- Safety precautions at no cost to workers — PPE (at minimum hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes/sprays and soap).
- Hazard pay — an extra $5 per order and defaulting the in-app tip amount to at least 10% of the order total.
- An extension and expansion of pay for workers impacted by COVID-19 — anyone who has a doctor’s note for either a preexisting condition that’s a known risk factor or requiring a self-quarantine.
- The deadline to qualify for these benefits must be extended beyond April 8th.
There was controversy in the past with DoorDash effectively pocketing the tips (https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/dc-attorney-gene...) which makes me wary about tipping in these apps -- are InstaCart and Amazon doing the same?
https://civileats.com/2020/03/20/breaking-grocery-store-work...
May also be coming to doctors, nurses (if it isn't there already):
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-says-administration-looki...
Customs workers, corrections officers, and a ton of other jobs also negotiating it. In Philly, among them are police, firefighters, sanitation workers, health care workers.
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philadelphia-to-r...
As for "who typically offers this" I would argue that this isn't quite like a "normal" time. Many people are putting their health on the line to come to work which is not something that is normally part of the decisionmaking process for their regular wage. As a result of that increased risk and because of the huge demand for their labor a large increase in pay makes a lot of sense (even if we take the "combat pay" stuff out of the equation. Demand-alone would increase their wages)
https://www.iup.edu/archives/coal/unions-and-mining/the-coal...
https://iup.edu/archives/coal/unions-and-mining/the-windber-...
https://www.reddit.com/r/AmazonFlexDrivers/comments/9ji1af/p...
"Amazon will never disclose any information about specific deliveries beyond what you see in the app before and after the delivery. They will not tell you who tipped or how much. The only ways to tell if a customer tipped are cash tips and blocks with only one order completed, including instant offers, for which the earnings exceed the initial offer."
"If an offer shows a pay range, the base rate is never more than the low end of that range. For example, if you accept an offer for a 2 hour block with pay of $36-50, anything you earn for that block beyond $36 is from tips."
"Amazon does not technically steal tips, but the end result is the same as if they did. They call it variable base pay. They state in the contract that 100% of tips are passed on to the driver. This is true. However, they often lower the base rate enough so the net earnings is the minimum stated in the block offer. Think of it like a piece of string. The entire length of the string is your earnings. The right side of the string is tips and the left side is base pay. They promise never to cut the right side of the string. They cut the left side instead. It still results in a shorter piece of string."
"If the base pay plus tips ends up being more than the offered pay for the block, you will get paid the full amount. So if you accept a 2 hour block for $36-50 and get $55 in tips, you will be paid at least $55. They don't lower the base rate on every block and they don't always lower it the same amount. They say it's based on demand. For a 2 hour block, after tips, you might be paid $36 or you might be paid $80. It just depends."
"I'm not sure how Amazon determines the suggested tip for orders that include tips. I just played around in the Prime Now app and it seems like the suggested tip is a percentage of the total item cost, before shipping and tax, but is a minimum of $5. Customers can, of course, change it to whatever they want."
There's a record number of unemployed people right now [1] and, if some workers strike, wouldn't it be easier for companies to just hire more people ?
[1]:https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-long-run-of-american-job-gr...
I apologize for the wall of text below, feel free to minimize this comment ([-] sign next to delete above), but it is crucial to demonstrate how broad this support is to the working class.
https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-stimulus-package... (F.A.Q. on Stimulus Checks, Unemployment and the Coronavirus Plan)
> Benefits will be expanded in an attempt to replace the average worker’s paycheck, explained Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a public policy research group. The average worker earns about $1,000 a week, and unemployment benefits often replace roughly 40 to 45 percent of that. The expansion will pay an extra amount to fill the gap. Under the plan, eligible workers will get an extra $600 per week on top of their state benefit. But some states are more generous than others. According to the Century Foundation, the maximum weekly benefit in Alabama is $275, but it’s $450 in California and $713 in New Jersey.
> Are gig workers, freelancers and independent contractors covered? Yes, self-employed people are newly eligible for unemployment benefits. Self-employed workers will also be eligible for the additional $600 weekly benefit provided by the federal government.
> If you’ve received a diagnosis, are experiencing symptoms or are seeking a diagnosis — and you’re unemployed, partly unemployed or cannot work as a result — you will be covered. The same goes if you must care for a member of your family or household who has received a diagnosis.
> What if my child’s school or day care shut down? If you rely on a school, a day care or another facility to care for a child, elderly parent or another household member so that you can work — and that facility has been shut down because of coronavirus — you are eligible.
> What if I’ve been advised by a health care provider to quarantine myself because of exposure to coronavirus? And what about broader orders to stay home? People who must self-quarantine are covered. The legislation also says that individuals who are unable to get to work because of a quarantine imposed as a result of the outbreak are eligible.
Edit: also related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22727741
The Fed is predicting 47 million unemployed [1], at a 32% unemployment rate. That's a lot of folks without health insurance. 68k people in the US die every year because of lack of access to healthcare, and 50% of bankruptcies are due to medical debt, under "normal" circumstances. That is a "failure of capitalism" not replicated in other developed countries.
Sometimes, to fix a system, you must break it. This is the "break it" part. [2]
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-job-losses-could...
[2] https://reason.com/2020/03/27/pandemic-related-unemployment-...
If you use these services you are impacted by the health and safety of the workers that make the services possible. You have a stake here. Call your people:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_wages
Striking generally only works for skilled workers. Unskilled workers going on strike in the middle of some of the highest unemployment figures recently seen is not going to end well for those people. They'll simply be replaced by those who are more hungry.
This is not a problem with the workers, or with the employers, or with the current situation: it is a problem inherent to unskilled, undifferentiated labor.
Source: https://shoppers.instacart.com/