Over the course of the last year, gig workers have risked our health, our lives, and the safety of our families to provide essential services to our communities. Gig workers are intentionally misclassified as independent contractors by our employers, not just to cheat us out of earning minimum wage, but also to skip the tab for workers’ compensation, sick pay, employer-sponsored healthcare, paid family leave, and unemployment insurance. Throughout the pandemic, while risking our health, and our lives, gig companies (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates) spent an astonishing $205,000,000 to subvert our rights to proper classification, and they won. During a pandemic in which our labor was deemed essential, we were simultaneously stripped of even the most basic rights of employment. We've included stories of gig workers that lost their lives while working, leaving their families unprotected and utterly vulnerable. Lynn Murray, 62, was viciously gunned down in the mass shooting at King Soopers in Boulder, Colorado. https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/23/boulder-shooting-victim-lynn-murray/. According to the Denver Post, Lynn, a beloved wife, and mother of two, was a former photo director who previously worked for big-name magazines like Glamour, Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan. In her retirement, she was a gig worker who shopped for Instacart. She was brutally murdered while filling an Instacart order. Mohammad Anwar, 66, was fatally attacked in Washington, D.C. Mohammad was a father of three and grandfather of four and was violently murdered while delivering an order for UberEats. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/two-girls-13-and-15-used-stun-gun-in-fatal-armed-carjacking-near-nationals-park-police-say/2617947/  Ryan Munsie Graham, 31, was murdered while delivering for UberEats in Haltom City, Texas. Ryan left behind a husband and three small children. https://kvia.com/news/texas/2021/01/30/texas-mom-of-3-working-side-job-as-uber-eats-driver-allegedly-killed-by-14-year-old-boys/ Timothy Allen, 65, murdered while delivering packages for Amazon Flex in West Dallas, Texas. Timothy was an extremely talented musician. https://www.fox4news.com/news/trackdown-help-identify-persons-of-interest-in-timothy-allens-murder Yusuf Ozgur, 56, was a treasured husband and father of two. Yusuf was murdered while picking up an order for DoorDash in Manassas, Virginia. https://people.com/crime/doordash-delivery-man-killed-christmas-robbery-dennys/ Cherno Ceesay, 28, was robbed and murdered while driving for Uber in Issaquah, Washington. https://www.q13fox.com/news/couple-accused-of-stabbing-killing-uber-driver-in-issaquah Yousef Al-Gabri, 56, was murdered in Detroit, Michigan, after picking up a passenger for Uber. Yousef is survived by his four children. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2021/03/12/detroit-man-charged-with-1st-degree-murder-in-shooting-death-of-uber-driver/ When Instacart Shopper, Lynn Murray, was killed in the mass shooting at King Soopers in Boulder, CO, while filling an Instacart order, her family did not receive the same benefits that were extended to grocery store workers that were killed during the massacre. If Lynn were properly classified as an employee, her family would receive occupational death benefits that all Colorado employees are entitled to like survivor benefits and funeral benefits. She would have also qualified for life insurance, which Instacart offers to its properly classified employees. Even in the most extreme cases, gig companies have demonstrated that they won’t properly step up to honor the rights and protections afforded to properly classified workers. Gig work is dangerous work. Even before the pandemic, “Uber and Lyft drivers face fatal risks that are 1.1 and 2.6 times the fatality rate for police officers and firefighters. The corresponding estimates for Grubhub are 2.0 and 4.4.” https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/amp/Open-Forum-Driving-for-Uber-Lyft-GrubHub-and-14123731.php Undoubtedly, as gig workers were declared essential workers and still expected to show up, overwhelmingly unprotected, the pandemic has only added insult to injury. With our occupational risks of death being higher than first responders, there is no doubt that we need the full host of occupational injury and death protections provided through workers’ compensation.  When gig workers die at work we die without security, and often our families must rely on the generosity of strangers and crowdfunding to even cover funeral expenses. Due to the high-profile nature of Lynn Murray’s brutal murder, Instacart publicly donated $50,000 to a GoFundMe for her family. Gig companies pocket hundreds of millions of dollars they should have paid annually into state-run workers’ compensation programs. Any token donations to families are always a fraction of a cent on the dollar of what they should be paying to ensure workers are protected in our workplaces. Make no mistake, a company that deprives its workers of essential workplace protections through intentional misclassification deserves no accolades for a one-time donation to a single-family. We need the security of guaranteed benefits, crowdsourcing is not a safety net. What happens when the death of a gig worker is not part of national headlines? What is the recourse for grieving families when they’re left to seek damages from some of the wealthiest and most resourced corporations in the nation?  The answer is infuriating. Families are left to fend for themselves in addition to the trauma and grief of unexpectedly losing a family member. We encourage you to read more about gig workers that have lost their lives while working and remember that they represent only a fraction of the actual human cost of gig work.

We work long, tiresome hours for Amazon. Our work generates billions of dollars in revenue for this corporation. We are valuable and essential to this company and we demand to be treated with respect.

We work long, tiresome hours for Amazon. Our work generates billions of dollars in revenue for this corporation. We are valuable and essential to this company and we demand to be treated with respect.

We are Trader Joe’s workers writing to demand that the employee benefits introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic be made permanent and that healthcare coverage be immediately and permanently issued to all TJ’s workers risking their health and safety in stores. When the Covid-19 pandemic started last March, Trader Joe’s workers across the country spoke up and demanded that the company institute hazard pay in order to compensate us for the tremendous risk we have undertaken by continuing to work. The company eventually gave us a two-dollar "Thank You Pay" increase and raised the employee discount to 20%. However, many stores have cut hours during the pandemic, which has resulted in a sustained loss of income for many employees. When our "Thank You Pay” was increased to four dollars in February to comply with local laws, management made up costs by getting rid of the permanent raises employees would normally receive in the summer. Ironically, taking away the opportunity for a raise will cost the most loyal, full-time employees thousands of dollars in future income while Trader Joe’s returns to pre-pandemic level sales and profits. After only three months, the company announced that on May 1st they will take away our additional two dollars, and we fear the rest of the “Thank You Pay” is soon to follow. To add insult to injury, as the pandemic continues into spring, a huge percentage of us are vulnerable after losing our company-sponsored health insurance at the end of December when the company maintained an hour requirement many workers couldn’t meet due to cut hours, sick loved ones, and unsafe exposure in the workplace. In some cases, employees failed to meet health insurance qualifications due to quarantining or recovering after contracting the virus themselves. As essential workers who have risked ourselves and our loved ones for the last year, we should not be left without healthcare. We deserve more than thanks. We have continued to work tirelessly, with smiles on our faces, to provide our communities with essential services and resources. The experience of working through the pandemic has been traumatic for many. What was once a normal shift can now bring on extreme panic and anxiety for many crew members. Countless employees have gotten sick with Covid-19 contracted at Trader Joe’s and some of our coworkers have lost their lives. Though Trader Joe’s claims “integrity” as a core company value, as far as we are aware, TJ’s executives have received full salaries, and possible bonuses, this past year with the option of working safely from home. We deserve thanks, but the company’s actions feel like an insult——every measure the company has taken to provide an additional “benefit” during the pandemic has been accompanied by an action that shifts the loss back on crew members. We crew the ship and we insist that Trader Joe’s meet these demands: -The “Thank You Pay” be made a permanent raise of 4 dollars an hour for all Trader Joe’s crew members, including those on extended leave of absence. -The 20% Crew Member Discount be made permanent. -Reinstate full healthcare coverage for all current employees and expand healthcare coverage to all part- and full-time employees. If TJ workers are interested in learning more about how to take action at work, reach out to an EWOC organizer today at workerorganizing.org/talk-with-an-organizer.

Dining workers are essential workers and right now their labor is not valued by the administration. The college said they could afford to pay us $100/hr but that we don't deserve it. Especially during a pandemic, we can't feel pressured to work while sick. We need to get back to the bargaining table and win a fair contract!

As a dasher, you pay for your own gas, upkeep on your vehicles, and you are not paid for time spent waiting for a pickup. The CEOs of the companies you work for are mega-rich, but you are not afforded basic benefits such as health care or paid time off. And while prices have increased for customers through vague service fees to cover substandard benefits, much of that money will never make it into the hands of workers. Under the new law in California, delivery workers of DoorDash will receive almost half of the IRS rate for mileage, only .30/mile. No matter where you come from, the color of your skin, or the work that you do, a job should help you pay the bills and leave you time with your family. In exchange for your time and effort, you should earn the pay and benefits that provide for a good living and a bright future. Working via an app and setting your own hours shouldn’t mean making pennies and having no safety net if you get sick or injured. It doesn’t have to be this way. A company worth almost $3 billion is able to pay you a living wage - they are just choosing not to. DoorDash drivers deserve better pay. Sign if you agree.

Sharon has caused multiple amazing employees to lose all motivation do their job, or to even show up for their job. The employees dread coming into work because they know the unfair situations in which we must work in. Sharon condones rude selfish behavior with her favoritism towards a single employee who refuses to follow our standards or even learn her duties to the fullest extent. Sharon let's her do anything she pleases, including treating the other staff like they are below her, doing the bare minimum and less of her duties, taking breaks and leaving whenever she wishes, spending most of her shifts on the phone, and then retaliates against the honest hardworking employees that speak up against the unfairness. She has caused our store to suffer and our guests to become disgruntled by the constant disruptions in our workplace. After months of asking for fair change, Sharon has done nothing but turn a blind eye to Jennifer's disturbances to the crew and retaliation against those who complain. Sharon is constantly mocking and spewing out profane and racial slurs against our customers, employees and anyone else who dares to speak against her personal views inside and even outside of the store. She is highly unprofessional and not fit to run a staff if she refuses to change her ways and drop the ongoing discrimination as well as exposing contagious employees to work shifts that she could easily fill with a healthy employee.

SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE! Although Black workers at Guy Fieri’s Kitchen & Bar Westmoreland have more professional experience, they are being paid LOWER WAGES than their white counterparts. This was brought to light following a recent racially charged incident, where a restaurant manager openly used the word “N****R” in front of several employees, while ordering a worker to turn off the music. Nate Ridley, a Black worker who was present when the racist remark was made, formally filed a complaint with LIVE! Casino’s HR department after the incident and put in his two weeks notice. It is unacceptable that the job he was once excited about had allowed such discrimination and disrespect to happen. The HR department did not immediately respond to Ridley’s grievance and he was expected to continue to work alongside the manager who made the racial slur. Ridley then connected with ROC-PA, which led to the discovery of the pay disparity between Black and white workers. When management was asked about the pay discrepancy, workers were told not to discuss wages with others. After ROC first circulated this petition, the LIVE! Casino’s HR department finally responded, saying that they would “look into the situation.” The management advised workers to “be careful signing petitions.” To date, Ridley has yet to receive an apology from the upper management of Guy’s Kitchen & Bar. We believe that everyone has the right to a workplace free of discrimination and harassment. As employees, we demand accountability, action and fair wages!

They make less than a server and do all the servers work for them. It’s not equal pay. And can’t live off 2.83 an hour.

A very large portion of your call representatives are on the verge of quitting and live in constant fear of being fired. We are mentally drained, exhausted, frustrated, and our mental and physical health is suffering. Unfulfilled promises to IMPROVE and THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE INSTEAD OF BETTER!!!!

Our tax and tuition dollars are driving poverty for immigrant workers at George Mason University. The university should pay people a decent wage and have high standards for all contractors. Their janitorial staff are forced to come to work after being exposed to COVID, they are shorted on hours and intimidated. On construction projects, the contractors use labor brokers that violate labor laws. We want GMU to adopt a strong responsible contractor policy. We want the new Virginia Square campus in Arlington to be built by union workers who have more job protections, and have apprenticeship opportunities for people in our community.

Whole Foods can afford to do better. The grocery store chain and its parent company, Amazon, are raking in profits during the pandemic. To slow the spread of the virus among Whole Foods employees and customers, CEO John Mackey needs to immediately institute a permanent comprehensive paid leave policy. That includes guaranteed paid sick time, paid family and medical leave, and paid time off to be vaccinated. Join us and Whole Foods employees in calling on Whole Foods to live up to their virtues by giving their employees the opportunity to put their wellness and their families first now and in the future.