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(Bloomberg) – Food delivery drivers have been hailed as essential workers as they transport meals to customers amid the Covid-19 lockdowns that have crippled New York City. A year later, couriers powering platforms like DoorDash Inc. Grubhub and Uber Technologies Inc. are suffering from low wages and a lack of basic protections even as their risks increase, according to a new report.
Antonio Solis, 34, was delivering meals in Astoria, Queens, when torrential storms from Hurricane Ida triggered historic tornado warnings and flooding across New York City. Even though the rising waters threatened to damage his scooter engine or cause him to lose control, he continued. “Looking back, most orders weren’t even worth it. One was $ 5, ”he said. “But when you need the money, you have no choice but to take the risk.”
Solis is one of tens of thousands of couriers who continued to deliver meals to customers during the height of the pandemic. After factoring in expenses like e-bikes and batteries, the median hourly wage for delivery people in New York City is $ 7.94, excluding tips, according to a study conducted by advocacy group Worker’s Justice Project in partnership with Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Due to the great variability in customer tips and irregularities in the ability of workers to collect them, tips are not a reliable way to measure workers’ wages, said Maria Figueroa, author of the study and Dean of the SUNY Empire State College. .
About 38% of those polled said they were partially or totally short of their tips and other income, the survey found, based on responses from 500 app-based couriers.
“New York City app-based workers were already facing poor working conditions even before Covid-19,” Figueroa said. “The pandemic is only making things worse. “
In particular, a growing number of bicycle thefts and muggings have piled up on delivery costs, which average around $ 339 per month, researchers say. More than half of survey respondents had their bikes stolen while working, and of these, nearly a third were physically assaulted during the theft. The price of an electric bike ranges from $ 1,300 to $ 2,500, according to the study.
The report comes as New York City lawmakers prepare to regulate concert businesses after the pandemic-induced food delivery boom exposed vulnerabilities for restaurants and the workers who operate platforms. A package of bills pending in city council aims to improve working conditions for couriers, including a minimum payment per trip and a measure requiring restaurants to provide toilet access to food deliverers. DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber sued New York on Friday over its newly established cap on the amount meal delivery services can collect from restaurants.
A spokeswoman for DoorDash called the study’s results “misleading” and said the company’s delivery men received 100% of their tips and made $ 33 an hour in Manhattan. “We are actively engaged with the Dasher community and eager to collaborate with policy makers on ways in which all stakeholders can better support New York delivery people,” she said.
Grubhub and Uber did not respond to requests for comment.
The total number of food delivery workers in New York City is unclear, however, based on previous figures from the New York City Department of Transportation, the study estimates the size of this workforce. operates at around 65,000. New York City is the largest market for Grubhub, which was acquired last year by Just Eat Takeaway.com NV and UberEats and the second largest for DoorDash, according to the market research firm YipitData.
Companies have long argued that most of their employees together use the platform as a side activity. However, 85% of couriers surveyed said delivery was their main and only job, with two-thirds reporting working at least six days a week. And given their status as independent contractors in a low-wage part of the economy, workers lack protections such as unemployment insurance and wage protection enjoyed by those classified as employees.
The overwhelming majority of app-based delivery people in New York City are immigrants from Mexico, Central America, South Asia and West Africa, according to the report. As a result, couriers face unique challenges and hurdles when seeking accountability for pay issues or battling thefts and muggings. About 35% of respondents who reported incidents to police said officers did not file a report.
The Workers Justice Project and its concert group Los Deliveristas Unidos have lobbied city and state lawmakers for more rights and protections in recent months. This year, New York has emerged as the center of a bargaining strategy between business and unions to organize workers without having to grant them full employment status. Those plans were scrapped in June after quasi-union groups like the Deliveristas opposed the proposal and prompted other groups like the Transport Workers Union to withdraw their support.
© 2021 Bloomberg LP
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