Three delivery platforms, Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub, failed in court on Thursday to overturn a minimum wage measure that New York City wants to impose on bike delivery drivers who have become essential during the Covid pandemic.
“In rain, snow, hail or heat, they never give up delivering to us, and now we can finally be indebted to them,” said the Democratic mayor of the megacity of 8.5 million, Eric Adams.
This “decent salary” is “a considerable progress that will lead to enormous changes” for delivery workers, said Gustavo Ajche, leader of the delivery movement “Los Deliveristas Unidos” on X (ex-Twitter).
For its part, the food delivery platform DoorDash, through a spokesperson, called the New York State Supreme Court’s decision an “extremely disappointing outcome” and ruled that “such an extreme compensation rate will reduce the opportunities and increase costs for all New Yorkers.”
Uber, Doordash and Grubhub can appeal the decision, which rejects their appeal to stay the measure.
After a long study and consultation, the city of New York announced in June the introduction of a minimum hourly wage of $17.96, raised to $19.96 in 2025 and subsequently adjusted for inflation, for the approximately 60,000 Bicycle delivery people working for food deliveries.
Amid the recurring debate over the “gig economy” model, the city claims to be a novelty in the United States, as workers have neither the status of employees nor the rights that come with it them.
In New York, delivery workers, also called “deliveristas” because they are mostly immigrants from Latin American countries, were celebrated at the height of the Covid-19 crisis and became an essential part while restaurants, bars and shops in “the city , which were never “closed sleeps”.
But the platforms, which pay delivery drivers per trip, have taken legal action and delayed the measure’s entry into force, originally scheduled for July 12. In particular, Doordash ruled that the city relied on “biased and unreliable” surveys of delivery drivers.
According to the city study published in November 2022, delivery drivers earned an average of $14.18 per hour including customer tips, but only $7.09 without tips, of which $3.06 had to be deducted. Costs not covered.