Revolt of the New York Delivery Staff

Two minutes of pedaling later, he walks into a building on West End, armed with $13.71 worth of Chinese food: beef with garlic, spring roll, egg roll. He walks out with another $15 in his pocket. “They gave me $1.29,” he says with a shrug. By the time Justin gets back to the restaurant, it’s 6:39 p.m. His first round-trip of the evening—nearly one mile of cycling—took thirteen minutes. Nearly an hour into his shift, he’s made just $4.47 in tips.

In New York’s expanding service economy, deliverymen occupy a position near the bottom—earning less than doormen, security guards, nannies, maids, tailors, taxi drivers, and trash collectors and working in far more treacherous conditions. They work long hours and cover huge territories, often in inclement weather, dodging perils like potholes, taxi doors, and tow trucks (one of which killed a deliveryman last year)—all the while hoping they don’t get robbed along the way. And they do this for pay that is often less than the minimum wage.

But that may be about to change. Since last fall, some 70 Chinese deliverymen—including Justin and his co-workers at Ollie’s—have filed lawsuits against five Manhattan restaurants. Never before have so many restaurant deliverymen joined together to battle their bosses. It’s the Year of the Chinese Deliverymen—the year they decided to revolt.

(From The Deliverymen’s Uprising New York Magazine