Delivery Workers Organize for Safety, And Dignity, on the Streets of New York
After losing his restaurant job during the pandemic, Cesar Solano, 20, started working for a food delivery app. Making deliveries to people’s homes during a health and economic crisis in New York City, put Cesar and workers like him at risk.
“I saw my colleagues being exploited. I saw how we were denied the use of bathrooms. I saw robberies, accidents, and tip theft," Cesar says.
Cesar, an immigrant from Guerrero, Mexico, and a group of his colleagues decided to use the power of social media, smartphones, and the Internet to fight for better conditions for delivery workers.
Last year, at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, food delivery apps more than doubled their business. They classify workers like Cesar as independent contractors, which means they don’t have to provide benefits such as health insurance or even pay them the minimum wage. There are an estimated 65 thousand delivery workers in New York City. They work six to seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day. The overwhelming majority are immigrant men, many of them from Latin America.
Cesar is one of the founders of El Diario de los Deliveryboys en la Gran Manzana (“The Diary of The Delivery Boys in the Big Apple”), a Facebook group where delivery drivers build connections, share news, and address specific issues, like organizing support when a worker suffers an accident or is robbed.
For example, when food delivery workers started getting their electric bikes stolen at the Willis Avenue Bridge in East Harlem, Cesar and his team sprang into action. Every night they would gather on one side of the bridge, encouraging workers to cross in groups of five or more. By practicing safety in numbers, the robberies decreased and eventually stopped. The nights Cesar and his colleagues spent at the bridge also strengthened the delivery worker community.
In April 2021, hundreds of delivery workers marched in Midtown Manhattan, demanding improved working conditions. The march was organized by Los Deliveristas Unidos, one of the city's best-known collectives of delivery workers. Deliverista is Spanglish for "delivery worker."
“These workers, when they end up in an accident, they have zero. Nothing,” says Deliveries Hildalyn Colón Hernández, the director of policy and strategic partnerships for Los Deliveristas Unidos. “They actually spend their own money to cover medical expenses – and also [bike repairs] because they need to get back to work. Right now, to this day, we have lost 10 deliveristas this year, seven last year. And [their] families actually end up with nothing,
“[Another] big challenge is the lack of transparency,” he adds. “They do this huge work – and sometimes they don't even know how much do they get tipped? They’re always in that constant frustration about, ‘How much am I really earning? I’m killing myself to be out there, to earn a living, and sometimes I'm not clear about how much do I actually have in my pocket?’”
As a result of Los Deliveristas Unidos' activism, in September the New York City Council approved a package of bills that set minimum standards for food delivery workers. New York is the first city in the country to enact this kind of legislation.
The new bills establish a minimum per-trip payment, require apps to give workers free insulated delivery bags and disclose information about tips, and also prohibit apps from charging fees for delivery workers to receive their wages. Workers will have a say on how far they are willing to travel to make deliveries. Restaurants are now also required to make their restrooms available to delivery workers.
Colón Hernández sees further challenges ahead. “I think one of the big things that these workers are looking is to give them the right to bargain with the apps,” he says. “They want to be able to sit down with all the apps and establish working conditions, like collective bargaining. Independent contractors don't have a right to bargain under the law. But they're fighting to gain that.”
After learning about the approved bills, Cesar Solano is cautiously optimistic. He says the changes look good on paper, but he wants to see them implemented before celebrating.
"My dream is that, as essential workers in this city, we are protected and can live without fear," Cesar says.