Demand Fair Pay Protections for App-Based Workers

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    Demand Fair Pay Protections for App-Based Workers

    The Color Of Change Fair Pay, Fair Price campaign is a bold initiative to combat algorithms that underpay workers and artificially raises rent and housing costs for consumers, particularly impacting Black communities. 

    Ride-share and delivery platforms pay one driver $20 and might only pay another $12. The difference? Hidden algorithms that discriminate based on who you are and where you live. These algorithms disproportionately impact Black workers. Black people make up 23% of app-based workers - nearly double their representation in the overall workforce - yet consistently earn less for identical work.

    Join Color Of Change to demand fair pay protections for app-based workers and call for accountability for companies that perpetuate wage discrimination. Sign on to our demands urging these companies to meet us at the table to discuss a brighter future for app-based workers.

     

    Here is the Petition:

    As layoffs rise and wages fall farther behind the cost of living, more people are being pushed into app-based work to keep up. Nearly one in four people in the U.S. now participate in some form of app-based work—and it has become the main source of income for one third of workers. Black people make up 23% of app-based workers — nearly double their representation in the overall workforce — yet consistently earn less for identical work. Now Tech platforms valued at billions of dollars are pushing hard to cut costs by lowering the pay, protections, and perks of workers.

    DoorDash, Instacart, Lyft, and Uber are among those using algorithms to track how long their workers stay on an app, what jobs they accept, and how urgently they need income. These algorithms calculate what the employers can pay to get the job done at the lowest rate possible. This didn’t happen by accident. This is a system designed to extract as much work as possible for as little pay as possible.

    These wage disparities are well-documented. Workers are taking to online forums to expose how their promised wages are not reflective of what they were paid for completing service.

    These platforms rely on fear and exploitation to make their billions. That's why Color Of Change recently sent letters of concern urging them to consider the following:

    • Interrogate algorithmic bias and how it adds to the pay and wage gap for people of color and other underrepresented  communities.
    • Develop an independent commission outside of the corporation to evaluate and make recommendations to the application’s algorithmic bias.
    • Create clear, consistent pricing rules, and stop using personal information to charge higher prices to Black and other communities of color.
    • Make sure all workers get fair pay for doing the same work.
    • Increase base pay wages, ensuring all workers are getting fair and appropriate wages.

    Technology should make work more stable, more fair, and more predictable. Right now, it’s doing the opposite. And that’s not inevitable. It’s what happens when an economy limits options for some people, then funnels them into systems that take advantage of that lack of choice.