App-based food delivery workers have kept New Yorkers fed throughout the pandemic despite facing low pay, harassment, traffic injuries, and lack of basic labor protections. Thanks to the organizing efforts of Los Deliveristas Unidos, a movement of mostly immigrant food delivery workers, and their advocates, the New York City Council passed a first-in-the-nation package of bills on September 23rd to ensure app-based food couriers minimum pay, access to bathrooms, control over the distance they travel, and more. In this forum we will hear from those documenting the challenges these workers face and learn more about the advocacy efforts that secured this policy win. Speakers will discuss next steps for implementation and enforcement of the laws, and ideas for building on these basic protections to support food delivery workers’ fight for dignity on the job. Join the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute and invited guests on November 30th, 2021 for this virtual forum and discussion.
Speakers
- Maria Figueroa, Dean, Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire
- Hildalyn Colón Hernández, Director of Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Workers Justice Project
- Carlos Menchaca, New York City Councilmember District 38
Moderator
- Emma Vignola, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute Fellow and Doctoral Candidate in Community Health and Social Sciences at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy