NYC food app delivery workers to get pay raise

Chris Sommerfeldt, Leonard Greene, New York Daily News
·2 min read
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There’s a pay raise on the menu for New York City food delivery workers.

Mayor Adams and Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Vilda Vera were on Sunday expected to announce a new minimum pay rate structure for app-based restaurant delivery workers.

The timeline is still unclear, but under the new structure, the workers will eventually earn $19.96 an hour compared to the current average of $7.09 an hour.

Unlike most food deliveries which come on time, the new rate structure was behind schedule.

Under a bill passed by the City Council, the city was supposed to have implemented the pay structure by Jan. 1 for workers using apps such as DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats.

City Comptroller Brad Lander reminded officials three months ago that the city had missed its deadline.

“Every day of delay is money lost for delivery workers who have long deserved a raise,” Lander said in a letter to Vera in March.

“App-based delivery workers risked their lives through the pandemic to provide food to New Yorkers, enabling people to remain in their homes during the height of the Covid-19 outbreak in New York City. They continue to provide food and other goods to New Yorkers every day, amidst extreme weather and health and safety risks on the streets which are functionally their workplace – all at subminimum wages and without benefits.”

But small business owners have argued that such a pay hike could cut into profits.

Meanwhile, restaurant app workers point to the danger involved in deliveries.

Last year, at least 18 New York City delivery workers — all of whom were immigrant men — died on the job. They included Ricardo Solano, 31, who was found dead after an alleged robbery. Christian Castelan, 21, was killed by a hit-and-run driver. He was his mother’s sole supporter.

Thirty-year-old Daniel Vidal died after he was fatally struck by a truck driver. Tiburcio “Tibo” Castillo, 37, was killed while biking home from work, leaving behind his wife and four children.