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'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

theguardian.com

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Re: 'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

#11

Post by PittleyDunkin »

> We’re deeply concerned that companies will try to get around the law and continue to exploit vulnerable workers by pretending they are self-employed when they should enjoy the full protection of the law.

This is really the crux of the issue: why do we pretend that gig workers don't deserve the same benefits and protections that proper employees do? Even referring to it as a "gig" makes it sound more like a hobby than a livelihood.

EDIT: yea sorry I meant to imply "wages and wage guarantees" as well but I just shoved it in with "benefits and protections"

Re: 'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

#13

Post by glitchc »

like_any_other wrote: post #2

Tangential, but I think we're long overdue to fund employee benefits through taxes instead, which employers pay instead of being on the hook for e.g. paid medical/maternity/etc. On average employers would pay as much as now (unless they're abusing loopholes, e.g. gig work), there would be fewer loopholes, and small employers would be 'insured' against potentially ruinous hires - I know a handyman that won't hire an a…

Is that single-payer healthcare?

Re: 'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

#14

Post by johnea »

I complain about this at the other end of the cash flow cycle all the time: having to pay to pay.

When a service, often my local municipality, charges a fee to pay a fee.

VISA is arguably the biggest mafia organization in the world... 3% of all retain sales worldwide? Why?

With the proliferation of 3rd party "payment processors", and the accompanying crimes commited, The Fed has instituted a central bank hosted instant payment system:

https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow/about....

But almost no one uses it. Why is that? Do people really want their money locked up in stripe or paypal?

Re: 'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

#15

Post by whimsicalism »

PittleyDunkin wrote: post #11

> We’re deeply concerned that companies will try to get around the law and continue to exploit vulnerable workers by pretending they are self-employed when they should enjoy the full protection of the law. This is really the crux of the issue: why do we pretend that gig workers don't deserve the same benefits and protections that proper employees do? Even referring to it as a "gig" makes it sound more like a hobby th…

ideally benefits should be provided by the state or out of pocket, not by employers - imposing requirements like full benefit coverage for gig workers would likely lower employment rates

Re: 'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

#16

Post by wahnfrieden »

olliej wrote: post #3

So it’s wage theft then? Gotta love the “disruptive” tech industry. Such innovation.

Why are YC’s leadership and other VCs so vocal on shoplifting crime but never raise their voice against rampant wage theft in our industry? The criminality by dollar value is far worse with the latter

Re: 'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

#17

Post by whimsicalism »

To receive their wages within 30 days. This is basically just an inhouse bundled payday loan program. imo they should probably be required to pay out at the normal biweekly timescale, but it’s not nearly as awful as this title makes out

Re: 'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

#18

Post by asdfman123 »

PittleyDunkin wrote: post #11

> We’re deeply concerned that companies will try to get around the law and continue to exploit vulnerable workers by pretending they are self-employed when they should enjoy the full protection of the law. This is really the crux of the issue: why do we pretend that gig workers don't deserve the same benefits and protections that proper employees do? Even referring to it as a "gig" makes it sound more like a hobby th…

I can't help but feel the problem is that someone becomes "full time" in the US after exactly 40 hours.

I feel like some kind of gradient system would be ideal. Like if you work 10 hours a week you get 25% of the cash value of benefits. That way, a company wouldn't be incentivized to keep them right below the limit.

Re: 'So immoral': gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

#19

Post by JumpCrisscross »

PittleyDunkin wrote: post #11

> We’re deeply concerned that companies will try to get around the law and continue to exploit vulnerable workers by pretending they are self-employed when they should enjoy the full protection of the law. This is really the crux of the issue: why do we pretend that gig workers don't deserve the same benefits and protections that proper employees do? Even referring to it as a "gig" makes it sound more like a hobby th…

> why do we pretend that gig workers don't deserve the same benefits and protections that proper employees do?

Because some—in some cases, many—of them don’t. And in many cases, e.g. healthcare, it’s unclear why we’re still bundling something into employment that properly should be separate.

Extending employment protection to gig workers is a simple solution. But it probably leaves many of them worse off than they are now. (Also, most full-time employees are paid up to 14 days after post.)

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