Instacart Workers Nationwide, Amazon Warehouse Workers In New York Plan To Strike Today

Instacart shoppers, which serve both customers at home and at offices around the country, are planning to strike today, as several media have reported.

Instacart Shoppers and Gig Workers Collective called for the strike via Medium on March 27, asking for four conditions, revolving around safety precautions during the time of COVID-19.

1. Safety precautions at no cost to workers — PPE (at minimum hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes/sprays and soaps.
2. Hazard pay — an extra $5 per order and defaulting the in-app tip amount to at least 10% of the order total.
3. An extension and expansion of pay for workers impacted by COVID-19 — anyone who has a doctor’s note for either a preexisting condition that’s a known risk factor or requiring a self-quarantine.
4. The deadline to qualify for these benefits must be extended beyond April 8th.

Philadelphia Inquirer ran a piece describing how this strike is unusual: these workers are independent contractors, not employees, and most are not members of a union.

Other media covering the Instacart workers strike include AP News, Tech Crunch and Reuters.

Amazon workers in New York also plan to strike today, according to CNBC.