Delivering A Better Life
Anti-Cuban government activists gather on Miami rooftops on July 11, 2021 to protest the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and worsening economic conditions in the island nation. Photo by Fernando Medina, via Shutterstock
Food delivery apps have thrived in the pandemic. But food delivery can be risky. So workers in New York used the same technology that powers delivery apps to organize and fight for better conditions
After losing his New York City restaurant job during the pandemic, Cesar Solano’s side hustle as a food delivery worker became his main source of income.
But Solano quickly saw that full days spent delivering food to people’s front doors during a health and economic crisis left workers like him at risk.
“I saw my colleagues being exploited. I saw how we were denied the use of bathrooms. I saw robberies, accidents, and tip theft,” Solano said.
This was enough to push Solano, an immigrant from Mexico’s Guerrero state, and a group of his colleagues into harnessing the power of social media, smartphones and the Internet to fight for better conditions for delivery workers.
Cesar Solano, an immigrant from Mexico, on the job for food delivery apps in New York City. Photo by Oscar Durand
During the pandemic, some food delivery apps have more than doubled their business. These companies classify workers like Cesar as independent contractors, so they avoid having to provide benefits such as health insurance or even pay them minimum wage. New York City has an estimated 65,000 delivery workers, most of them immigrant men, and many of them from Latin America.
Solano is one of the founders of El Diario de los Deliveryboys en la Gran Manzana -- The Diary of The Delivery Boys in the Big Apple -- a Facebook group where delivery drivers build connections, share news and organize around issues like support for workers hurt or robbed on the job.
When food delivery workers began losing electric bikes to thieves at a bridge in East Harlem, Solano and his team sprang into action. They gathered each night on one side of the Willis Avenue Bridge, encouraging workers to cross in groups of five or more. With safety in numbers, robberies decreased and eventually stopped. And the night-time gatherings at the bridge also strengthened the delivery worker community.
In spring, hundreds of delivery workers marched in Midtown Manhattan, demanding better work conditions. The march was organized by Los Deliveristas Unidos -- Spanglish for United Delivery Workers -- one of the city’s best-known delivery worker collectives.
As a result, this fall the New York City Council approved the nation’s first comprehensive standards for food delivery workers. The new laws include a minimum per-trip payment, requirements that apps supply free insulated delivery bags, transparent tip policies, and prohibitions against charging extra fees to workers to receive their wages. Workers also won a say on how far they are willing to travel to make deliveries. Restaurants are now also required to make restrooms available to delivery workers.
Solano is cautiously optimistic about the approved bills. He said the changes look good on paper but wants to see them implemented and enforced before celebrating.
“My dream is that, as essential workers in this city, we are protected and can live without fear,” he said.
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Feet in 2 Worlds is supported by The Ford Foundation, the David and Katherine Moore Family Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, an anonymous donor, and readers like you.
Oscar Durand is a Peruvian multimedia journalist based in New York City. For the past 10 years he has covered migration and refugee issues. Before moving to the United States, he worked in Peru and Turkey. His work has been published by NBC News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Finnish Broadcasting Company, PRI’s The World, Catholic News Service, The Guardian, UNICEF, UNDP, and World Vision International. Durand is a graduate of the photojournalism program of the Rochester Institute of Technology.