Uber wants to redefine employment, labor groups are fighting back

Post by gamblor956 » Fri, Apr 10, 2020, 6:08 PM UTC

mirimir wrote: post #144

gamblor956 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most contract work, expenses incurred by the contractor to fulfill the contract are almost always included in the contractor's invoice.

That was somewhat my experience. It was always the case where travel and lodging were required. Say, for attending depositions. But I did buy my own machines, and pay for electricity to run them. And I didn't invoice for maintaining stuff. So was that just my own naivete? And now that I think of it, buying better gear hurt me, in that it took less time to do stuff. But on the other hand, it allowed me to handle large…

Buying gear for use on multiple contracts is different from buying supplies to use executing a contract for a single customer. You can invoice the latter to the customer; you must depreciate or deduct the former on your tax return.

OTOH, some customers are willing to pay for contractors' gear even if it would be used on other customers, for example, if they require you to use upgraded equipment instead of the equipment you already own.

Post by malandrew » Mon, Apr 13, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

neilwilson wrote: post #151

gwright wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to tackle #1 other than to say I do agree that health insurance shouldn't be provided by your employer. But for #2, you seem to be asserting that there is some method by which it is possible to determine that a particular salary/wage is "fair" and that "fair" wage must be mandated for all people. You've asserted that gig businesses are underpaying and yet lots of people continue to take those jobs. Are…

Systemically there are always fewer jobs than people that want them as a matter of policy. Businesses hire only when there is profit to be had whereas people need a job every day to eat. If you change the system so that there is always an alternative job available - and correct the power asymmetry so that individuals can say “no deal” too then wages will correct themselves. And very likely most gig jobs would disappe…

> Systemically there are always fewer jobs than people that want them as a matter of policy.

This is far from the truth. In pretty much every bull market we end up with plenty of unfilled jobs. Even in many bear markets, there is no lack of unfilled jobs.

The problem is the mismatch between skills and desires of those that want a job and the skills and flexibility requirements of the jobs being offered.

A job may require skills not many people have. A job may require you to work in a place or at a time you don't want to work. But to claim that there is a lack of jobs is just wrong.

The problem here is that some jobs offer flexibility and only require a bit more than average human functioning pre-frontal pre-frontal cortex so you can handle doing something like move something from point A to point B. For a job like this, with the benefit of flexibility and the low skill requirements, it's totally reasonable to supply and demand to drive price down as you don't need to pay as much to find people capable and willing to do the job cheaply because it is an attractive job for them.

If you're willing to learn skills and willing to go to where the job is being offered and work when the job needs to be done, you'll find work that supports you.

Re: Uber wants to redefine employment, labor groups are fighting back

Re: Uber wants to redefine employment, labor groups are fighting back