It's a great deal for companies like Uber and Google. They set workers' rates, terms, and working conditions, while at the same time treating them like arms-length contractors.
But for many workers it amounts to wage theft.
If America still had a Department of Labor, it would be setting national standards to stop this.
Yet Trump's Anti-Labor Department is heading in the opposite direction. It recently proposed a rule making it easier for big corporations to outsource work to temp and staffing firms, and escape liability if those contracting firms violate the law, such as not paying workers for jobs completed.
On the other hand, California is countering Trump on this, as on other issues.
Last Wednesday, the California assembly passed legislation codifying an important California supreme court decision: in order for companies to treat workers as independent contractors, the workers must be free from company control, doing work that's not central to the company's business, and have an independent business in that trade.
(The bill is not yet law. It still has to pass the California Senate and be signed by the governor. And businesses are seeking a long list of exemptions including ride-share drivers and many of high-tech's contract workers.)
Whatever national rule eventually emerges for defining gig workers, they'll need a different system of social insurance than was the case when steady full-time employment was the norm.
For example, they need income insurance rather than unemployment insurance. One model: If someone's monthly income dips below their average monthly income from all jobs over the preceding five years, they automatically receive half the difference for up to a year.
They'll also need a guaranteed minimum basic income a subsistence-level cushion against earnings downturns. And universal health insurance and more generous social security, to make up for the unpredictability of work.
All of this should be financed by higher corporate taxes, ideally in proportion to a corporation's use of gig workers.
Gig work is making capitalism harsher. Unless government defines legitimate gig work more narrowly and provides stronger safety nets for gig workers, gig capitalism cannot endure.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
2
2
