Amidst Sanders’ Fight, NYC Raises Wages for Food Delivery Drivers

Updated on June 12, 2023

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced new regulations that would increase the salaries of food delivery workers to $17.96 per hour plus tips by July 12 and to $19.96 an hour by 2025.
• Many delivery workers currently earn less than $15 per hour, which is under the state's minimum wage.
• Delivery companies like Uber and DoorDash argue that the new legislation will raise prices and reduce scheduling flexibility. A DoorDash spokesperson said the company was considering litigation against the city.
• Mayor Adams said:

"The ones that bring you pizza in the snow, and that Thai food you like in the rain. This new minimum pay rate will guarantee these workers, and their families, can earn a living. They should not be delivering food to your household, if they can't put food on the plate in their household."

• Gustavo Ajche, an advocate from Los Deliveristas Unidos, said:

"To get to this moment is something huge for us. This is going to be a huge change for the lives of 65,000 delivery workers across New York City who have never seen a minimum pay. We're so happy!"

What's the story?

• Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has been actively promoting his call for a $17 minimum wage, arguing that inflation and living costs are eroding workers' security and quality of life.
• Next month, Sanders intends to formally introduce legislation that will raise the wage over five years. The wage hike would impact the incomes of approximately 35 million Americans currently earning less than $17 per hour. 

What is Sanders saying?

• Sanders called the current minimum wage a "national disgrace," pointing to inflation as reducing the buying power of the rate:

"As a result of inflation, $15 an hour back in 2021 would be over $17 an hour today. In the year 2023, in the richest country in the history of the world, nobody should be forced to work for starvation wages. That's not a radical idea. If you work 40-50 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty. It is time to raise the minimum wage to a living wage."

• Sanders continued:

"This is a popular issue. I don't think there's a state in the country where people do not believe we should raise the minimum wage. I would hope that every member of Congress understands that and there will be political consequences if they don't."

• Writing in "The Guardian," Sanders pointed to the need for modern reforms:

"[T]he Fair Labor Standards Act has not been reformed in 80 years. The result: millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, with the average worker making nearly $50 a week less than he or she did 50 years ago, after adjusting for inflation."

What is the political picture?

• The last time Congress approved a minimum wage increase was in 2009, when they raised it to $7.25. This is still the minimum wage in 20 states. 
• Republican lawmakers have staunchly resisted calls for a raised minimum wage and are vocally against the proposal.
• In 2021, Democrats attempted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in a provision included in the stimulus package designed to reboot the economy after the pandemic. The provision failed.
• Biden signed an executive order in 2021 raising the minimum wage for federal contractors, but he has never publicly offered support for a $17 minimum wage.
• New York's Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has released a tentative budget deal to see the wage in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County reach $17 by 2026. 
• Several states and cities have approved raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour, but there has yet to be a tangible legislative action toward a national increased wage this year.
• A 2021 Congressional Budget Office report found that a higher minimum wage would lead to the loss of 1.4 million jobs. However, the same report found that a higher salary would lift 900,000 people out of poverty.

Should we raise the minimum wage?

—Emma Kansiz