The Seattle Times: "I’m a delivery driver. Here’s why Seattle should keep PayUp law"

By Mupopa Tshibuabua, The Seattle Times — June 20, 2024

As a longtime delivery driver, I take exception to the June 10 op-ed by the Drive Forward executive director Michael Wolfe, arguing that what delivery workers really need is lower pay. The column described Drive Forward as “representing gig workers,” but they don’t represent workers like me at all. As The Times itself has published, Drive Forward was founded and is funded by Uber and DoorDash. Its board is controlled by Uber and DoorDash executives.

I have been an Uber delivery driver for several years to supplement my Social Security benefits after undergoing treatment for two different cancers. While Uber continued to charge high fees to customers and restaurants, our pay was getting lower. I regularly got orders paying under $3. As contractors, we drivers pay all our own expenses, like mileage and extra taxes, so I would have to somehow cover all those costs out of that $3. I once received an order from a restaurant in Bellevue for delivery to a customer in Seattle that paid only $5. The mileage alone would have cost me more than Uber was paying.

That all changed this year when Seattle’s new PayUp law took effect, requiring apps to pay at least minimum wage after expenses on each job. I compared my total earnings from January to May in 2023, and January to May of this year — before and after the PayUp ordinance. For those five months in 2023, I made $6,690 total. This year, with PayUp, I made $10,115 during the same period.

The PayUp law put much more money in my account for roughly the same effort.

Now, thanks to PayUp, I decide which offers I take, without being penalized by Uber. If I have to wait for an order at a restaurant or get stuck in traffic, I finally get paid for that time. Before, I would find myself getting irritated when any problem arose, and even get into arguments. My customer satisfaction rating has been consistently 97% or higher, and my cancellation rate is zero.

The app companies aren’t happy, though. As soon as PayUp took effect, the apps announced a new $5 fee and blamed it on the law. Not only did they add the fee, they advertised that fee to customers, with in-app pop-ups, emails and online ads. The result was reduced demand as part of a strategy to repeal the law. They want struggling restaurants to blame struggling drivers for their problems, and customers to blame the city. In my opinion, app companies are gouging restaurants, drivers, and customers all at the same time.

I have sympathy for restaurant owners because it’s a tough business. And app companies are hurting them too: Apps charge restaurants fees as high as 30% of the order price. If Seattle wants to help restaurants and make delivery affordable, we should lower that fee — not workers’ pay.

Despite companies’ attempts to reduce demand, most workers I have spoken with are doing better now. Yes, I’m getting slightly fewer delivery offers, but before PayUp, I rejected about 60% of them because they weren’t worth doing; now, I can accept almost 100%.

In the eyes of these companies, we’re just inventory. But we are people with lives and families. We won the right to get paid minimum wage after expenses. Now the companies are attacking the law because they don’t want workers elsewhere to believe that something like that is possible. Seattle shouldn’t fall for it. The Seattle City Council should keep the law in place.

Mupopa Tshibuabua is a retired software engineer and a graduate of Washington State University and Oregon State University. He has worked for Microsoft, Digital Equipment Corporation and Compaq Computer.

Happy May Day - and TENTH anniversary of the Fight For $15!

Happy International Workers’ Day and happy 10th birthday to the Fight For $15! A decade ago, workers stood up for fair pay and strong workplace standards against fierce corporate opposition and WON. Seattle workers then kicked off a wave of wins for low-wage workers nationwide, bringing greater economic justice and resilience to millions of people. The fight to protect and advance fair pay and dignity at work continues today, and we’re proud to be in that work.

We celebrated this past decade of greater economic justice for all at a press conference with our partners at SEIU Local 6, MLK Labor, and the Mayor of Seattle. Here’s an absolute banger from Kyle Graham, a gig worker and leader, who spoke at the conference and summarized the importance of this day so well.

“I want to remind everyone here that for every single minimum wage win in history, someone had to be the first to challenge an industry to be better. They had to look around and say, we’d all do better if we all do better. That’s not an easy thing to do. Restaurant workers had to do it, hospitality workers had to do it, health care workers had to do it. I’m proud to say that now, gig workers are doing it too.”

And our executive director, Danielle Alvarado, gave a speech reminding everyone an important truth about successful labor organizing: that workers know our industries best and we are the ones who know what we need.

"Time and time again, we have shown that workers know better than anyone what needs to change about the economy. Listening to them is how we ensure every Seattle job is a good job. Without a doubt, there's more work that we still need to do, but looking over the last decade, I am confident that with strong partnership collaboration between worker organizations, businesses and local elected officials that we will continue to show the way for the rest of the country."

#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.