Instacart workers demand more coronavirus protections ahead of strike

It only took a global pandemic, but the workers of the world are uniting.

On Monday, many of the people responsible for keeping Americans stocked up on groceries and other necessities took collective action for better working conditions and pay amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Instacart "Shoppers" (the company's term for their grocery shopping and delivery workforce) are refusing orders, some New York Amazon warehouse workers are walking off the job, and Whole Foods workers announced that they would stage a nationwide "sick out" Tuesday.

Warehouse and delivery workers have been braving grocery stores and other crowded workplaces, often with neither safety gear like gloves, masks, and hand sanitizer, nor extra pay, nor robust sick leave. Now, the companies involved are responding to some demands, but workers say it's too little, too late.

Instacart announced Sunday that it would change its tipping defaults, and provide hand sanitizer and hygiene stations at stores to workers. That's in response to some of the main requests from strikers, which include more sanitation and safety gear, increased sick pay policy, and a $5 per order hazard fee.

Specifically, Instacart's Shoppers can order hand sanitizer for free directly from the company via a new website. Instacart actually had to source and create the hand sanitizer itself since global supply chains have been disrupted and are understocked. It "worked with a third-party to manufacture its own hand sanitizer," according to a company statement. The statement continues:

The product is a liquid spray ethyl alcohol-based hand sanitizer, which will ship in the next week.The independently-developed hand sanitizer that Instacart is providing meets CDC guidance for alcohol-based hand sanitizer and can be used when soap and water are not readily available. The hand sanitizer spray will be available via a website built for the shopper community where shoppers will be able to request the product by logging in with their Instacart shopper email address.

Instacart is also creating a new tipping default that it says will result in more money for shoppers. That removes the option for a "none" tip and defaults to whatever a person's last tip was.

Over the past week, Instacart also announced that it would provide bonuses for working during the social distancing period based on the number of hours logged. It would also provide two weeks of sick pay to people who tested positive for coronavirus.

In a Medium post entitled "Instacart’s 'Response' is a Sick Joke — The Strike is Still On," Instacart strikers expressed that they were both underwhelmed and insulted.

"Aside from simply not being enough, this is insulting for a number of reasons," the post reads before addressing the actions taken.

The Instacart workers say that the company's ability to quickly find a hand sanitizer workaround only when faced with the threat of a strike represents a lack of proactive effort by the company:

"We had been asking for hand sanitizer for many, many weeks. But apparently the company is capable of sourcing some with 2 days of work? Where was this before? Where were these efforts back when Shoppers first began asking for it? It’s abhorrent that it took this long for them to act, but on the bright side, it shows that a strike will work to change their behavior."

The post expresses skepticism about the benefit shoppers will see from the tipping change policy. It also points out that Instacart does not address the demand of hazard pay at all, nor does it provide sick leave for people who do not have Covid-19, but might still be unable to work because of underlying conditions. Instacart's current Covid-19 sick leave policy will be provided for people with an official government mandated need to not work, and all workers will be able to accrue sick pay over time.

Mashable has reached out to Instacart for their response to the workers' concerns, and will update this story when and if we hear back.

As for today? "The strike is still on," the post says.

UPDATE: March 30, 2020, 12:32 p.m. PDT Instacart responded to Mashable's request for comment on the complaints levied by striking workers.

Regarding the timeliness of the hand sanitizer, Instacart said it has been working on sourcing this product for weeks.

Regarding the financial upside its new tipping model represents, it says tips have increased 30 percent over the past month for users who received tests of the new default tipping system.