Gig workers deliver peanuts to DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates as symbol of their pay

Photo of Carolyn Said

Gig workers, newly emboldened and organized, are taking their grievances to the streets.

Carrying bags of peanuts to symbolize how little they say they are paid, a handful of workers on Thursday mounted protests outside the San Francisco headquarters of three companies that hire independent contractors to deliver goods to consumers: Instacart (groceries), Postmates (food and other goods) and DoorDash (prepared meals).

“We are delivering to them what they pay us with,” said Vanessa Bain, an Instacart driver, gesturing to the brown bags stuffed with peanuts along with printed-out complaints from workers nationwide. “Our flexibility is waning. If we’re working 60 hours a week to make up the slack for pay cuts, there’s nothing flexible about it.”

The workers, who got organized through Working Washington, a labor-backed group, were delivering demands to the companies as part of a campaign called #PayUp that will continue for four days with workers rejecting lower-paid delivery jobs and staging some public actions.

Their demands: They want a pay floor of $15 an hour plus expenses including personal car mileage, as well as the payroll taxes they must currently pay as contractors. They want transparent, detailed breakdowns of how their pay is calculated. They want guarantees that customer tips will be included on top of what companies pay them.

Their fledgling movement was galvanized by revelations that Instacart and DoorDash were pocketing tips to use as part of the base pay they guaranteed workers. Both companies changed those policies after worker outcries.

At Postmates, Vikrum Aiyer, vice president of global public policy, and Keith Chapman, associate general counsel, spent 30 minutes on the sidewalk talking to about seven workers and their supporters, and offered to set up another meeting for them to give more-formal feedback.

“Nobody knows how to reach you guys” when something goes wrong with an order, said Paul Canady, who has been driving for about three years. Aiyer gave Canady and others his business card and offered to be a point of contact.

Pay is their paramount concern, the workers said. “The economics aren’t sustainable,” Canady said. He and the other protestors disputed Postmates’ assertion that San Francisco couriers average $21.50 an hour. (Gig courier work is generally paid by the order rather than by the hour.)

“Our pay is getting sucked down like crazy,” said Felix Sanchez, 41. He’s been delivering through Postmates for about five years. He said he used to make about $100 a day for seven orders, but now brings in $30 plus variable tips for the same amount of work.

Earlier at Instacart, according to the workers, they were turned away, but a sympathetic employee offered to carry in their bags of peanuts and complaints. At DoorDash, two executives came down to meet with the group, which had dwindled to four people, but declined to have reporters present.

Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates issued statements saying they take worker feedback seriously and want their drivers to have economic security.

All three referred to the discussions now under way in Sacramento about gig worker status, against the backdrop of AB5, a bill now moving through the state Legislature that could turn the Postmates, Instacart and DoorDash couriers into employees, rather than independent contractors.

“We have called for legislation in California that preserves the flexibility Dashers tell us they value while instituting a minimum wage, providing access to benefits, legally protecting them from discrimination and sexual harassment, and creating a robust form of worker voice to ensure they have a say over the conditions of their work,” DoorDash said, using the company’s term for couriers.

If AB5 passes, DoorDash will work with Uber and Lyft to seek an exemption via a November 2020 ballot initiative; those three companies have each contributed $30 million to a fund for it.

Postmates has been urging its couriers to weigh in on the debate.

“Since Labor Day, 5,700 on-demand delivery gig workers have sent messages to lawmakers calling to preserve their flexibility to choose when and how they work on our platform, while accessing a new class of worker benefits (such as health, retirement, and civil rights protections) — legislative reforms that can only durably be achieved by working hand in hand with labor unions and governments at all levels,” it said.

Likewise, Instacart wote that it “will continue to work closely with local legislators as we push to modernize laws in a way that allows shoppers to reach their personal and financial goals, while maintaining the flexibility they enjoy as part of the Instacart” service.
