GoPuff workers speak out

GoPuff drivers are publicly calling on the delivery app to improve its treatment of workers for the first time as the company continues to rapidly expand.

In an open letter released Thursday in collaboration with the labor rights organization Working Washington, 24 goPuff drivers demanded a livable wage, real flexibility and more oversight of managers. Organizers are hopeful that more will sign on in the coming days.

GoPuff — which offers fast delivery of a wide variety of products stocked in its own warehouses across the country — has seen relatively little organizing among its workforce compared to its fellow gig economy firms such as Uber, Lyft or Instacart.

However, with the company’s growth during the pandemic to more than 450 warehouses and a surge in hiring that brought its valuation to nearly $9 billion earlier this year, that is changing.

The Hill spoke with half a dozen goPuff drivers over the last few months who described the working environment there as the worst of both worlds: all the rigid time demands and clashes with management of a traditional job without the safety net that full employment provides.