A Gorillas courier rushes out the warehouse in Chinatown to deliver groceries.
Photos Gabriele Holtermann
JOKR rider Chris is getting ready to deliver groceries.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, N BTR OV. 19-25, 2021 9
taurants allow gig workers to use their
restrooms, allowing delivery workers
to set limits for how far they are willing
to go to make a delivery, and providing
a clear breakdown to customers
of how their tips were being distributed.
“There’s gonna be improved enforcement
next year, but it helps, it
helps,” Ramirez said, of the bills.
“Baby steps, little by little.”
From their inception, some of the
apps have abided by the rules set by
the council bills, providing gear, paying
at least minimum wage to their employees,
and, in some cases, providing
a breakdown of tip distribution on the
apps. Given the small delivery radius
of each dark store, riders have shorter
routes back and forth.
Josh, an organizer and delivery
worker with LDU who asked not to use
his last name, said he has met some
people who work with quick-commerce
apps. Many of the struggles are the
same, he said, but “it’s a different job.”
“They get their own bikes, they get
a more stable wage than we do,” he
said. “The Gorillas bike is supplied by
the company, a lot less likely to get stolen
because they are tracked.”
But just being an employee, rather
than a contractor, doesn’t guarantee
better treatment, Colón said.
“I think that is a false promise,”
she said. “You’re part-time, or you’re
earning minimum wage. But the work
that they do, they should be earning
even more. Just the idea that they
are employees doesn’t mean that they
don’t deal with issues of disqualifi cations,
non-transparency, tips that get
stolen.”
When delivery is slow or items are
damaged, it’s the delivery worker who
takes the brunt of the customer’s unhappiness,
she said, not the company.
Gorillas workers in Berlin, where
the company was founded, were fi red
last month after taking part in wildcat
strikes calling for better treatment,
saying workers are often underpaid
and are not provided with appropriate
weather gear. German newspaper
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported
that many Gorillas workers
work on contracts, not as employees,
and that many are injured on the job
while carrying heavy deliveries up
apartment staircases.
The Gorillas Workers Collective
have posted photos of broken bicycles
and screenshots they say show long
hours worked and more than 50 miles
covered by bike in a single day.
It’s unclear whether the council
bills apply to the new grocery delivery
apps, since they are not third party
and are by and large working with employees
rather than contractors.
“I think they don’t qualify on those
grounds, on not being a third-party
service,” a Council staffer said. “I
think the language in the bills is individually
portioned food. If you’re not
delivering for something more like a
restaurant or a deli, even, then those
services may not be covered even if
they were a third party.”
Having the laws on the books may
infl uence companies to adopt the policies
even if they don’t apply, the staffer
said.
“They may be worried the public
will see those things as best practices
they ought to be following, they may
also be concerned that legislation may
come down the pipe if we start having
problems with them, stuff like that.”
Ultimately, Colón said, “there’s no
minimum” for how delivery workers
should be treated, regardless of the
company they deliver for and the status
of their employment. The conversation,
she said, has only just started.
“It cannot be a race to the bottom,”
Colón said. “It has to be a race to the
top. It’s about the people. All of the
technologies you will see doesn’t matter
if you just click a button. There’s
human beings doing this, it doesn’t
just happen.”
THE RACE
TO
DELIVER