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

Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 401 posts

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#131

Post by Jommi »

zests wrote: post #97
crazy1van wrote: post #80

If these companies are as bad to work for as this author describes, why on earth would she continue to work for them? The author’s rebuttal might be that she has no choice because these are her only options. If that were true, then I’d be much more grateful and wouldn’t advocate for laws that might destroy them. These companies didn’t exist a decade ago and the continued existence of gig work is not a foregone conclu…

My cynical take: the alternative is to write freelance articles that are sufficiently tribalistic to fit in with modern digital media. Luckily for the author, freelance writing was carved an exemption from AB5 after AB5 originally crushed freelance writing opportunities.

This. It's just beautiful really.

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#132

Post by x3ro »

leesalminen wrote: post #93
x3ro wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm too left-leaning, but doesn't it feel wrong to deny people the possibility of seeing a doctor, calling in sick if they don't feel good or earning enough money to afford more than Ramen at the end of the month, no matter their line of work? It's great that the HN crowd is primarily privileged from an income point of view, but I find it hard to fathom that people lose sight of the fact that not everyone is th…

~75% of Uber drivers in CA drive If I could drive 25 hours per week and get a better-than-ramen wage plus full health benefits then sigh me up. I’m sure there are millions like me.

This only seems like part of the story, though. What do we know about other work these people do? Is Uber maybe a supplemental job because the primary one doesn't pay the bills?

Also please provide sources if you make such claims :)

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#133

Post by blix »

oftenwrong wrote: post #82
wavepruner wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a disabled person who has also benefitted immensely from Uber, I hear this a lot, and it is really frustrating. No one will help me, especially progressive leaning people. You don't get political or social brownie points for helping disabled people the way you would for other minority groups who are struggling. We are constantly ignored and forgotten. I was in a situation where I needed money for healthcare that w…

Why "especially progressives"? Surely people who advocate for your healthcare to be free, and for universal worker protections are doing more to help you than others? Gig work is a poor replacement for a proper "safety net". Imagine how fucked you would be if you were not able to do that gig work. Universal healthcare would have you covered.

For people with 'untreatable' or 'psychogenic' chronic illnesses, universal healthcare would just mean a different institution denies your claim for treatment.

Progressives, especially in 2020, don't look kindly on people who lack faith in medical institutions. A lot of people with chronic illness have found themselves in this category after being failed by these institutions.

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#134

Post by maxehmookau »

Minor49er wrote: post #98
maxehmookau wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and he didn't care about the former? Seriously?

No. He wasn't a political actor. He was concerned with God's law and not the law of man. Not to mention that social justice as a concept came long after Jesus's time.

Everything is political.

Social justice existed LONG before Jesus' time, it just didn't have a specific name.

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#135

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

ericabiz wrote: post #51

My husband drives for Uber, and I’m glad the proposition passed as it is. He drives the way Uber was originally envisioned. He goes out some nights if there’s a surge, and in the morning on the way to work he points the app toward our stores and grabs a person (pre-pandemic) or a food delivery (today) on his way in. It pays for gas money, car maintenance, and then some. Some months he makes a few hundred dollars. Som…

Just declaring "oh this is a transitory job" doesn't make it so.

Yes, according to Boomer legend, fast food joints used to be exclusively staffed by high school students for whom $8.25 is more than enough for an adequate weed supply.

But that's just not true anymore, is it? And yet, its used as argument to deny full protection (for Uber) or not raise minimum wage (my fast food example).

At the very least, it should be uncontroversial to include these assumptions in legislation: require full benefits, but only for drivers driving > 15h per week. If your assumptions hold, Uber shouldn't need to oppose this, considering they have few drivers it would apply to.

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#136

Post by Jommi »

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #8
jimmar wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm too libertarian-leaning, but doesn't the author of the article have the option of NOT driving for Uber? If California is truly one of the wealthiest economies, the author should be able to find a different line of work.

You could say that to miners complaining about their work conditions in the 19th century, too.

This is gig work. You can change whenever you want. You can move across the country. This isn't the 19th century.

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#137

Post by dannyw »

x3ro wrote: post #128
greggyb wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe I'm too left-leaning, but doesn't it feel wrong to deny people the possibility of seeing a doctor, calling in sick if they don't feel good or earning enough money to afford more than Ramen at the end of the month, no matter their line of work? It does feel wrong to deny people the possibility of seeing a doctor. It does feel wrong that some people can't afford basic necessities. Why do you insist on drawing a…

I fully agree with you. In a society where people would not have any existential fears, employed or not, Uber would not get away with what they're doing anyway. But I think the argument is orthogonal to what I meant. In context of the system that Uber drivers are living in right now, Prop22 is a step in the wrong direction: it gives affirmation to companies that actively deprives gig workers of the rights we talk abo…

What do you make of the fact that most Uber drivers advocate for prop 22?

https://www.reddit.com/r/uberdrivers/comments/i9awkm/my_fell...

Sure, reddit comments are anecdotes, but have you asked Uber drivers what they want? Do you think it's fair to deprive someone the right to work?

(I drive for Uber part time and I am happy being an IC. I do not want to be an employee. I drive for Uber because of the flexibility).

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#138

Post by diebeforei485 »

rectang wrote: post #47
treeman79 wrote: post #18

Got injured awhile back. Disability decided to play hardball. Gig jobs are all that kept family off the street while I recovered. Starting and stopping anytime as my body could tolerate. Or renting out rooms on Airbnb. Sometimes it took me 4 hours to change sheets and tidy up, but it made the difference. Not saying their good companies. But gigs was crazy valuable to me.

I drove for Lyft for a while while taking a break from software. Then I got t-boned by a red-light runner. Fortunately no one was injured. I was on my way to pick up a passenger, but it was only me in the vehicle. When I went to make my insurance claim to fix several thousand dollars worth of damage to my car, I discovered that despite having done a lot of research when trying to buy the right insurance with a ridesh…

I thought Prop 22 would require TNC's to cover drivers while on the way to pick up a passenger.

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#139

Post by sokoloff »

_alex_ wrote: post #101
pixelbash wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, are you saying that working a 40 hour week shouldn't earn a living wage if it's a non-specialised skill?

wages are a market. "should" or "shouldn't" is irrelevant

To be fair to @pixelbash, I was the one who sloppily used "should". I meant it to imply that there's a market/economy effect that dominates, but it was sloppy/possibly ambiguous. I'm going to leave my comment unedited, but I wish I'd used "would" instead of "should" there to suggest that it's an outcome of economic inputs rather than a personal value judgment.

Re: Gig economy companies spent more than $200M to bankroll Proposition 22

#140

Post by gowld »

joejohnson wrote: post #65
treeman79 wrote: post #18

Got injured awhile back. Disability decided to play hardball. Gig jobs are all that kept family off the street while I recovered. Starting and stopping anytime as my body could tolerate. Or renting out rooms on Airbnb. Sometimes it took me 4 hours to change sheets and tidy up, but it made the difference. Not saying their good companies. But gigs was crazy valuable to me.

It’s an insane society that would force someone to work through their recovery to an injury in the first place.

Why? I broke my leg. Why can't I work with my hands?
Post reply on HN