New Organizing for a New Economy

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Following a 30% cut in pay for Postmates delivery workers, the Seattle-based labor organization Working Washington has begun organizing an interesting campaign, dubbed Blitz Up. Central to this campaign is a tactic which, if it proves effective, could change the way that gig workers organize against companies.


Postmates, an app-based food delivery company, has a feature called a Blitz, in which prices are raised during periods of high demand to incentivize more workers to deliver goods, much like the better-known Uber Surge Pricing. Working Washington’s strategy is to organize workers to take jobs only during Blitz periods; by creating a backlog of orders, this would force the app to enter more frequent Blitz periods, providing more pay for workers while increasing costs for customers. The tactic presents some interesting contrasts with the traditional strike, such as that gone on by many rideshare drivers on the day of Uber’s initial public offering. First, it is far less costly for workers to participate, as they can continue to make deliveries. Second, it cannot be broken in the way that a strike can; unlike Uber and Lyft drivers who could earn more by driving when other workers were on strike, Postmates’ would-be scabs would earn no more than they would otherwise. If the company introduces bonuses to entice workers to take these orders, they are essentially creating a Blitz and thereby giving the workers what they want. On the customer’s end, fewer delivery workers and more Blitzes would mean either longer wait times or higher costs, discouraging them from using the app.

Working Washington only plans for Blitz Up to last one day (June 15th), but in the future this tactic could be useful for longer periods, given that it doesn’t rely on participants stopping work altogether. If the action is a success, it could pave the way for gig workers for other companies taking similar actions; this would mean that labor organizing is not only evolving as tech companies change the way we work, but that workers may increasingly be able to use companies’ own systems against them.

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