Pandemic erodes gig economy work
It was just after 11 a.m. on Wednesday last week when Jaime Maldonado, 51, pulled his rented Nissan into a parking lot outside San Francisco International Airport. He figured he had a long wait ahead of him — about two hours — before Lyft would ping him to pick up a passenger.
Occasionally, jets roared overhead — but not many, which meant not enough passengers for Maldonado, who said that before the coronavirus outbreak, he spent just 20 to 40 minutes waiting outside the airport before getting a customer.
To kill time, Maldonado got out of his car, looping the mask he recently started wearing during rides around his wrist, and went to talk to other drivers.
As the minutes ticked by, he wondered out loud, “What am I going to do to pump gas and feed my kids tomorrow?” His number of rides in a typical week had dropped to around 50 from 100 earlier in the month, he said, and his payout had plunged by half to about $600 a week, from which Lyft would subtract the rental fee for his car.
The coronavirus pandemic is exposing the fragile situations of gig economy workers — the Uber and Lyft drivers, food-delivery couriers and TaskRabbit furniture builders who are behind the convenience-as-a-service apps that are now part of everyday life. Classified as freelancers and not full-time employees, these workers have few protections such as guaranteed wages, sick pay and health care, which are benefits that are critical in a crisis.
While gig economy companies such as Uber and DoorDash have promoted themselves as providing flexible work that can be lifelines to workers during economic downturns, interviews with 20 ride-hailing drivers and food delivery couriers in Europe and the United States over the past week showed that the services have been anything but that.
Instead, as the fallout from the virus spreads, gig workers’ earnings have plummeted and many have become disgruntled about the lack of health care. Many others are also feeling economic pain from the outbreak — layoffs have hit workers in retailing, airlines, hotels, restaurants and gyms— but even as public health agencies have recommended social isolation to insulate people from the outbreak, but these workers must continue interacting with others to pay their bills.
“They’ve got no social insurance at all,” said Sen. Mark Warner,
D-Va., who has proposed federal legislation to provide benefits for the estimated 15 million Americans who depend on gig-economy jobs as their primary source of income. “A large swath of workers will be left with nothing.”
In recent weeks, some gigeconomy companies have responded by offering basic sick leave provisions and cleaning products such as hand sanitizer for drivers. Uber, Lyft, Instacart and DoorDash said that they would pay workers for 14 days of work if they have a coronavirus diagnosis and need to stay home. Uber and Lyft also said they would provide cleaning products, although they have struggled to place mass orders and distribute the products to drivers.
Postmates, DoorDash, Uber
Eats and Grubhub have also introduced a “no-contact delivery” service so drivers can leave food orders on the front step of a customer’s address without interacting with them.
“Not every job can work from home and certainly that is the reality for our drivers and couriers who need to pay their bills,” Andrew Macdonald, an Uber senior vice president who oversees global operations, said in an interview. “What we’re trying to do is make that experience as safe as possible.”
Uber has 30 people working full time on coronavirus issues, he said. On Sunday, the company introduced a website to help drivers request sick pay. Drivers, who would need documentation from a doctor or public health authority, could request assistance for 30 days after they became sick or were ordered to isolate, Uber said.
Uber and Lyft have since also suspended their carpool services, and Uber has warned riders to only travel if necessary.
“We are working hard to support those who drive with Lyft and are coordinating with government officials on additional solutions,” said Alexandra LaManna, a Lyft spokeswoman.
Gig workers in areas with some of the biggest clusters of coronavirus cases have been the most hard hit. In Milan, Italy, Giovanni Marra, 57, has continued to deliver burgers, sushi and other meals for one of the food-delivery apps that have been allowed to keep operating in Italy, Just Eat.
Although Marra, a former butcher, said he was scared of contracting the virus that has infected more than 35,000 people in Italy, he said he made the devil’s bargain that the health risk was less than the financial peril of not working.
“This is my only source of income. I have rent and bills to pay attheendofthemonth,”hesaid in a phone interview. “I could be infected by the person who has prepared the food, by the person whopicksitup,bytheotherriders who wait in groups outside the restaurants.”
Such risks became evident March 8, when Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said that a 33year-old Uber driver from Queens had been hospitalized with the virus. The man, who drove passengers in Long Island, was in stable condition, officials said. Uber said the driver would receive sick pay.
Just Eat, a British company, said in a statement that it was following the advice of government and health authorities and had introduced “contactless delivery.”