Deliverista Sammy Escalante - Brooklyn, NY, USA

NYC Deliveristas

On the night of the 1st of September, the remnants of Hurricane Ida swept through New York City, dumping a record amount of rainfall. I happened to be caught outside in the downpour and began filming the rising floodwaters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Soon, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a lone delivery worker on an e-bike, who struggled to push his bike (and delivery) through waist-deep water. I filmed him and then, while still standing in the rain myself, posted the video to Twitter. Immediately the post went viral - racking up over 12 million views. The video was retweeted by everyone from AOC to the NY Times.

I followed up my tweet with a statement saying “if I make any money off of licensing this video, I will donate it to this driver”.

The video set off a crazy journey which lasted over a month, of relentlessly searching the streets of Williamsburg for the driver, interviewing restaurant owners, delivery workers, and poring over the original video. Even the NYTimes’ visual investigations unit helped out. We simply could not find the driver, and he remains anonymous to this day.

Through the search process, I was introduced to Los Deliveristas Unidos (LDU) and the Workers Justice Project, who are organizing and campaigning for rights for the estimated 80,000 delivery workers in New York City. Many of these workers deliver food on e-bike, and are exposed to theft, accidents, abuse and more. LDU successfully petitioned the NYC City Council to pass legislation, which happened soon after this video was released, to allow the use of bathrooms by deliveristas, wage guarantees, transparency in tips, and more. These concessions are vitally needed and will serve as a model for the rest of the country. This is truly groundbreaking work.

Deliveristas are literally being exploited by big tech in order for people to have the cheapest possible prices. But I believe, and I believe many others do too, that we would gladly pay more to know that these apps were safe, transparent, and equitable in their interactions with their employees (or “contracted workers”). Moreover, I believe that the impetus for change will only ever come from pressure put upon these companies by organizations like LDU. They are persistent, and they are effective. Unfortunately, I couldn’t donate to the individual in my video, but I was able to support LDU, and I highly recommend doing the same.

To donate, please visit https://secure.actblue.com/donate/deliveristas.