Portland Postmates workers join nationwide Saturday protest of pay cut

PORTLAND, Ore. — For a few hours three to four times a week, Bartley Tuthill delivers for Postmates around Portland. He considers himself one of the lucky ones.

"I have a second job. There are some people who do this full time. Their livelihoods based around when I wake up in the morning at 8 clock, I do my breakfast shift, my lunch shift, my dinner shift," said Tuthill.

Even if this job is supplemental for Tuthill, he says he's not making as much as he used to.

"It was completely overnight and there was no warning before hand. It was only saying , this is what happened. There was nothing that said this was going to happen," said Tuthill.

He says that change happened in May. He got a notification on the app that his pay would change. Workers said Postmates cut pay by 30%.

Before, there was a minimum of 4 dollars per order plus a charge per mile.

Now, Tuthill says deliverers get more money per mileage, but there's no longer that minimum base fee.

"Putting two hours worth of work in used to get me at least 40 dollars, but now working those two hours I could make about eight dollars and I'm not even joking; that's how dramatic it's been," said Tuthill.

He joined thousands of workers to protest the pay cut Saturday, calling it "Blitz Day."

"Blitz Mode" happens when there's an influx of orders, which is like a surcharge that will pay drivers more money to make those deliveries.

All day, deliverers ignored any orders that weren't in Blitz Mode. Their goal is to make this a living wage. Workers are asking for a 6 dollar minimum and a higher per mile rate.

"If this is what it takes, this is what it takes," said Tuthill.

In a statement, a Postmates spokesperson says:

We encourage our nationwide fleet of Postmates to express their feedback on products, policies, and standards across the platform. That's why we are in conversation with Working Washington about the public policies required to best balance worker protections with worker flexibility, and look forward to briefing workers organized through their platform about those discussions. That's also why we've established a Fleet Advisory Board to make sure that individual voices are represented at the core of our company and to take worker-informed steps that guide decisions made on platform, with advanced notice, deliberation, and clearer communication, moving ahead.

Tuthill says the protest might've made it longer for customers to order through Postmates; orders don't get put in unless a deliverer accepts it.

Tuthill adds, workers are planning other Blitz Day in the future.