'It's a sweat factory': Instacart workers ready to strike for pay and conditions

[PoliticAverse]

For Instacart workers across the country, the popular grocery delivery app promised flexibility and a solid wage, perks that enticed thousands to join the app during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But amid worsening working conditions including plummeting pay, safety concerns, and a punitive rating system, Instacart employees, known as shoppers, will be staging a walkout on 16 October and will continue striking until the company meets their demands for better treatment.

Workers, uniting as the Gig Workers Collective, have been organizing against Instacart for years, citing what they say is a trend of unresponsiveness from the company in the face of their concerns. The collective’s asks are mostly for a restoration of features the company has dropped: reinstating Instacart’s commission pay model, paying its shoppers per order rather than bundling them, a 10% default tip instead of the current 5%, transparency about how orders are assigned, and a rating system that doesn’t hurt shoppers forproblems outside their control.

Shoppers have also asked for occupational death benefits, noting the increasing dangers shoppers face on the job.

Read the rest at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/15/instacart-workers-strike-pay

[Sherman A1]

1. Good,

This is long overdue.

[jimfields33]

2. I used the service around 18 times over covid

Of course, no need anymore now that things have settled and I can go back to stores. Masked of course. I was glad the service was available. I’d imagine the service has seen a huge decrease in the last six months or so.

[packman]

3. We use Instacart because of Age and creeping aches and pains

and it has been a life-saver for us. Costly, yes. But it has become a luxury that we, frankly, have to afford.