Why Is Instacart Making Its Contract Workers Risk Their Health To Do Their Job?

[appalachiablue]

Why is Instacart making its contract workers risk their health to do their job? We who shop and deliver groceries to the app’s customers for meager wages we deserve to be issued with proper protection. The Guardian, April 1, 2020.

These days, simply leaving your home to buy food is a gamble. That’s why countless people are calling services like Instacart, which delivers groceries, to spare them a trip to the supermarket. I’ve been an Instacart worker for nearly two years in the Newark/New York area and I’ve never experienced such stress, chaos and craziness. My stomach goes into knots before going into stores because I never know if today will be the day I contract Covid-19 or, worse, spread it to a customer. That is why many of us are striking for better working conditions, including paid sick leave.



- Amazon warehouse employees on strike over coronavirus fears in Staten Island, New York

Right now, contract workers who shop and deliver orders to customers’ homes are risking our health by doing our jobs. Hand sanitizer, wipes and hazard pay should be given to anyone who is working right now under these conditions, but that is not the case. While Instacart has no problem giving these protections to so-called “in-store shoppers” – Instacart employees who are based in stores, and get orders ready for customers for pick up – they have completely looked past the contract workers like me, called full service shoppers, who travel to the store, shop the order and deliver it to customers.

Without shoppers, Instacart is nothing but an app. We spend our days in and out of stores so that customers can stay home and not risk their health. We deal with the crowds, out-of-stock items, item limits and upset customers when their products aren’t all available. The company reportedly wants to hire 300,000 more shoppers to be put at risk instead of paying shoppers who already work for the company fair wages...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/31/instacart-workers-risk-their-health-to-do-their-job

*Amazon Warehouse Workers In New York Walk Off The Job; Instacart And Whole Foods Employees To Follow
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142459651

*New Film, 'SORRY WE MISSED YOU' on Work In The Gig Economy
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017574588

c

[BeckyDem]

1. Almost overnight they were placed in a position of danger and those dangers not appreciated

in the way it counts by their respected corporate owners. That is America in 2020.

[appalachiablue]

2. what will be done about the corporate malfeasance, if anything