d like to return the favor. Here’s a helpful list of ideas for DoorDash, too:

• Trim down the pay packages of your top execs.

• Stop charging bogus fees.

• Pay your workers a living wage.

• And take a hint – Seattle is just the beginning. 

#Appmath - Gig Corporations’ Fees Are Driven By Nothing But Greed

Gig workers in Seattle and beyond came together to fight for minimum wage because gig companies have shown since the beginning that they can’t be trusted to pay workers fairly.

And after nearly two months of tracking the retaliatory efforts of corporations like DoorDash and Instacart against Seattle’s minimum wage ordinance, we’ve seen how far the apps will go to gouge us all.

These tactics have included:

- DoorDash, UberEats, and Instacart all piling excessive new fees onto Seattle customers (who already are expected to cough up money for mysterious service and operating fees), and then misleadingly suggesting the new fees are required by Seattle law – hurting Seattle’s customers, businesses, and workers alike. These fees have no apparent connection to order cost or worker pay, and have jacked up order fees.

- UberEats was caught charging the same “local ordinance” $5 fee on orders in places nowhere near to Seattle, including Lake Stevens – a city nearly 40 miles away, in an entirely different county. The company then quietly walked that fee back once local press started asking it to explain itself, but not before continuing to rake in some extra cash by charging the fee for 4 more days just to see if it could get away with it.

- And now, right after insisting its fees are driven by “operating costs,” UberEats has started cutting the fees it charges in cities around Seattle. Hard to believe they’re the cash-strapped little businesses acting in good faith that they pretend to be when they’re wildly and confusingly manipulating customer experiences like this.

No matter how the apps try to spin it, the takeaway is clear: these fees are not driven by operating costs, or workers being paid fairly, or by a desire to support Seattle’s local businesses or consumers.

They are all about finding ways to make sure the companies’ profits continue to grow. The apps are in total control of the fees, and as they’ve shown, they can cut them whenever they want, with no delay. 

The apps are using workers being paid minimum wage as an excuse to price-gouge Seattle restaurants and customers along with workers. The result has been rising costs for customers, less business for restaurants, and inconsistent work for workers. 

The good news? This is a manufactured crisis that the apps could put an end to right now. All they have to do is cut it out with these outrageous new fees. If they don’t, we’ll start looking for ways to rein them in. 

Been ripped off by an app lately? Send us your order screenshots here!

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.

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.