Seattle council may revise delivery pay law following restaurant, gig worker controversy – Dayton 24/7 Now
SEATTLE (KOMO) — The Seattle City Council seeks to make changes to a controversial delivery pay ordinance following months of pushback from restaurants and gig workers who report a loss of income as a result of the new rules.
The PayUp law enacted Jan. 13 was supposed to ensure minimum wage paid by companies including Doordash, UberEats and Instacart, but restaurants and customers have said it backfired.
“Fight the Fee” was the message many food delivery workers displayed on signs in front of a city council committee on Thursday. They were referring to the roughly $5 added fee put onto customers. That’s for delivery companies like DoorDash and UberEats to cover increased operating costs under the new law requiring delivery workers to make $26.40 an hour, plus mileage and before tips.
A few drivers said it’s working for them.
“It is working as intended, and it has improved my life,” one driver said during the public comment period of the Thursday meeting. But changes could be on the way.
Spice Waala Owner Uttam Mukherjee reports that fee has led to far fewer orders, and his three restaurants have lost roughly 30% of their delivery business.
I think we need to understand what the fees are by the delivery partners, how much commission they’re charging the restaurants, how much the drivers are actually earning nowadays, and then how much money is actually being spent by consumers,” he said.
Among the proposed revisions discussed at the council is to adjust the minimum wage requirement to just under $20 an hour, meeting Seattle’s minimum wage, plus 35 cents per mile. Many drivers are not on board. A few people in chambers said they disagree with any effort to scale back on labor protections for gig workers.
It’s ridiculous,” gig worker Kimberly Wolfe told KOMO. “This is complete gutting of the law that gig workers spent a lot of time creating.”
In response, Doordash is pushing for a complete repeal of the ordinance but added they are open to reevaluating their $5 fee.
“Our message to the council is the same as the message we’re overwhelmingly hearing from Dashers, businesses, and consumers in Seattle: it’s time to fix this broken law,” a DoorDash spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “The regulatory response fee in Seattle helps offset the costs associated with this law. If those costs can be decreased, we will explore all options to increase affordability for consumers, including a reduction of the fee.”
Ultimately, council members said they will continue getting public feedback before drafting updated legislation to be discussed in committee sometime in April and then sent to the full council for a vote.
“I believe we created a problem, and it’s our responsibility to fix it,” Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson said.
