New York has around 65,000+ food delivery workers

who worked hard to deliver food to you throughout the pandemic. Hopefully, after reading this you will express more gratitude for that late-night pad thai.

According to this new study, delivery workers are not being treated fairly. Studies show that their wages are well BELOW New York's minimum wage. They also lack basic labor and employment protections and face dangerous working conditions on the streets of NYC.

According to the above report that was released by the Workers Justice Project in partnership with Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, a 4-month survey revealed around 500 workers work for delivery apps within the 5 boroughs, mainly for Grubhub, Doordash, and UberEats.

Among the report’s findings was that excluding tips — which are a "highly unstable" but essential form of income for them, the median hourly wage for delivery workers in New York is $7.94. Even including tips, the hourly net pay is $12.21, well below NY's $15 minimum wage. And about 42% of respondents said that they experienced non-paying or underpayment of tips, late payments, or non-payments of an entire week's earnings.

Around two-thirds of respondents said that they work six days a week, and 85% said that this was their main and only job.
These platform companies have anchored their business model on the premise that the workers who work for them are independent contractors. Failure to regulate how these contractors work leaves workers across the platform economy without basic protections, including occupational safety and health protections that have been critical during the pandemic.

Over the last two years in New York, 16 delivery workers have died on the job, including at least — 9 — in 2021.

As for safety, about half the respondents said they have been involved in a crash or accident while out on a delivery and 75% said they paid for medical care with their own personal funds. On top of that, over half have experienced bike theft (an electric bike ranges from $1,300-$2,500), and about 30% said they were physically assaulted during robberies. Yikes.

If you want a deeper dive into issues plaguing gig economy workers, The Verge has a major story on delivery app workers who work tirelessly — while the company they work for continuously devalues their work.