In mid-April, three gig workers in Florida were victims of violent crime: a woman Doordash was abducted and sexually assaulted after delivering, a couple’s car shot at Tried to drop off an Instacart order after turning into the wrong driveway, and there was a man Murder After Uber Eats delivers.
While the news is upsetting, for some gig workers, feeling unsafe is a growing concern.
“The safety of drivers and couriers is a top priority, and we will continue to invest in key safety features like the ability to chat with a live safety agent, record trip audio in the app in nearly 150 US cities, and share their trip with loved ones,” an Uber spokesperson said. entrepreneur.
Roberto Moreno, who previously worked for GrubHub and Postmates In San Diego County, said Ap Monday that he stopped working for ride-sharing and delivery services because of concerns for his safety.
“We have to take care of ourselves because companies don’t do it,” he told the outlet.
Moreno also noted the disparity between the verification required from drivers and riders. Drivers are required to submit selfies, undergo background checks and provide other personal information, but when it comes to riders, “we don’t know anything about the passengers or the people we’re delivering to,” he said.
Gig Workers Rising, an activist group fighting for the safety and protection of gig workers, found That 80 app-based workers were killed while on the job between 2017 and 2022 – with 31 killed in 2022 alone, indicating an increase in violence. The report was based on press releases, police records and court documents.
“Application workers around the world are grappling with business models and workplace practices that expose them to unprecedented and endemic health and safety risks,” the organization wrote in the report.
In 2021, NBC News spoke 15 gig workers – All of them said they often “feared for their safety” and that violence appeared to have increased during and in the wake of the pandemic.
That same year, Uber rolled out new safety measures to keep drivers completely safe Verification For riders using untrackable payment options such as gift cards. last autumnThe company has implemented more safety features such as freezing rider accounts that appear to be fake or abusive, the option to video record the ride using the front-facing camera, as well as the option to record audio during the trip.
“We designed these new features to provide greater peace of mind while driving and delivering,” the company wrote in the release.
However, among all gig-powered apps, Uber had the highest number of worker homicides in 2022, accounting for 39% of total crimes, according to a report by Gig Workers Rising.
In regards to the Gig Workers Rising report, Uber noted that the death of Milton Pilasella Ayora (which the report attributed to Uber) was not connected to the Uber platform, and that another reported death, Michael Wallace, occurred in 2018 but is still included in the most recent report.
Related: Uber courier drivers are worried their cars are being used to move drugs
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