Rideshare and delivery app workers launch massive organizing coalition in NYC
100,000 rideshare and delivery app workers are represented in new coalition fighting for unionization rights, safety/security, bathroom access, wages, and more.
For nearly three years, Kevin Zhou has worked as a delivery driver in New York City for DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, and other food delivery apps, and often has to work 12 to 16 hour days just to make enough to make ends meet and support his family.
“Sometimes in an order, you can make just $3 to $5 and it can take half an hour,” said Zhou.
He added issues such as traffic and parking tickets, car maintenance, car insurance, gas, other expenses, and being sent by the app on long delivery runs that are out of the way of areas where most orders are concentrated force him and other workers to have to work long hours to make it worthwhile to work the apps.
Just a few weeks ago, Zhou got into a car accident while working during a winter storm in New York City, as he said during bad weather is often when the app is the busiest, and he had to pay several hundred dollars in repairs out of his own pocket.
“The companies can take 20 to 30 percent of our earnings, and by myself I don’t have the power to change that, so we need to unite together to fight for our rights,” added Zhou. “We need change and to organize together to fight these big companies.”
Zhou is a founding member of the International Alliance of Delivery Workers, one of 9 grassroots worker organizations in the New York City area that are launching a new coalition, Justice for App Workers, representing 100,000 rideshare and delivery app workers on 1 February and kicking off the new organizing effort with a rally in Foley Square in Manhattan. The coalition is one of the largest organizing campaigns focused on the gig app economy in the US.
The coalition comprises of groups including the NYC Rideshare Club, United Delivery Workers Association, International Alliance of Delivery Workers, the Independent Drivers Guild, Long Island Uber & Lyft Network, Black Car Mafia, UzBER, NYC Drivers Unite, and Utany, which represents Spanish-speaking rideshare drivers in the Bronx.
The groups are organizing together in demand of living wages, a safe working environment, an end to unfair deactivation, quality healthcare benefits, reliable bathroom access, and the right to form a union for rideshare and delivery app workers, with the aim to expand these demands and organizing efforts around the US.
Rideshare and delivery app workers around the US have been pressuring elected officials to rein in the industry’s treatment of workers. The New York City Council passed legislation several months ago to establish minimum pay and guarantee bathroom access for food delivery workers and some regulation efforts have been made over the years, but workers affirm that significant issues remain that they hope to amend through organizing efforts.
“We are fighting to transform this industry,” said Naomi Ogutu, who has worked full-time as a rideshare driver for Uber and Lyft since 2016. “We want to take on these multi billion dollar companies that control our lives. We are a big part of the New York economy and we are an important and integral part of New York. We deserve better.”
Naomi Ogutu, credit Noah Dickinson, courtesy of Justice for App Workers
She explained the issues she has faced as a rideshare driver and heard from other drivers over the past several years, such as the apps taking a significant chunk of revenue out of every ride, a lack of security features to protect drivers, a lack of support or fair arbitration in cases of wrongful deactivation of driver accounts, and a lack of paid leave if a driver has any job related issues such as getting assaulted by a passenger.
Ogutu also cited a lack of access to bathrooms as a prevalent problem for rideshare drivers in New York City, as she often has to drive far out of her way to find a bathroom she is able to use while on the job.
“I close my app to go to the Wegmans supermarket in Brooklyn, that's where I go to the bathroom. So that’s how I've broken my day. That means I'm losing income, because I'm driving across the bridge, going all the way to Brooklyn, just to use a bathroom,” added Ogutu, who is also President of NYC Rideshare Club, which represents around 4,400 rideshare drivers in New York City. “If you are working and generating billions of dollars for a company, and you can't even access a bathroom, that's not fair and it's not human at all.”