Instacart Workers Plan Strike Over Coronavirus Safety Concerns

EVANSTON, IL — A group of employees of the grocery delivery company Instacart planned to strike starting Monday, citing the company's failure to provide protective gear and hazard pay amid the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

The San Francisco-based company employs about 200,000 delivery people and has plans to add 300,000 more over the next three months to keep up with the growing demand for grocery delivery during stay-at-home orders and mandatory social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The emergency walk-off plan was announced last week by Instacart workers and a nonprofit called Gig Workers Collective. It was not yet clear how many workers for the company were participating in the strike, or what effect it was having on Instacart services on the North Shore.

Locally, Instacart offers delivery service for Aldi, Binny's, Cosco, CVS, H-Mark, Heinen's, The Fresh Market, The Fresh Market, Target and more. The company partners with more than 350 retailers nationwide.

"For the past several weeks, Instacart Shoppers and Gig Workers Collective have been urging Instacart to take proper safety precautions. We have been ignored," Instacart employees and Gig Workers Collective said in a statement released on Medium. "Instacart has still not provided essential protections to Shoppers on the front lines that could prevent them from becoming carriers, falling ill themselves, or worse."

Instacart representatives have not responded to a request for comment on the matter.

The employees, known as shoppers, are independent contractors who control the amount of hours they want to work in a given week.

Instacart is one of the many delivery services that have seen a major jump in business as more people stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

In the announcement of the planned strike, Instacart employees noted how the company is
"profiting astronomically" during the time, while not doing enough for the safety of its employees.

"Now, it's mistreatment of Shoppers has stooped at an all-time low. They are profiting astronomically off of us literally risking our lives, all while refusing to provide us with effective protection, meaningful pay, and meaningful benefits."

Instacart shoppers specified the following wants in the announcement posted to Medium:

• Safety precautions at no cost to workers — at minimum hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes/spay and soap.
• Hazard pay — an extra $5 per order and defaulting the in-app tip amount to at least 10 percent of the total order.
• An extension and expansion of pay for workers impacted by COVID-19 — anyone who has a doctor’s note for either a pre-existing condition.
• The deadline to qualify for these benefits must be extended beyond April 8.

Instacart in March announced new guidelines and policies to support the health and safety of its shoppers during the coronavirus outbreak. Additionally, the company said it had secured hand sanitizer for the workers.

Also, the company said it would offer a bonus of $25 to $200 for select employees based on the amount of hours worked from March 15 through April 15.

"The health and safety of our entire community — shoppers, customers and employees — is our first priority," a company spokesperson said of the new guidelines. "Our goal is to serve our customers when they need us and offer a safe and flexible earnings opportunity to the shopper community."

In a statement Sunday, Gig Workers Collective described Instacart's offer as insulting. It said the company had offered to provide hand sanitizer next week and make changes to the default tip amount in its app.

"We are heartened by the outpouring of support we’ve received from Instacart customers, politicians, activists, and everyday folks worried that they could be exposed to the virus due to Instacart's craven profit-seeking," it said. "It goes to show that corporate greed is an issue that impacts us all, whether one is a Shopper directly being affected, or not."