Uber (UBER) and DoorDash (DASH) have declared their workers to be independent contractors, but New York City still wants their delivery drivers to be paid like employees.
Over the weekend, NYC Mayor Eric Adams declared that beginning July 12 the city is officially raising the minimum wage for its "app-based restaurant delivery workers" to $17.96 per hour from its current average of just $7 per hour.
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That number is expected to climb to at least $19.96 per hour by 2025.
“The ones that bring you pizza in the snow, and that Thai food you like in the rain," Adams said during the announcement. "This new minimum pay rate will guarantee these workers, and their families, can earn a living. They should not be delivering food to your household, if they can’t put food on the plate in their household.”
It could be worse for the delivery apps, as the 2025 proposed rate is much less than the $23.82 per hour the Department of Consumer and Worker Protections has previously proposed.
There are more than 60,000 app-based delivery drivers working in the city, according to New York City's DCWP.
Not everyone is happy about the new rules, of course.
New York "isn't being honest with delivery workers," an Uber spokesperson told Gothamist. “They are telling apps: eliminate jobs, discourage tipping, force couriers to go faster and accept more trips – that’s how you’ll pay for this."
Meanwhile NYC Comptroller Brad Lander believes that the rules don't go far enough, saying that the Mayor "acquiesced to the lobbying" of DoorDash and Uber and that workers would actually be taking home just $12.69 per hour after expenses.
Despite his misgivings "a subminimum pay standard is better than no pay standard at all," Lander said.
Shares of DoorDash dropped 0.9% in early market trading Monday, but Uber was still trading in the green at last check.
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