Instacart Shoppers Plan Strike Over Treatment During Coronavirus

CALIFORNIA — Workers at Instacart, a grocery and household item delivery company, were set to begin a nationwide strike Monday, citing the company's failure to provide them with enough supplies to properly protect them from being exposed during the new coronavirus crisis.

It’s unclear how many workers are striking and how severe the stoppage of Instacart’s services will be in California.

The company has approximately 200,000 workers it employs nationwide, and has plans to add 300,000 over the next three months to keep up with the growing demand for grocery delivery.

The plan to strike was announced recently by Instacart workers, known as shoppers, and a non-profit called Gig Workers Collective.

“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 shoppers 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.”

Patch reached out to Instacart for comment on the matter and has not currently received a response.

The workers — who are independent contractors, not employees — control the amount of hours they want to work in a given week. Instacart partners with more than 350 major retailers across the country, including Costco, Target and Wegmans.

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 workers noted how the company is “profiting astronomically” during the time, while not doing enough for the safety of its workers.

“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 workers 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.”

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