Seattle, WA
Uber, Doordash, and other gig workers in Seattle may be about to face a pay reckoning
Since January, gig delivery workers in Seattle have been reaping the benefits of a local law mandating a certain pay level. Just months later, they could see their incomes cut under proposed revisions.
PayUp, which took effect in the city in January, requires DoorDash, Uber, Instacart, Grubhub, and other delivery apps to pay independent contractors the equivalent of the city’s $19.97 minimum wage — a rule that the app companies have opposed.
But CB 120775, a proposal introduced last month by Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson, would lower the minimum pay for drivers and roll back protections for workers, according to a draft of the legislation.
Under the proposal, gig workers would be paid an hourly rate of $19.97 for their time spent retrieving and delivering orders. While that seems consistent with Seattle’s minimum wage for employees, the gig workers covered by the PayUp law are only paid for “active time” spent working on orders — meaning that time spent trying to claim an order is uncompensated. They’re also responsible for their own costs, such as gas.
Those aspects of the job had led Seattle’s city council to create a system that pays workers based on the miles they drive and the minutes they spend on the job. PayUp also demands that no offer pays less than $5.
The latest proposal would do away with that $5 minimum and the per-minute payment. Instead, gig workers would get paid 35 cents per mile — down from the current 74 cents.
It would also eliminate or cut back other protections for gig workers in the city. For example, a PayUp rule giving workers two minutes to review an order before accepting it would shrink to 45 seconds.
The bill is scheduled for a committee vote on Thursday. If it passes, the proposal could face a vote by the full Council on May 21.
‘That makes a difference’
If that vote passes, the bill will result in a significant pay cut for gig workers, according to estimates released Monday by Working Washington, a group that advocated for PayUp. For example, a gig worker who spent five hours of active time and drove 32 miles would make $15.81 an hour — below the city’s minimum wage — after accounting for expenses, they calculated.
Hourly pay would be even lower — $13.17 — after accounting for the time that a gig worker would likely spend on the apps just to find and claim orders, according to the study.
Justin Taylor, who has delivered and driven for multiple apps in Seattle over the last four years, said his pay has increased by $100 a week on average since PayUp went into effect — even though he’s delivering fewer orders than he did before the law.
“That makes a difference,” he told BI. “It allowed me to do things like install new front brakes on my car.”
If the proposal before Seattle’s City Council becomes law, Taylor said, he’ll once again be reliant on customers’ tips to cover his expenses and make money working for services like DoorDash.
The delivery companies have made it clear that they oppose the changes that took effect in January. In emails and calls to action sent to gig workers, DoorDash, Instacart, Uber, and others have claimed that there are fewer orders for gig workers to claim.
Some shoppers for Instacart have also had to drive miles out of their way to deliver orders in Seattle’s suburbs as the company routed them to stores outside city limits.
Seattle City Council President Nelson did not respond to a request for an interview from Business Insider. In a hearing on the bill on April 25, Nelson said that she had worked with some of the delivery companies as well as Drive Forward, a group whose leadership includes multiple current and former employees for Uber and DoorDash, to draft the bill.
“I want to make sure that people realize this was an agreement that was forged between Drive Forward and the network companies,” she told the Council.
A DoorDash spokesperson told BI: “Predictably, Working Washington’s opposition to this proposal is not rooted in reality. The proposed law guarantees Dashers will earn nearly $20 per hour on delivery in addition to mileage and tips. We’re grateful that Council President Nelson and Drive Forward were able to reconvene stakeholders and reach a compromise that better serves Dashers, local businesses, and consumers in Seattle.”
A spokesperson for Instacart said the company “supports the pragmatic approach being taken by the new Seattle City Council as they balance the needs of workers, customers, and businesses across the city and reform the current version of PayUp legislation.”
“Uber supports the complete package, and believes it will go a long way to ease the operational burdens and costs experienced by customers throughout Seattle and reduce delivery times,” a spokesperson told BI.
But gig worker Taylor said he was dismayed that the delivery companies have had such a direct role in developing the bill that would replace PayUp.
“To me, it’s basically saying we’re allowing lobbyists to write our laws,” Taylor said.
Do you deliver food, groceries, or other items as a gig worker and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Police from Vancouver, British Columbia, traveled to Portland to announce a break in a cold case from four years ago, linking a missing person to the Portland-Seattle area.
“This is a woman who died alone, a long way from home. And we feel an obligation, and it’s important to be able to reunite her with her family,” said Sgt. Adam Donaldson with the Vancouver Police Missing Persons Unit in Canada.
On September 29, 2022, a tugboat crew found a woman’s body floating in the waters off Spanish Banks in British Columbia.
She was found near a blue inflatable kayak and had candy, insulin, and a backpack, but no identification.
While they were able to get a pulse back on her, she never regained consciousness and was officially declared dead the following morning.
Police from Vancouver, British Columbia, traveled to Portland to announce a break in a cold case from four years ago, linking a missing woman to the Portland-Seattle area. By sharing her story on YouTube and spreading flyers with this illustrated rendering of the unidentified woman across the Pacific Northwest, they hope to get tips that lead to answers/Avery Elowitt, KATU News
“We know what somebody’s got to know about her. She’s somebody’s sister. She’s somebody’s daughter. She’s somebody’s friend. Somebody’s coworker. Somebody will know who she is,” said Detective Rebecca Matson with the Vancouver Police Missing Persons Unit.
After four years with no leads, Sgt. Anton Schamberger with the Vancouver Police Missing Persons Unit in Canada came across a forensic technique that hadn’t been used by their agency, and has increased movement in this four-year-old investigation.
“They were able to say, based on pollen grains and fern spores found on her sweater, that the sweater had had recent exposure to an urban or suburban environment in the Pacific Northwest, most positively between Portland and Seattle,” said Sgt. Schamberger. “They were also able to say, based on the complete lack of pollen grains and fern spores that were native to British Columbia, that she likely had not had any exposure or was likely not a resident.”
Now, the Vancouver Police Department, Portland Police Bureau, and the Seattle Police Department are reaching beyond the Canadian border.
KATU’s Avery Elowitt asked, “With this new information, how will future outreach efforts be different from these previous efforts now that we have more local ties?”
Sgt. Donaldson answered, “Well, if we have more local ties, we can focus the information, and since we’ve done some outreach in the past few days, we have had some actionable tips to our email address. So now we’re going to have to go back, start investigating those tips, and build up that investigation. It may not be information that leads directly to her identification, but it can narrow the scope of the investigation.”
By sharing her story on YouTube and spreading flyers with this illustrated rendering of the unidentified woman across the Pacific Northwest, they hope to get tips that lead to answers.
Police from Vancouver, British Columbia, traveled to Portland to announce a break in a cold case from four years ago, linking a missing woman to the Portland-Seattle area. By sharing her story on YouTube and spreading flyers with this illustrated rendering of the unidentified woman across the Pacific Northwest, they hope to get tips that lead to answers/Avery Elowitt, KATU News
“What we need is one tip. All it takes is one. All it takes is someone saying, ‘hey, that’s my auntie,’ ‘that’s my mom.’ Or, ‘that was my neighbor,’” said Sgt. Donaldson.
The unidentified woman is believed to be approximately 30-40 years old, Black, and despite extensive investigation across North America, no missing persons report matches her descriptions, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
If you have any information on this case, email thekayaker@vpd.ca or call 604-717-0619.
Populus
When it opened in 2025, this “carbon-positive” hotel brought a touch of eco-futurism to historic Pioneer Square, Seattle’s oldest neighborhood. The massive lobby is full of plants and nature-inspired art, and there are dozens of fun interior design choices throughout the hotel, like depictions of plants painted onto room doors. Salt Harvest, Populus’s restaurant, continues this eco-centric theme, focusing on seasonal ingredients cooked simply at the wood-fired hearth; the new $125 chef’s counter experience guides diners through a five-course menu with details on how and where every ingredient is sourced. At rooftop bar Firn, the cocktails play with different ice formats—spheres, oversized cubes, shaved mounds, and more—and the cafe downstairs serves Monorail Espresso, a longtime local coffee roaster. Populus is ideal for tourists coming for a concert or sporting event at the Seattle stadiums, located mere blocks away, and it’s a stone’s throw from Chinatown-International District, one of the richest dining areas in the city.
1 Hotel Seattle
Slightly farther from the water is the 1 Hotel, which made a big splash in the dining scene in 2025, when it tapped James Beard nominee Oscar Amador to open its flagship restaurant. La Loba earned accolades from local food critics for its fusion of Barcelona culinary techniques and Pacific Northwest flavors (its smoked “candy” salmon is not to be missed). The restaurant leans extravagant with offerings like a tableside beef tartare, far from the norm in famously casual Seattle. Rooms are peaceful in tones of beige and gold, with wood floors and plenty of greenery. If you need to take a break from a food-centric vacation, the 1 has a wide array of wellness treatments, including IV vitamin therapies.
Harry’s Guest House
For a more intimate experience, try this bed and breakfast in a leafy, quiet section of Capitol Hill. The quaint but stylish converted house is next door to Harry’s Fine Foods, a restaurant whose cozy indoor-outdoor porch belies its inventive menu that borrows influences ranging from the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia. Guests can get continental breakfast and room service when the restaurant is open, but the great advantage of Harry’s is the location—Capitol Hill is the center of Seattle’s nightlife scene and LGBTQ+ community, and you’ll be within walking distance of a plethora of clubs, coffee shops, and restaurants. The B&B also has dedicated parking spots for guests, a major perk rarely found in this part of town. Keep in mind that Harry’s only has two rooms (exclusive!), so you’ll want to book here well in advance. (You can also book the entire house, which accommodates six people.)
The Seattle Mariners are closing in on first place in the American League West.
Led by a dominant night of pitching, the Mariners beat the Athletics 4-1 on Tuesday night in Sacramento to clinch a series win over the division leaders. With the victory, Seattle cut the Athletics’ lead to just a half-game in the standings.
Seattle Mariners 4, Athletics 1: Box score | Standings
Even with just a 27-29 record, the Mariners can overtake the A’s (27-28) for first place if they complete a sweep in the series finale at 12:05 p.m. Wednesday.
The Mariners are the defending division champs, having won the AL West last season for the first time in 24 years.
Emerson Hancock continued his stellar 2026 season with six scoreless innings to earn the win for the M’s, holding the A’s to just one hit while walking two and striking out three. Hancock lowered his ERA to 2.78 with the outing.
Jose Ferrer and Gabe Speier each threw a scoreless inning in relief. Andrés Muñoz allowed a run while finishing the game in a non-save situation in the ninth.
The Mariners took a 3-0 lead in the second inning, with Mitch Garver putting Seattle on the board with an RBI double.
Plated 3️⃣ in the 2️⃣nd. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/RpkeiABpia
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 27, 2026
Julio Rodríguez added an RBI single in the fourth.
Tack on another. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/jAPVBfB7Ei
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 27, 2026
Victor Robles went 3 for 3 with a double and a run scored, and Garver and Josh Naylor each had a pair of hits.
Star A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz saw his on-base streak end at 48 games. That is tied for the longest in franchise history with Mark McGwire.
Mariners Radio Network coverage on Seattle Sports of Wednesday’s finale begins at 11 a.m. with the pregame show.
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