Seattle gig workers win #PayUp policy!
A job that was supposed to help us landed us in so much debt. It has made us question our own sanity. The lack of pay stability led to the creation of the PayUp campaign and the desire for protections from those that exploit us. As gig workers leading the PayUp campaign, we have worked hard, fought hard, and created a new legacy that will stand and change the future of gig work.
And today, we’re finally celebrating a huge victory: the Seattle City Council just voted to pass our PayUp policy into law, ending subminimum wages for gig workers on apps like DoorDash, Instacart, and Gopuff!
Gig workers leading this campaign have shown courage, conviction, and wisdom in the face of the fearful reality that we live in—a reminder of why we must continue to advocate for each other.
There’s still plenty of work to be done. The ordinance that passed today is the first in a series of laws to ensure all gig workers have basic rights. Up next: policies to address unwarranted deactivation, discrimination & harassment, abuse of background checks, bathroom access, and other basic protections.
We’re also working to make sure people on apps like TaskRabbit, Rover, and Wag—who were cut out of this policy at the last minute—aren’t paid subminimum wages just because company lobbyists requested a loophole. Thanks to hundreds of workers and supporters speaking out in the last week, City Council amended PayUp before the vote to include a promise to address this loophole — and we’ll be holding them accountable to that promise.
PayUp is the first law in the country to set a pay floor for gig work, protect & expand the flexibility gig workers depend on, and finally require transparency from apps.
Let’s celebrate this landmark win and make sure people across the state and country hear about this first-of-its-kind policy—a law for gig workers actually written by gig workers:
Thanks for helping make history,
–Mia, gig worker & organizer with the PayUp campaign
Mia Kelly worked on Instacart and started organizing with Working Washington in 2018 after she was injured on the job and realized she had no protection for the risk and expenses she was taking on. She quickly became a leader in the Seattle PayUp campaign, helped launch the national PayUp campaign in 2019, and then joined the PayUp team to organize fellow gig workers.