New York delivery workers to earn more than $18 an hour starting in July

After food delivery workers in New York City demanded a wage increase, next July the adjustment will go from $12 to $18 an hour including tips.

Workers’ Justice Project Ligia Guallpa, expressed in a press conference that this salary adjustment marks “a historic moment in the city and for the more than 60,000 essential application delivery workers in New York City, which will soon be guaranteed minimum wage”, he said.

According to the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), delivery app employees used to be paid $12 an hour, so now their employers must pay them a minimum of $17.96 dollars per hour including tips, it is estimated that by 2025 the increase will reach $19.96.

Under the new rules “applications have the option of pay the drivers per trip, per hour worked, or develop their own formulas, as long as their workers earn the minimum pay rate of $19.96 dollars on average,” explained the mayor's office.

This change establishes New York as the first city in the United States to require a fairer minimum wage for this sector, in the midst of a constant increase in prices and a high cost of living due to inflation.

Although the minimum wage in New York is $15 an hour, the adjustment for food delivery workers is based on the fact that the applications they work for classify them as independent contractors, therefore these employees must pay many taxes taller than a normal worker.