fields harrington with Gustavo Ajche and Ligia Guallpa

Join us for a talk by artist fields harrington with organizers Gustavo Ajche, a delivery driver and organizer with Los Deliveristas Unidos who collaborated with harrington for Greater New York, and Yadira Sanchez, Co-founder of the Workers Justice Project, who stood in for Ligia Guallpa, a labor leader and Co-Executive Director of the Workers Justice Project. Over recent years, harrington has engaged in a multi-pronged project exploring the proliferation of delivery work in New York City and the labor conditions faced by delivery drivers. Together, they will discuss the ongoing struggle for labor rights, and the impact of app-based algorithms on delivery work.

Free with RSVP.

fields harrington (b. 1986, Sacramento, CA) is a Brooklyn-based artist whose practice examines knowledge systems, technologies, and infrastructures, exploring the ways these systems shape which lives, labor, and forms of knowledge are valued or marginalized. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at David Salkin Gallery, KAJE, Petrine, and Y2K Group, as well as in group exhibitions at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Parsons School of Design, and Automat Gallery. He served as an L.A.B. researcher-in-residence at The Kitchen in collaboration with The School for Poetic Computation and the Simons Foundation, and participated in the research residency Site to be Seen at RAIR.

Ligia Guallpa is the Executive Director of the Worker’s Justice Project (WJP), a 15,000 member worker center that educates, organizes and fights to win better work conditions. In 2020, WJP organized Los Deliveristas Unido (LDU), a gig worker collective making historic strides for delivery workers. These range from raising labor standards through six landmark laws protecting New York City’s 65,000 app-based delivery workers to launching a partnership with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and Department of Transportation for a first-in-the-nation initiative to build public charging stations for e-battery powered bikes, as well as rest hubs across the city to respond to the growing need for e-battery powered bikes. Under Ligia’s leadership, WJP fights to win labor rights for workers and is transforming their industries to be a driver and source of quality jobs. Most recently, Deliveristas secured a landmark policy win that requires food delivery apps to pay delivery workers in NYC a minimum of $21.44 per hour, not including tips.

Sergio Gustavo Ajche is a Guatemalan immigrant, delivery worker, and nationally recognized labor leader based in New York City. He is the co-founder of Los Deliveristas Unidos, a grassroots movement that has organized and empowered tens of thousands of app-based delivery workers across the city. Since helping launch the movement in 2020, Gustavo has been at the forefront of historic efforts to improve working conditions for delivery workers. Through organizing, advocacy, and coalition-building alongside the Workers Justice Project, he has helped win landmark legislation that established minimum pay standards, expanded worker protections, and brought visibility to one of the most essential yet overlooked workforces in the city. As a delivery worker himself, he understands firsthand the challenges of low pay, unsafe working conditions, and lack of labor protections. His impact has been recognized by major institutions and media outlets, including TIME magazine, which named him among Latino Leaders, and the New York City Comptroller’s Office, which honored his contributions to workers’ rights. Originally from Guatemala, Gustavo speaks Spanish, English, and K’iche’, a Mayan language. He is proudly based in Brooklyn, New York, where he continues to organize, advocate, and fight for a more just and equitable city.

Yadira Sanchez is the Co-founder of the Workers’ Justice Project (WJP), one of New York City’s leading worker centers, and the Organizing Director of Los Deliveristas Unidos (LDU), one of the largest app-based delivery worker collectives in the country. For more than 16 years, Yadira has organized immigrant and low-wage workers, building worker leadership and advancing campaigns that create lasting change. Through LDU, Yadira has helped mobilize thousands of delivery workers and secure historic protections, including a landmark NYC policy requiring food delivery apps to guarantee delivery workers a minimum pay rate of $22.13 per hour, excluding tips. She has also led the fight for stronger worker protections, including just cause protections to challenge unjust deactivations and expanded minimum pay protections for approximately 20,000 app-based grocery delivery workers. Her leadership has helped transform app-based delivery work by advancing dignity, safety, and economic justice for workers who keep the city moving. Yadira continues to build worker power through organizing, leadership development, and innovative initiatives like Deliverista Hubs, creating resources and infrastructure to support delivery workers across New York City.