Even in a tight labor market where the lowest-wage workers are seeing outsized gains, gig drivers, who deliver food or people for companies like Uber or DoorDash, are having a hard time notching pay wins.

Driving the news: A minimum wage of $17.96 an hour for food delivery workers in New York City was supposed to go into effect this week, but a last-minute lawsuit from the app companies put the law on hold.

Details: The new wage would more than double earnings for the 60,000 or so delivery workers. According to the city's estimates, they make below the $15 an hour minimum wage in the city, even with tips, and are also responsible for covering their expenses (an electric bike, health insurance, etc.).

• In the lawsuit, Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub argue that the higher wages would raise prices for customers, decrease work for the delivery workers, and harm restaurants.

The big picture: The battle over NYC's law — it was already pushed back from a January start date — reflects the bumpy, uneven road to getting gig workers better pay and benefits.

• It's been a patchwork effort, taking place across different localities — with no real end in sight — each met with fierce resistance from the app operators, some of which have gone from scrappy startups to multibillion-dollar public companies.
• "It's going to go on for years, really," said Scott Devitt, a Wedbush analyst, emphasizing that he discounts any profit estimates from Uber to take all the labor fights into account.

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