Mayor Adams just vetoed two City Council bills that would have guaranteed grocery delivery workers the city\u2019s minimum wage. Unless the City Council overrides the mayor\u2019s veto, his decision will keep thousands of essential workers earning poverty wages.<\/p>\n
The bills,\u202fpassed overwhelmingly by the Council last month<\/a>, were the product of years of worker organizing to extend the city\u2019s successful restaurant delivery worker minimum pay standard to include delivery workers for companies like Instacart, GoPuff, and Amazon.<\/p>\n Yet Adams sided with an\u00a0Instacart-funded<\/a> lobbying campaign to block both Int. 1133 and Int. 1135, claiming that the bills would worsen food insecurity for New Yorkers with lower incomes.<\/p>\n Food insecurity in New York City is indeed a crisis, but the price of grocery delivery \u2014 largely a convenience service that is already 30% to 50% more expensive<\/a> than in-store shopping \u2014 isn\u2019t a major driver. Low wages are.<\/p>\n By calling delivery workers\u00a0independent contractors<\/a>\u00a0and exploiting loopholes in the law,\u00a0Instacart is likely paying its workers well below the city\u2019s $16.50 minimum wage. Restaurant delivery workers were earning about\u00a0$11.12 with tips, and just $4.03 without<\/a>, before the city\u2019s 2023 pay standard, and there\u2019s no reason to think grocery delivery worker pay is any better.<\/p>\n Since that standard took effect, the average cost of a DoorDash or Uber Eats order increased\u00a0from $38.55 to $40.44<\/a>, essentially in line with inflation, while delivery workers now earn at least the minimum wage. Nor have restaurant delivery orders plummeted as the industry had predicted.<\/p>\n In fact, the total volume of delivery orders increased each quarter<\/a>\u00a0in 2024, proving that fairer wages for delivery workers do not come at the expense of consumer demand. Research from economist James Parrott shows that one of the only measurable effects on industry economics has simply been to\u00a0shrink the share<\/a>\u00a0of each order siphoned off by the delivery companies.<\/p>\n On the other side of the ledger, the results of the pay standard are clear: the city\u2019s delivery workers \u2014 a workforce that is more than 90% Black and Brown<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 now earn at least the minimum wage. It\u2019s a demonstrated success of public policy that makes it easier, not harder, for workers from some of the city\u2019s marginalized communities to feed themselves and their families.<\/p>\n So why does the mayor believe grocery delivery workers, doing almost identical work to DoorDash and UberEats couriers, should shoulder the cost of cheaper groceries through subminimum pay? Does he also think cashiers, deli clerks, grocery store janitors, warehouse staff, and farmworkers should be paid less than the city\u2019s legal minimum?<\/p>\n The push for the veto came from a brand-new \u201cadvocacy group\u201d called\u202fNew Yorkers for Affordable Groceries<\/a>, which purports to \u201crepresent a coalition of app-based delivery workers, concerned New Yorkers and advocates\u201d but in reality is\u202ffunded entirely by Instacart<\/a>. The campaign included well-placed op-eds from the likes of\u202fthe Rev. Al Sharpton<\/a>, who claimed the bills would \u201cpush vulnerable New Yorkers into hunger.\u201d<\/p>\n But Sharpton surely knows that Instacart isn\u2019t doing this to protect New Yorkers who receive food stamps. It\u2019s following the lead of Uber, DoorDash, and Airbnb \u2014 throwing millions of dollars at city political fights<\/a>\u00a0to buy off legislators, stymie regulators, and protect its bottom line.<\/p>\n The mayor certainly understands that. His own Department of Consumer & Worker Protection (DCWP) led the successful effort to raise restaurant delivery worker pay to a minimum of $21.44 per hour<\/a> (broadly equivalent to the city\u2019s minimum wage after accounting for expenses and the value of some employment benefits).<\/p>\n He then called for expanding the delivery worker minimum pay standard as a signature initiative for DCWP in his Blueprint for Economic Recovery<\/a>, and his agency leaders testified enthusiastically in support of the proposal in the City Council \u2014 until Instacart lobbied the mayor and he reversed course.<\/p>\n Blocking fair pay won\u2019t 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 wages for those who deliver it, and the City Council has an opportunity to bring us closer to that reality by overriding these vetoes.<\/p>\n