SEATTLE — Gig workers in favor of Seattle’s new PayUp legislation gathered to show their support for the new law on Thursday.
The law requires companies to pay app-based delivery drivers more, but in the weeks since taking effect, many feel as though it has backfired.
Both sides appear to agree that the app-based delivery model is not working. Where they disagree is on who’s to blame.
"We're going to have to wait it out and we're going to have to do the best we can until they've lost so much money from the customers being so disgusted at them that they finally lower the rate to a realistic amount,” said Kimberly Wolf, a Seattle gig worker who said she’s long advocated for an industry-wide wage increase.
Gig workers supporting the City of Seattle’s first-of-its-kind PayUp legislation are defending the ordinance, which raises the delivery worker's minimum wage to around $26 an hour.
In response to the higher wages, companies like Uber Eats and DoorDash began charging customers $5 in what they're calling a "local operating fee."
Long-time delivery driver Gary Lardizabal said he was frustrated with Thursday’s show of support outside Pike Place Market.
"I can't pay rent. It's down 30 to 40%. I'm one of the lucky ones. I know people who make $12 in one day," Lardizabal said.
He said orders have dried up since the ordinance took effect on January 15.
"This is not a living wage, this is a dying wage," Lardizabal added.
DoorDash said the new fees are to "help cover the costs of these new regulations." The company said the Seattle market missed out on "more than $1 million in revenue on the DoorDash Marketplace alone."
"They want us to hurt because they don't want this law to be propagated in another city or another state so they're hitting us hard," Wolf said in response to the added service fees.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell responded to workers’ complaints earlier this week. He said should the city find "unintended impacts for workers and small businesses" they will be open to making improvements.