Seattle City Council OKs Pandemic Premium Pay for Gig Shoppers

The Seattle City Council voted on Monday to require food delivery network companies like Uber Eats and Instacart to pay their shoppers at least an additional $2.50 per trip during the Covid-19 emergency.

The premium pay would come on top of the shoppers’ usual compensation. Another $1.25 would be added for each additional pickup or dropoff in Seattle. The intent of the measure is to compensate gig shoppers for performing essential work during the pandemic and for expenses they incur to protect themselves from the virus.

The new ordinance, which the council passed with a 9-0 veto-proof majority, would forbid companies from reducing gig shoppers’ pay, limiting earning capacity such as by restricting access to online orders, modifying service areas in the city, and from passing on the costs to consumers. The measure now goes to Mayor Jenny Durkan for her consideration.

An earlier iteration of the bill included transportation network company (TNC) drivers like Uber and Lyft. But sponsors of the measure removed that provision from the version the council ultimately passed on Monday, according to a staff memo. The memo says the revision was offered because Durkan intends to introduce legislation to establish a “minimum compensation standard” that would include an hourly minimum wage, plus expenses.

“The mayor’s priority is that gig workers are paid a living wage, and (she) looks forward to submitting a TNC wage ordinance later this summer,” Durkan spokeswoman Kamaria Hightower said in a June 8 email.

Instacart responded in an email to the bill’s passage with a hope that the mayor will veto it. The company threatened to sue saying it believes the measure is illegal and unconstitutional. Instacart said upon enactment of the measure, it would move swiftly to bring a legal challenge so that it can provide Seattleites with fair and affordable access to groceries.

Uber Eats also did not find the measure palatable, saying in an email that its passage amounts to a new regressive fee on essential services that will increase the cost of food delivery. The company’s statement expressed concerns that such increased costs will reduce demand for restaurant meals at a time when the establishments are relying on delivery revenues. Such reduced demand will also mean less work for delivery drivers, the company said.

Independent Contractors

Before voting in favor of the bill, socialist council Member Kshama Sawant noted that gig workers such as grocery delivery drivers are becoming an ever-increasing portion of the economy. “Those are jobs like any other, except that they are marked with the legal fiction that they are a one-person, small business rather than a worker at a corporation,” Sawant said. “The result of this legal fiction is that workers are suddenly no longer protected” by labor standards applicable to corporate employees.

The council on June 1 passed a bill requiring transportation network companies and food delivery network companies to provide drivers with paid leave if they are unable to work for health or safety reasons during the coronavirus pandemic.

Both the premium pay measure and the health and safety ordinance would remain in force for the duration of the health emergency declared by the mayor March 3.