Amazon drivers staged a protest demanding higher pay to cope with surging gas prices

• Amazon Flex drivers and other gig economy drivers staged a protest outside an Amazon warehouse Wednesday.
• The protest called for Amazon to pay drivers more in light of surging gas prices.

Delivery drivers are trying to pressure Amazon to pay more to its Flex program drivers to accommodate surging gas prices.

Around 50 delivery and rideshare drivers, including drivers for the Flex delivery program, gathered to protest outside an Amazon warehouse near Los Angeles on Wednesday, CNBC reported.

Gas prices have spiked since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, and the price of gas had already been rising in the months running up to the invasion. The national average price for gas was $4.27 a gallon as of Thursday, according to American Automobile Association Gas Prices, an increase of about 75 cents from a month earlier.

Amazon Flex drivers use their personal vehicles to deliver packages for the e-retail giant, rather than being employed by delivery contractors for Amazon, and purchase their own fuel.

"My car used to fill up on $25, now it's closer to $40," a Flex driver called Kerry Selfridge told CNBC.

"I'm spending $280 a week, and lucky to make $500 to $700 during that same period," she added.

CNBC reported the protest was organized by Mobile Workers Alliance, a group which describes itself as representing gig-economy workers.

"We rideshare drivers are so proud to have joined Amazon Flex delivery workers yesterday to call for higher pay rates during this massive surge in gas prices," the MWA tweeted Thursday.

Other tech companies have tried to offset the surge in gas prices with added customer charges and new policies.

Rideshare companies Uber and Lyft added extra charges for customers to compensate for the rise in gas prices — although Uber drivers told Insider's Gabrielle Bienasz the surcharge is not enough to cover the higher cost of fuel.

Food-delivery company DoorDash introduced a "Gas Rewards Program" on Tuesday which gives drivers a prepaid business Visa debit card which the company said would "soon be able to get 10% cash back on gas purchases."

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC the company is "closely monitoring the situation."

"We've already made several adjustments through pricing surges in impacted areas to help ease some of the financial challenges," the spokesperson told CNBC.

"As the situation evolves, we'll continue to make changes where we can to help support our partners," they added.

Amazon did not immediately respond when contacted by Insider.