Today, Instacart delivery workers went on strike to demand protections for their health and safety.

Delivery workers are on the frontlines of the fight against the coronavirus. They're critical for getting food, medication, and other basic needs to families across America.

But 175,000 Instacart workers--personal shoppers for a service where anyone can request a shopper and delivery for stores like CVS, Costco, and Petco--are being forced to put their health at risk, without even the most basic of benefits.

Instacart, whose workers are mostly women, is refusing to provide basic protections including hazard pay, hand sanitizer, or paid sick leave for people with pre-existing conditions.

Together, we can show Instacart that customers and the public support Instacart workers and believe that benefits like paid sick leave are critical.

Instacart is seeing a big jump in business right now, because of the increased demand for home grocery delivery. In fact, Instacart is seeing so much demand that it's planning to hire 300,000 new shoppers.

While Instacart's corporate employees get to work from home and have benefits like paid sick and family leave, health insurance, and life insurance, Instacart won't even give basic protections to the workers who do the direct work of shopping and delivering orders.

Starting today, Instacart workers will not accept orders until the company agrees to provide:

• Hazard pay of an additional $5 an order;
• Free safety gear (hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and soap); and
• Paid sick leave to include workers with pre-existing conditions who have been advised by their doctors not to work at this time.

Instacart claims that "the health and safety of our entire community--shoppers, customers, and employees--is our first priority." But refusing to provide basic protections puts employees--more than half of whom are women--and customers at risk.

Instacart isn't alone in failing to provide worker protections, and this strike marks the first time employees in what's known as the gig economy--jobs that are short-term or freelance rather than employees with benefits--are striking in response to the coronavirus. Showing support for these workers won't just help protect them and the consumer they're providing services for, it also puts pressure on other companies to support their workers with paid sick leave and other crucial benefits. Together, we can help ensure that Instacart workers get the benefits they deserve and pressure other companies to follow suit.

Sign the petition: Instacart delivery workers need basic health protections including paid leave and hand sanitizer.