The Target Gig Workers Strike Is Coming
Image: Jeepers Media
Gig workers for the Target same-day delivery app Shipt are getting shifted out of nearly half their pay under a draconian new pay structure, and they’re asking you to support their strike and lay off that app this week. Vice reports that Target’s gig workers who deliver orders for Shipt are going on a one-day strike on Wednesday, July 15, so if you order crap online from Target, well, please don’t do it that day.
Target's app-driven delivery service is the notorious @Shipt, a company with a history of exploitative labor practices, including retaliation against those who dare to complain.https://t.co/r2BcPSviIF
— Cory Doctorow #BLM (@doctorow) July 14, 2020
The one-day strike is to protest a new algorithmic pay structure that workers say slashes their wages by anywhere from 30%-50%. This so-called “blackbox pay model” pulls unexpected changes to their pay all of the time — even amidst a pandemic — and slashes their pay even further than the sub-minimum wage money they’re making now.
Workers at Shipt, the same-day delivery service run by Target Corp., say they plan to hold a work stoppage on Wednesday to protest a new pay structure that Shipt says will reward "effort." Workers say it will cut their pay by up to half. https://t.co/ii4eA0qVmz
— MplsStPaulBizJournal (@MSPBJnews) July 14, 2020
“This seismic company shift is occurring at the same time that its shoppers — essential workers taking unprecedented risks during this pandemic — are already suffering significantly,” the delivery workers said in a statement on Medium. “At the same time Shipt — a corporation profiteering off consumer fears during this pandemic — is experiencing obscene increases in its sales.
This morning @shipt announced theyre launching a pay cut on July 15th.
Shipt shoppers busted their asses during a pandemic – shopping in COVID-19 hotspots so customers could stay safe at home.
Cutting pay during a pandemic is disgusting. Shame on you @Target.
— Gig Workers Collective (@GigWC) July 10, 2020
“This action is simply wrong. We, Shipt’s shoppers, cannot and will not accept this attempt to slash our pay as we risk our lives and the lives of our families during this pandemic. Thus, on July 15th, Shipt shoppers will be walking off. We ask that you join us in boycotting Shipt and send the message that profiteering off shoppers and customers is unacceptable.”
Hey @Target: If you could pay CEO Brian Cornell $21.6M last year, why can’t you extend basic workplace protections to @Shipt shoppers who work in your stores? You must do better to protect these essential workers. Provide strong #PaidLeave benefits to EVERYONE today.
— Debbie Kerchee (@TsalagiOK) July 12, 2020
Shipt is a sort of Instacart competitor that has about 100,000 gig workers nationwide, and according to Vice, has brought on about 10,000 more during all the unemployment of the COVID-19 economic downturn. But as tech companies that profit from the pandemic become even more ruthless with their underpaid gig workers, let’s not buy stuff online from Target on Wednesday to make sure these workers aren’t left with the Shipt end of the stick.
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