Hello, and thank you for visiting my petition for Instacart to raise the minimum batch wage to $11 dollars, currently it is $8 Dollars, but the state starting 1/1/2022 has since raised the minimum wage to $11 Dollars.  My point in hand is that fact that instacart will pay based on this low wage labor, being that some instacart shoppers will get a batch of of $8 Dollars for around 40 up to 60+ items with no tip.  Anything around 30 items will take at least 45 minutes to shop for, including getting there, and going through checkout included.  Which in times like these, can take longer times, with some major grocers understaffed.  Which we are happy to do, but also in a pandemic, and there is definitely added stress because the supermarket union hasn't mandated masks, and we have record breaking covid virus numbers.  Anything that follows en suite of "gig economy" where we are classified as "independent contractors," by major tech companies, the major conflict being whether the "full service shopper" am an an employee -  I would have to contest - YES,  because you are performing the basic operations that are requested upon us through a highly calculated system. 

My personal story : 

As I was told by instacart today (1/1/22) in response to my inquiry as to why the batch pay has not going up (still remains at min $8) was that we had not passed a law yet to make it happen.  So what I thought was going to be an easier 2022, has transformed into a mission of justice, which I know won't be easy fighting against these multi billion dollar companies.  I have been an instacart shopper on and off fo the past two years now, and has really helped me when I didn't have employment options.  These big tech companies love throwing around coined terms "gig workers"  "independent contractors" but I feel that is swayed when clearly Instacart is my employer, and my source of income.  So I believe that they should be paying at least minimum when we are in this fragile state of the economy and world with Covid 19 Omicron virus hitting it's highest numbers in history, and we are getting close to 1 million deaths.  Society relies on our services as "gig" workers to deliver food, necessities and transportation.  Sometimes when our clients are very sick, and can not leave their house - either because they are covid positive, and need to quarantine, or simply because of their general malaise and they cannot bring themselves to go grocery shopping, or leave their house to get a meal.   This is the service we are providing for these companies earning the most money.   

WHAT WE WANT :

For these major tech companies to pay the states minimum wage, and specifically for the state of Virginia, to be raised to $11 dollars.  For instacart this would mean raising the batch minimum to $11 dollars.   

Let's look at the numbers of how much these companies are valued at. 

 

• Uber company's market capitalization has reached $78 billion (2021)
• Instacart is valued at $39 billion in a new funding round (2021) 
• In 2021, DoorDash went public on the New York Stock Exchange at a $72 billion valuation. 
   

HISTORY 

"Wasn’t this issue settled in California?

(yes it was and they passed a law to change it) 

Uber and Lyft have long said their drivers are independent contractors, which allows the companies to avoid the expense of health insurance, unemployment insurance, sick leave and other employment benefits.

Some state legislatures, federal officials and legal experts, however, have maintained that drivers are employees under the law, and that Uber and other gig companies owe them the full protections that come with employment.

In 2019, California legislators passed a law requiring companies like Uber to employ their drivers. The state attorney general sued Uber and Lyft to enforce the law, and the companies responded by threatening to leave the state.

Uber, Lyft and DoorDash poured more than $200 million into a ballot measure, known as Proposition 22, that would allow drivers to remain independent contractors, while companies offered them limited benefits. Prop. 22 was approved in November with about 59 percent of the vote.

A coalition of ride-hail drivers and labor groups sued in January, arguing that Prop. 22 is unconstitutional. A month later, the California Supreme Court declined to hear the case, seemingly putting an end to the challenge. But the group refiled its petition in a lower court, leading to last week’s ruling.

Why did the judge find Prop. 22 unconstitutional?

The decision by Judge Frank Roesch of California Superior Court in Alameda County had three main findings.

The first was that Prop. 22 carved gig workers out of the pool of employees eligible for workers’ compensation in the event of an injury or other workplace incident. But the State Legislature has a right under California’s Constitution to set and control workers’ compensation.

Judge Roesch wrote in his decision that Prop. 22 “limits the power of a future legislature to define app-based drivers as workers subject to workers’ compensation law” and is therefore unconstitutional.

Second, Prop. 22 included several unusual provisions designed to prevent the Legislature from making significant changes to the law.

The measure requires the Legislature to reach a seven-eighths majority to make any changes to the law, a supermajority that is considered unattainable. It also requires that any changes be “consistent” with Prop. 22, blocking the Legislature from drastically altering or reversing the law.

If the independent status of drivers was changed, the rest of Prop. 22 would be invalid as well. So if the drivers were declared employees, Uber and Lyft could back away from the higher wages, private accident insurance and other benefits offered under Prop. 22.

Because the workers’ compensation issue could not be separated from the rest of Prop. 22, Judge Roesch wrote “that the entirety of Proposition 22” could not be enforced.

Finally, the judge also took issue with a clause in Prop. 22 that prevents gig workers from unionizing. Prop. 22 said any future law that gave an organization the right to collectively bargain for drivers’ benefits, compensation or working conditions would be considered an amendment and would be subject to the seven-eighths majority rule. Judge Roesch found that provision to be unconstitutional because a collective bargaining law ought to be considered “unrelated legislation.”   -  NYT Kate Conger & Kellen Browning. 

 

// Instacart is being valued at $39 billion in a new round of funding that will add $265 million to the grocery delivery company’s coffers. It’s the second time Instacart’s valuation has doubled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

By far, Instacart aims to hire the most full-service personal shoppers in California (54,000) and New York (27,000). Other states targeted for significant shopper additions include Texas (18,000), Florida (15,000), Illinois (15,000), Pennsylvania (12,000), Virginia (12,000), New Jersey (12,000), Georgia (9,000) and Ohio (9,000)  //  CNBC -Deirdre Bosa & Laura Batchelor

 

PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION TO RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE FOR "GIG WORKERS" IN VIRGINIA.  

We need to rewrite the law.