Uber and Lyft ordered by California judge to classify drivers as employees

Post by lolpython » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 11:32 PM UTC

munk-a wrote: post #80

cycrutchfield wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then that is for the government to provide, not for a company to provide.

This lawsuit was filed by the state of California - this is how the government is providing it. It might be weird (and it is really weird to look at the US) but most of your regulations seem to work by hoping people do good things and then trying to sue the bad actors enough times that everyone backs off of doing not good things. I'd love to see the US government actually step up to the healthcare plate though - espe…

Post by aggie » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 11:32 PM UTC

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #247

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #171

It's interesting how often Silicon Valley companies blitzscale an unsustainable business model and then leave public investors holding the bag. In the Uber and Lyft case, the time bomb was the regulatory issue. Which investors should have known about, given that these companies have been breaking the law since day 1. Tesla with their full self driving is also an example of this dump the risks on the bag holders patte…

To be fair, the founder didn't want to do IPO and according to rumors that was the reason why he was kicked out. All the toxic workplace stuff was just a narrative tool to make it happen more easily. Also, it's a public market. No one is "holding the bag". This may be true if Uber crashed before the IPO because private investors can't easily sell, but once on the public and liquid market, it is the public investor's…

Post by root_axis » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 11:34 PM UTC

emteycz wrote: post #219

root_axis wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber does not determine the rate, the market do Not true. Uber's algorithm sets the rate within certain profitability margins which are determined by uber, "the market" is very artificial since customers only ever see the rates that uber decides they should see rather than what some drivers would actually offer. > Uber won't find drivers if the rate is too low, for example because it's lower than the costs, lower t…

There are other market players than Uber, and Uber is in no way a taxi monopoly. You could say this about literally any marketplace and especially about any taxi company (nearly all taxi companies have independent drivers-contractors, usually driving their own but branded cars - at their own expense , and with exclusivity contracts; taxis all over the world work this way), but only the more modern marketplaces are fo…

Post by manfredo » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 11:35 PM UTC

threepio wrote: post #186

rdgthree wrote: post #7

It strikes me that these articles are always biased in the direction of the benefits of being an employee. I have several friends that actively choose to be contractors because they prefer the (legally protected) flexibility to decide their own hours, among other things. It's a personal decision, and there are upsides and downsides in both directions. Sure - some (non-insignificant) portion of Uber and Lyft drivers w…

I'm afraid you're repeating Uber's favorite talking point, which is that everyone should respect the worker's decision to be an employee or contractor. Nobody disputes that Uber can have employees or contractors (or both), or that drivers should, in principle, be able to choose what status they hold. The problem is that Uber currently exerts so much control over its "independent contractor" relationships that they ha…

Post by lbarrow » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 11:37 PM UTC

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #171

It's interesting how often Silicon Valley companies blitzscale an unsustainable business model and then leave public investors holding the bag. In the Uber and Lyft case, the time bomb was the regulatory issue. Which investors should have known about, given that these companies have been breaking the law since day 1. Tesla with their full self driving is also an example of this dump the risks on the bag holders patte…