Council Member Hanif asks WJP what changes delivery companies should make

Thank you.

Thank you for testifying.

Could you share what changes delivery companies should be required to make that you guys are talking about so that workers can ride safely without putting their livelihood at risk?

Yeah, so in the report that I just shared with you all in page, I think, 9 and 10, I want to highlight something important for people in the public to understand, particularly on delivery companies.

We have multibillion-dollar corporations who are making...

work-related decisions for delivery workers.

They are choosing which routes delivery workers take, the order completion speed of delivery workers, the number of hours they work, the number of deliveries they have to accept,

within an hour, the amount of hours and days they work on the street.

And on top of that, they are consistently, if a worker does not meet the required intensity that they require to work, workers likely face deactivation.

Actually, deactivation is the driving fear that forces workers to make unnecessary choices, which is putting their own safety on the risk.

Answering your question,

Workers don't have deactivation protections right now, which means they don't have the tools to fight back the ongoing pressure that these apps are exercising on workers.

Intro 1332 that we passed last year was watered down to please the corporations.

The bill only protects workers who...

Permanently deactivated.

So now we have Uber, Grubhub, and DoorDash moving to a new model of deactivation, which is temporary locking out, restricting its scheduling, reducing the work hours, the number of deliveries.

We actually have about 4,000 workers that have come to our office that have been unfairly deactivated.

We need to regulate the algorithms.

We need to actually expand not just cost protections, but actually look at how this, if the city find out that DoorDash was stealing about more than $100 million from workers, and they had to admit it.

We want to know what's going on behind the algorithm.

Yes, we strongly support legislation about collecting the data, except the personal data of the worker.

But let's...

find out how they're using the algorithm to profit and put not just worker safety, every New Yorker's safety on the line.

So then on the issue of speeding, I mean, adding these speedometer and the denominator, whatever, are they, I mean, that won't change anything unless...

The corporations are actually...

Until you stop the apps from being able to incentivize the workers to have to deliver...

So that longer-term strategy is what I want to make sure we're really aligned on here.

Yeah, and I think the reality is many delivery workers have to make unnecessary choices to keep their jobs.

And they are the ones who are dying at the highest rate.

Thank you, Councilmember Brewer.

It was already asked.

I'm concerned about the algorithms, and that's what we have to work on.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This panel is excused.

Thank you.

We thank you so much for testifying.

Really, really appreciate it.

Council members, sorry, not council members.

It's been a long day.

The next panel will be Abigail Jackson on Zoom, Erica Sofa or Sophia, Josh Gold, Juan Restrepo, and Ben Rosen,

and Michael Sutherland.

Please come on up.

beginning with you.

And please state your name for the record.

Sure.