California bill could force Uber and Lyft to reclassify drivers as employees

Post by stochastic_monk » Wed, Sep 04, 2019, 12:07 PM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #96

briandear wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber is a marketing company. The Uber business model is nearly identical to the taxi business model it is replacing — except taxi drivers don’t have to lease or rent cars from Uber as they did with the taxi company. You also don’t have mobster-controlled “Medallions” as a means to artificially constrict supply. I think a lot of people have no idea how the old taxi business worked.. it was far worse than Uber — it was…

>...traits in very short supply in an era where people that literally sweep floors think that work is worth $15 per hour. The move to increase the minimum wage to 15 is presented by the uninformed as a cash grab by the lazy. The truth is 15 dollars just isn't much nowadays. The old often have a hard time forgetting about the nominal value and considering the actual buying power. Lets ignore the fact that minimum wage…

Post by conanbatt » Wed, Sep 04, 2019, 12:14 PM UTC

Skunkleton wrote: post #65

conanbatt wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's driving housing prices up are bad city/state level policies, not airbnb. Airbnb makes housing more effective, by housing more people for longer periods of time. Housing utilization goes up with Airbnb, not down.

I have left my house empty every time I have stayed in an AirBnB. Anecdotal? Sure, but I am not the only one.

Post by mattkrause » Wed, Sep 04, 2019, 1:02 PM UTC

NikkiA wrote: post #100

AlexTWithBeard wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So... Why not make contractors pay National Insurance?

They do, like all employees, but the employ er usually pays a contribution too, by insisting that workers are 'self-employed contractors' it reduces the money being paid to the NI fund. Contractor fees are somewhat assumed to include the rates necessary for a genuine contractor to pay the full NI amount, but Uber/Lyft relies on their 'contractors' not really being fully aware of that.

Post by NikkiA » Wed, Sep 04, 2019, 1:15 PM UTC

mattkrause wrote: post #105

NikkiA wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do, like all employees, but the employ er usually pays a contribution too, by insisting that workers are 'self-employed contractors' it reduces the money being paid to the NI fund. Contractor fees are somewhat assumed to include the rates necessary for a genuine contractor to pay the full NI amount, but Uber/Lyft relies on their 'contractors' not really being fully aware of that.

I’m not following.... In the US, employers pay part of some taxes, with the employees themselves responsible for the rest. Self-employed folks pick up both halves, so the government gets a similar amount of money either way. Does this not happen in the UK? Otherwise, it seems like it would be fairly easy to audit Uber (etc) “contractors” and to collect that money.

Post by TuringNYC » Wed, Sep 04, 2019, 2:34 PM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #92

TuringNYC wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The law may not state it but economics does. Even the cheapest insurance plans cost 500/mo. If you drive an hour a month and earn $100 for the month, it is not cost effective to issue a full health plan for that. There is a break even point of course. But that break even point will not allow driver flexibility.

If its not legal to drive uninsured and your insurance wont cover you driving commercially why is it OK for you to drive in such a way such that if you hurt someone they are screwed because you can't pay and your insurance wont? I think most of planet earth only wants to work 1 gig or at most 2 for somewhere between 20 and 40 hours. I doubt people who want to work a tiny number of hours make up a meaningful proportio…