The Tri-Cities, like the entire eastern half of the continental U.S., saw a historic winter storm earlier this month. Last time I can remember something like that, I couldn’t even drive! So now that I’m able to drive, let me tell you, that shit was horrible. I could not DoorDash, I drove once before the roads were basically fully cleared and that was it. But of course, DD had to entice us to go out and potentially kill ourselves. For what? A measly $1-2 extra on orders! That does not at all make up for the risk of going out in hazardous conditions. We are functionally emergency responders in situations like these because we take on the risk to deliver groceries and food when consumers can’t. But just like in the COVID pandemic, we’re still paid less than minimum wage if you account for the costs of production we’re forced to bear up-front. I say drivers should be getting paid 1.5x our total rate any time we drive in weather conditions that are worse than average. Fog, snow, heavy wind, any rain more than a light drizzle, hell, even darkness, all of these greatly increase not only our life risk, but also the risk on our vehicles. And for even worse conditions, like what we witnessed this month, we should be getting at least 2x our total rate. If you’d make $100 on a normal day, you should be paid at least $150 for any weather or darkness hazard, and $200 for extreme hazards. Gig workers must unite into organizations that can leverage our numerical and labor power to force concessions like these out of our employers and the ruling class as a whole. To win hazard pay, among the many demands we should be fighting for, we’ll need to apply maximum pressure across as wide a local, regional, or national area possible, which means Gig Worker Committees cannot shy away from organizing the broadest amount of gig workers across all service-based crafts: delivery, rideshare, domestic, what have you.
What sort of actions do y’all think would be necessary to gain proper hazard pay? Local or national strikes? Driver or general gig worker strikes? Reply and let me know your thoughts!