PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by William Medina, Organizing Leader of Los Deliveristas Unidos
0:47:37
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132 sec
William Medina, an organizing leader with Los Deliveristas Unidos, testified in support of Intros 1133 and 1135, which would extend protections and a living wage to delivery workers who deliver grocery store goods. He emphasized the importance of minimum pay for delivery workers and highlighted the need to address loopholes that allow app companies to avoid compliance with existing laws.
- Medina shared personal experience as a delivery worker since 2018, describing the struggles before minimum pay laws and the transformative impact of such laws.
- He raised concerns about app companies' tactics to avoid compliance, such as locking workers out of accounts, creating unfair scheduling systems, and deactivating workers.
- Medina called for additional protections, including tipping, pay transparency, and deactivation protection bills, to ensure company compliance and the success of minimum pay laws.
William Medina
0:47:37
Good morning.
0:47:37
My name is William Medina.
0:47:39
I'm an organizing leader with Lodeliviristas Unidos, and I've been a deliVirista New York City since 2018.
0:47:45
I'm here to support Intros 11 30 3 and 11 35 that we extend Brexit protection and a living wage to the Liberty East as we deliver the grocery store goods.
0:47:53
As independent contractors, delivery worker have to pay for our owned vehicles, owned operating expenses, owned medical costs, on top of our rent and living expenses.
0:48:05
As a deliberista, I can tell you how much we struggle to afford those costs before the minimum pay law was passed.
0:48:12
And I can tell you how transformative minimum pay has been.
0:48:16
It has allowed us to work without always wondering if we are going to survive, if we are going to have enough money to pay our expenses to do our jobs.
0:48:24
The minimum amount needed to survive and cover our operating expenses is fair and just compensation because we receive no benefits or help from the app companies for our cost.
0:48:35
All contracted delivery workers deserve such a furnace regardless of the kind of goods we carry.
0:48:41
While we fill in this loophole and cover workers who deliver grocery goods, we also need to fill in the loopholes that have allowed the app companies to avoid compliance with the minimum pay law since it began implementation.
0:48:54
I see how multibillion dollar companies like, and others routinely try to avoid complying with the law by locking workers out their accounts so they don't have to pay our on call time, by creating unjust scheduling systems to limit the amount we work, by deactivating worker to avoid paying and blocking our tips.
0:49:14
As we extend minimum pay to grocery workers, we have to be prepared for how the app company is covered by this new law.
0:49:20
We also retaliate.
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Our concern is that Instacart and other companies will have a blueprint from DoorDash, from Uber Eats, and from others for retaliating and avoiding compliance with the new law.
0:49:32
We need to have a blueprint, too.
0:49:34
We need to extend to all workers the tipping, pay transparency, and the activation protection bills that have already been introduced, and we need to pass them now.
0:49:43
Having the complete package to protection is a ways to ensure company compliance and the success of the minimum paid.
0:49:48
Thank you.
