Albertsons

The grocery chain Albertsons is laying off delivery workers and replacing them with gig and contract workers, a change that labor advocates and union representatives say is a direct result of the new California law that companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash sponsored last year. Albertsons, a multibillion-dollar grocery chain that debuted a public offering last year, said it made the decision in December to lay off delivery staff in many areas around the country and switch to third-party logistics providers. The company has been partnering with the gig delivery service DoorDash since 2018. It declined to give an estimate of how many positions would be affected but said workers would be offered the ability to continue to work. The news about Albertsons's grocery brands Vons and Pavilions, which was first reported by Los Angeles news site Knock, was greeted with a chorus of outrage from liberals and labor advocates in California, who have long warned that Prop. 22, the ballot proposition that gave gig companies the ability to deny workers protections such as the state-mandated minimum wage and overtime by classifying them as contractors and not employees, would result in job losses and give employers even more incentive to limit the compensation and benefits available to workers.