USA: Instacart workers strike over changes to tipping policy; Includes company comments
In November 2019, several thousand Instacart workers went on a 72-hour strike, demanding that the company change the default tip function on its app.
Currently, customers can choose to leave either a $2 or a 5% tip for workers, on top of the 5% service fee charged with every order. The workers allege that this service fee is misleading, and that the 5% default tip option cuts into their wages. They are now demanding that the app return to offering a 10% tip, as it did previously.
Following the strike, Instacart announced it would be eliminating the $3 bonus given to workers who received 5 star ratings from customers, stating that the bonus was not improving quality. This led to allegations from workers that this deduction was a means of retaliating against the strike.
Further comments from Instacart can be found below.