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Instacart has announced a $1 million advertising initiative to amplify Black-owned consumer packaged goods brands within its online marketplace.
Next week, Instacart workers are participating in a scheduled set of activities to protest company policies. The food tech giant’s practices related to wages and tips have created angst for many of its contractors. As TechCrunch reports, dissatisfied Instacart workers who were unable to secure a raise in base pay looked to the company to increase their tips. Hopes that the suggested default 5 percent tip could be doubled were also dashed. In response, last month, workers went on a national, three-day strike . They now plan to engage in a nearly weeklong protest to address practices they deem unfair, including compensation and safety issues, with federal and state regulatory bodies. While Instacart declares that it supports its customers , a Washington Post article notes, “ The uprising from Instacart workers demanding fair pay is just one facet of a wider reckoning by regulators, labor activists and workers themselves over the responsibilities of companies to independent contractors .
Uber and Lyft drivers, along with a list of other gig workers in California, may have something to cheer about now that a new law has passed to give contract workers more protections. The California state Assembly passed AB5, a bill that would require status changes to contract workers to complete essential tasks for companies. The law is also set to impact exotic dancers and manicurists; however, hairstylists, doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, and financial advisers will be exempt from the rules because they work as true independent workers under their own companies, according to Vox. Under AB5, companies can only label workers as contractors if the worker: (a) is free from the company’s control, (b) is doing work that isn’t central to the company’s business, and (c) has an independent business in that industry. If they don’t meet all three of those conditions, then they have to be classified as employees. Misclassification of workers has helped major companies save money for...
Delivery drivers and other employees for Instacart and DoorDash have had their fair share of battles for better pay, and now Postmates drivers are rallying for their own cause. Postmates workers are now requesting minimum delivery guarantees, and higher wages after the company recently changed its pay structure, according to TechCrunch. Postmates used to pay workers a base rate per job, plus per-minute wait time rates and per-mile rates. The company also incorporated $4 minimum guarantees for each job that required Postmates to make up the difference for any orders that did not hit the minimum. Now Postmates does not have a minimum guarantee, and workers fear that they will be paid below the minimum wage. “Technological innovations reduced pick up times, and route efficiencies are increasing the rate and pace of deliveries a Postmates can choose to make in a given hour, increasing payout averages from $17/hour in 2018 to $19/hour in 2019,” a Postmates spokesperson told TechCrunch....