President Joe Biden’s strategy for ending hunger in the U.S. by 2030 is being funded in part by companies whose own workers sometimes can’t afford to buy food.
“It is profoundly unsettling that companies like DoorDash, Instacart and Shipt, which refuse to pay their workers a minimum wage floor and overtime, [and] refuse to provide health insurance and workers’ compensation, get cover under an initiative like this,” said Veena Dubal, a law professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, a fellow at Stanford University and an advocate for gig workers.
Cardell Calloway, a 68-year-old DoorDash delivery worker from Lancaster, Calif., who said he has been living in his car for about a month after his RV was towed away, relies on SNAP benefits. When his church was offering food, he would also go there, he said. — Veena Dubal, law professor at University of California Hastings College of the Law Dubal said her research showed that during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, gig workers had “no financial safety net” and were going to food banks.
Gig companies have repeatedly pointed to their own studies and other research backed by gig companies that show much higher wages for gig workers, whom they say choose the work because of the flexibility it provides. Spokespeople for DoorDash, Instacart and Shipt did not respond directly to questions about studies suggesting gig workers are more likely to experience food insecurity than W-2 service-sector workers.
“The countries of the planet that have far less hunger than the United States don’t have it because they have more charity; they have it because their economy functions better, they have higher wages and they have a more robust safety net, which in most places is basically cash,” Berg added. That’s because SNAP reaches millions of people — 38 million nationwide in 2019 — who use it regularly to buy their food, while food banks and soup kitchens serve people more episodically, often providing just one meal or a few days’ worth of food at a time, Berg said. Officials with food banks have made similar points.
He praised the Biden administration’s hunger strategy for striking a good balance, because the $8 billion in commitments from companies and other entities is just one part of a much broader strategy. “The way they framed this, as additive rather than a replacement, I think was just right,” he said. Walmart did not respond to a request for comment. The company isn’t on the list of those providing the $8 billion in new commitments for Biden’s hunger strategy, but it has pledged to address the White House hunger and nutrition goals.
Instacart currently enables 70 retailers across more than 8,000 stores to accept EBT SNAP payments online via Instacart, a spokesperson said. As part of the Biden anti-hunger strategy, it will work with the USDA to incorporate SNAP and the government-assistance program Temporary Aid to Needy Families into its online platform “with a goal of expanding these benefits to all grocery partners by 2030.
instacart is lying. W/o a tip, most of these orders will put you in the negative. On average, they’re paying below minimum wage. Example: Here, they’re paying a total of $7 for 3 different orders. That’s $2.33 per order.
🤣🤣🤣
Gotta love it! All fit into the technocracy Bible and its fantastic books like the ClimateHustle which HizaLFC explains in detail on dustingoldshow Ep 80.
hackableanimal
Yeah, can't afford food. Can only afford iPhones sneakers and weed.
elonmusk was gonna do this and got crickets, where to go POTUS Joe cant use an adult diaper without ruining it!
Is this more than $8?
Ahh “new commitments” from ftx. It all makes sense
I work in retail and pay a lot of taxes to then watch people come use food stamps and EBT benefits to purchase Oreos and soda, my taxes then have to cover their hospital bills when they end up with heart disease. I am paying for people to kill themselves.