Following is a statement from Dan Ocampo, Staff Attorney with the National Employment Law Project:
“Today, Mayor Eric Adams vetoed two City Council bills that would have guaranteed delivery workers for companies like Instacart, GoPuff, and Amazon Flex, the minimum wage virtually all other employers in the city are legally required to pay. This decision will keep thousands of essential workers earning poverty wages. The Council should override this veto to uphold its commitment to protecting all workers in New York City.”
“This comes after years of worker organizing for an expansion of New York’s minimum pay standard for app-based delivery workers. That pay standard, which has been in effect since 2023, guarantees restaurant delivery workers at least $21.44 per hour (broadly equivalent to the city’s minimum wage after accounting for expenses and the value of some employment benefits), but excludes grocery delivery workers.”
“Adams sided with an Instacart-funded lobbying campaign to block Int. 1135 and Int. 1133, both passed overwhelmingly by the City Council last month, claiming that the bills would worsen food insecurity for New Yorkers with lower incomes.”
“Food insecurity in New York City is indeed a crisis. But the price of grocery delivery—already 30 to 50 percent more expensive than in-store shopping—doesn’t justify keeping grocery delivery workers in poverty. Low wages are part of what drives hunger.”
“By calling delivery workers independent contractors and exploiting loopholes in the law, Instacart likely pays its workers well below the city’s $16.50 minimum wage. Restaurant delivery workers were earning about $11.12 with tips, and just $4.03 without before the city’s 2023 pay standard, and there’s no reason to think grocery delivery worker pay is any better.”
“Adams’s Department of Consumer & Worker Protection led the effort to raise restaurant delivery worker pay. Adams also identified the expansion of the delivery worker minimum pay standard as a signature initiative for the Department in his Blueprint for Economic Recovery. By vetoing these bills, he’s not only defying the City Council, but undermining his own administration’s work.”
“This move won’t make groceries more affordable for struggling families. But it will ensure thousands of delivery workers remain stuck with poverty wages. New Yorkers need both affordable food and fair pay for the workers who deliver it. And we can have both when we work towards policies that raise wages and make app-based jobs good jobs. The City Council should override this veto and stand with workers who keep New York running.”
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