Deliver safer streets with worker protections

Deliveristas know better than anyone how unsafe New York City’s streets and sidewalks are. Delivery work is the most dangerous job in the city, after all. During the pandemic, the use of e-bikes among deliveristas surged, enabling delivery workers to complete more orders in faster times. Today, millions of New Yorkers use delivery apps like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats for fast, convenient food delivery.

Unfortunately, the convenience of appbased food delivery has a downside: While food delivery is dramatically faster, delivery work is far more dangerous. Between 2020 and 2022, 48 delivery workers tragically lost their lives on the job as they rushed to beat impossible delivery deadlines set by the apps. The incentive structure the apps have created to force quick deliveries has made all of us — workers, pedestrians and motorists — less safe.

Earlier this year, Mayor Adams laid out his vision for a new Department of Sustainable Delivery to regulate the app-based delivery industry. As the organizer and founder, respectively, of Los Deliveristas Unidos, we applaud the administration for prioritizing street safety, and it’s important that we get this right. That’s why we recently released our own vision for street safety to put the voices of those most impacted by unsafe streets — delivery workers — at the center of the discussion.

We first need to address what won’t work. Some have proposed licensing e-bikes as a solution. We strongly oppose this. While well-intentioned, e-bike licensing would create more problems than it solves, adding bureaucratic hurdles without tackling the core issues of safety and fairness. E-bike licensing would put the burden of penalty on workers rather than trying to regulate the app companies, whose algorithms are pushing workers to make dangerous decisions.

When deliveristas were finally guaranteed fair pay in December, workers across the city said they could go slower and ride safely because they no longer relied on tips to make ends meet. But the app companies quickly changed their algorithms to exert immense pressure on delivery workers to accelerate their pace of work — or risk being assigned worse shifts or outright deactivation.

Deliveristas feel they have to accept assignments that come with greater risks to avoid deactivation, particularly those who rely on these platforms as their primary source of income. In hazardous conditions, delivery workers also must maintain the same pace, disregarding potential dangers and further jeopardizing their safety.

The consequences of such practices underscore a disturbing reality: The streets of our city are becoming increasingly dangerous for everyone. We must focus on solutions that empower workers, enhance public safety and foster a more sustainable and just urban ecosystem.

First, New York City must enact stronger protections against retaliatory deactivations by the apps. Delivery workers are at the mercy of opaque algorithms that can deactivate them without warning, explanation or a fair process to contest such decisions. This precarious situation leaves workers vulnerable, fearing their ability to support their families will be cut off if they fail to meet often unreasonable expectations set by the algorithms. No worker in any industry should have to choose between safety and job security.

Second, the apps have made it increasingly difficult for customers to tip, hiding the option or shifting it to the end of the ordering process when customers are less likely to add one. This practice has nothing to do with fees but is purely meant to lower worker earnings in retaliation for the historic organizing that brought the minimum pay standard into effect just a few months ago. New York City must mandate clear, upfront options for tipping at the beginning of the order process.

Last, the absence of paid sick leave for app-based delivery workers is a major omission in labor protections, leaving workers without a safety net and forced to choose between health and income. Expanding paid sick leave protections to include app-based delivery workers is not just a matter of fairness — it’s a public health imperative and would ensure that workers are not penalized for taking the necessary time off to recover from illness or to care for sick family members.

A safer, fairer and more equitable New York City lies in the strength of its labor protections for all workers, including those in the gig economy. It’s time for New York City to lead by example, turn these proposals into policy and ensure that the rights of app-based delivery workers are no longer sidelined, but are brought to the forefront of our labor laws.