The Delivery App Industry Has Abandoned Its Immigrant Workforce

Even those 2017 promises were little more than P.R. stunts, according to the workers’ advocates. They were part of a pattern of donations aimed at buying goodwill in the companies’ fight against efforts to strengthen workers’ rights, according to Guallpa. If the companies wanted to really help workers, she said, they would take their donation money “and put it back into the pockets of workers.”

The workers say they are under no illusions: The delivery companies are not going to help, and immigrants who fear Immigration and Customs Enforcement are on their own. In response, they are banding together. Manny Ramirez, an experienced delivery worker and advocate, said workers are in large WhatsApp groups where they warn one another about ICE sightings. People try to avoid areas with ICE or hide out for a day at home, choosing to lose that day’s wages rather than risk deportation, he said. And community leaders like Ramirez and Ajche are doing whatever they can to help others understand their rights. Ajche, who helped found the advocacy group Los Deliveristas Unidos, said he wants workers to know that “there is an organization that is supporting them, that is fighting for them. We just have to keep moving forward. We’re not going to be scared.”

Against some tough odds, the workers can point to limited wins against the delivery companies. Last month, DoorDash agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general that claimed the company deceptively used tips from customers to reduce its own payments to delivery workers—if DoorDash promised a worker $10 for a delivery and the customer provided no tip, DoorDash would pay the full $10 to the worker, but if the customer provided a $3 tip, DoorDash would only pay $7, according to the attorney general. As part of the settlement, DoorDash will pay more than $16 million in restitution to the workers.