Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 172 posts

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#41

Post by 29athrowaway »

I think the proposal should be:

If you commit to work for the platform more than X number of hours in a regular basis, you are eligible for benefits. That means that you have a quota of worked hours to meet.

If you can't commit to work for X number of hours in a regular basis, then you can work whenever you want, without benefits.

And... the company commits not take any measures to keep the number of hours for an individual worker below the benefit threshold.

This is the way things already work on many occupations.

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#42

Post by imgabe »

acadien wrote: post #3

I am so against prop22 it pains me so here I am ranting on the internet. What's going on is a negotiation between the state and these companies that are able to take advantage of a gap in how insurance and other benefits work. Instead of actively negotiating with the state, Uber/Lyft/Doordash and many others have simply asked to maintain the status quo, screw the drivers, just business as usual. Drivers do not get be…

> 1. exempt all drivers from getting basic benefits like health insurance

> or else

> 2. we're turning off our apps in California

If you create a law that makes it unprofitable for a company to operate, are you really surprised that the company stops operating?

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#43

Post by lukeschlather »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #30

I dislike Uber to the point where I do not use those services, but I have only some problem with what they are doing. In a very real sense, it is their platform to administer as they see fit. That includes sending notifications. In that sense, why is a popup window so upsetting. Is the issue somehow related to voting ( as in, my company probably shouldn't send a mass email saying to vote for Trump/Biden ) that makes…

I think the CANSPAM act probably needs to be updated to include app notifications. If Uber sent this sort of thing as an email they would be legally obligated to include an unsubscribe link but they can just hijack your entire phone to send you unsolicited political messages at their discretion. It's obviously the sort of communication CANSPAM defines as spam, but it's via a notification rather than email.

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#44

Post by yardie »

mmanfrin wrote: post #18
acadien wrote: post #3

I am so against prop22 it pains me so here I am ranting on the internet. What's going on is a negotiation between the state and these companies that are able to take advantage of a gap in how insurance and other benefits work. Instead of actively negotiating with the state, Uber/Lyft/Doordash and many others have simply asked to maintain the status quo, screw the drivers, just business as usual. Drivers do not get be…

And they include language in the bill that it can't be overturned except by a 7/8ths majority which would make it functionally immune to being overturned, ever.

Is that even possible?! I’m not aware of the ÇA constitution but bills in my state descend from the constitution they can’t exceed it. To do that would require a referendum to change the constitution. Which they are trying to do now by making a referendum to make voters vote 2x to pass (ie make laws take a long time and very expensive to vote in).

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#45

Post by [deleted] »

jtsiskin wrote: post #27
jimmies wrote: post #14

I am just an user of Uber (not a driver) and Uber has been showing shit like this on my phone. https://i.ibb.co/7yQLdY6/7865-CBAD-6928-4637-958-C-011736362... I haven't used the app for a year or so. This is fucking ridiculous. I have uninstalled Uber and I will also recommend all my friends to do the same.

What do they mean “this ad is paid for by Uber Technologies”... it’s a push notification they sent in their own app. Who is paying who?

[deleted]

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#46

Post by meatmanek »

acadien wrote: post #3

I am so against prop22 it pains me so here I am ranting on the internet. What's going on is a negotiation between the state and these companies that are able to take advantage of a gap in how insurance and other benefits work. Instead of actively negotiating with the state, Uber/Lyft/Doordash and many others have simply asked to maintain the status quo, screw the drivers, just business as usual. Drivers do not get be…

It's worse than "maintain the status quo". It prohibits the state legislature from making any amendments to prop 22 without a 7/8ths majority, and requires any such amendment be "consistent with, and furthers the purpose of" prop 22.

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#47

Post by jtchang »

Why is it uber cannot offer their drivers a choice of whether they want health insurance or not? Couldn't they have headed off this whole thing by providing health benefits at a discount to the drivers? Some drivers may indeed want to stay independent but still have health insurance.

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#48

Post by rib3ye »

jimmies wrote: post #14

I am just an user of Uber (not a driver) and Uber has been showing shit like this on my phone. https://i.ibb.co/7yQLdY6/7865-CBAD-6928-4637-958-C-011736362... I haven't used the app for a year or so. This is fucking ridiculous. I have uninstalled Uber and I will also recommend all my friends to do the same.

I am seeing the push notifications telling me how to vote on MY WATCH. This is too far.

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#49

Post by gojomo »

acadien wrote: post #3

I am so against prop22 it pains me so here I am ranting on the internet. What's going on is a negotiation between the state and these companies that are able to take advantage of a gap in how insurance and other benefits work. Instead of actively negotiating with the state, Uber/Lyft/Doordash and many others have simply asked to maintain the status quo, screw the drivers, just business as usual. Drivers do not get be…

People should be able to contract with each other flexibly, without swallowing big cookie-cutter compensation/benefit templates dictated by the state, herding people into 20th-century interest-groups.

If the legislature of the State of California wants some of its citizens to get certain "benefits", it can and should provide them directly, not hold other voluntary activity hostage unless it subsidizes their list-of-goodies.

Uber/Lyft tried other accommodations with their haters, & arguably conformed with the laws as they existed. Then, a clumsy bit of legislation (AB5) from a legislator with an implacably anti-Uber/Lyft agenda outlawed what had been legal, for both Uber/Lyft & a bunch of other freelancer-centric industries, destroying lots of work for Californians.

Those on the warpath against Uber/Lyft have since added exemptions for other industries that they like. The exemptions now include:

* (in AB5) Doctors, dentists, insurance agents, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, and hairstylists

* (since) Fine artists, Freelance writers, Still photographers, Photojournalists, Freelance editors, Newspaper cartoonists, Translators, Copy Editors, Producers, Cartographers, Musicians with single-engagement live performances, Musicians involved in sound recordings or musical compositions, Insurance inspectors, Real estate appraisers, Manufactured housing salespersons, Youth sports coaches, Landscape architects, Professional foresters

I think drivers deserve the same freedom to flexibly contract as those other dozens of professions. I wish Prop 22 were simpler, but it's better than AB5, so I'm an enthusiastic "Yes".

Re: Uber: “Yes on Prop 22” popups shown to drivers

#50

Post by nostrademons »

paulmd wrote: post #11
acadien wrote: post #3

I am so against prop22 it pains me so here I am ranting on the internet. What's going on is a negotiation between the state and these companies that are able to take advantage of a gap in how insurance and other benefits work. Instead of actively negotiating with the state, Uber/Lyft/Doordash and many others have simply asked to maintain the status quo, screw the drivers, just business as usual. Drivers do not get be…

It is really disgusting how Silicon Valley has embraced the tactic of holding other people's livelihoods hostage while they try to make a few percent more profit. Epic is doing the same thing with the Unreal Engine code. They deliberately violated Apple TOS knowing it would get the account banned, and then they try to leverage all those other developers who are going to lose iOS support against the big bad Apple who…

It's what happens when you become powerful. The world is mostly just a few powerful actors playing games with each other, using the not-so-powerful as pawns. The powerless occasionally get angry about that, but it's not like they can do anything about it, because that's what it means to be powerless. Understand that it's not personal, though - big companies and governments are not specifically targeting you when they do something that harms you, they just don't know (or care) that you exist. You're just collateral damage in the games between the big players.

Embrace that and you actually have a chance of real freedom. Being invisible is both a boon and a detriment; you occasionally get stomped on for no apparent reason, but it also means that the big players are unlikely to know (or care about) the moves that you do make.

Post reply on HN