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Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

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Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#141
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market is not fair. People have to eat, and will look for whatever job that can get that will help them eat and provide for their families.

This is a pretty absurd argument to make when the alternative is quite literally these jobs not existing at all as almost just happened at midnight tonight.

This jobs will exist one way or the other. If uber is out taxis(or some other third party) will pick up the slack.

Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#143

Completely anecdotal but I bring this question up every time I drive in an Uber and overwhelmingly the drivers tell me they want to stay independent. No one is forcing drivers into their jobs. I really struggle to understand why we need bureaucrats imposing their idea of what a market should look like on an fairly efficient market. From my experience the drivers are perfectly aware of the costs that go into driving s…

I believe the idea is that employee protections and standards must come from the government.

Sometimes it comes up naturally (see the benefits of being a software engineer) but when unemployment is high those protections tend to go away especially for jobs that have minimal barrier of entry (ie ride share driver). Right now drivers have very little leverage or power over Lyft/Uber except for not participating in their market.

The question of AB5 is the right protections and classifying them as employees is I think the debate. I believe most drivers want independence b/c most drivers only drive part time. But the drivers who drive full time want better protections.

Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely don't understand this position. I don't see how replacing a "bad" option with no option helps anyone, especially the people that were willing to take the "bad" option.

the option is to provide the infrastructure for the market to figure out, but you need some baseline first, and we don't have that baseline. Decouple healthcare from having a job and you're already halfway there, like the rest of the world.

This is like complaining to the landlord that your AC doesn't work and the landlord saying "Fixing is not an option. We need to stop Global Warming so that the temperatures stop going up first."

Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#145
post #78
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I was curious about what drivers think. I guess they're not happy [1] but want to be independent contractors still [2]. If the employers don't want the change... and the employees don't want the change... and the customers don't want the change... and the shareholders don't want the change... and the residents of California don't want the change (exhibited by the threads yesterday with outcry over the decision to sh…

I'm not a resident of California (rather, Minnesota), but I do want it to change. I don't use gig services because I think anyone doing 40[1] hours of work deserves a wage they can live off of, along all the other employment protections we've worked so hard to implement. Gig services are cheap because they don't meet that requirement. If gig services were required to meet that minimum wage and workers' rights, then I…

Serious question: is your main complaint the low pay, or lack of benefits? If Uber increased pay to an average of $30/hour after expenses but still treated them as contractors and told them to buy their own health insurance, would you be ok with that?

Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#146

Completely anecdotal but I bring this question up every time I drive in an Uber and overwhelmingly the drivers tell me they want to stay independent. No one is forcing drivers into their jobs. I really struggle to understand why we need bureaucrats imposing their idea of what a market should look like on an fairly efficient market. From my experience the drivers are perfectly aware of the costs that go into driving s…

They want to stay independent, fine. Then actually treat them like independent contractors. Let them set rates. Let them decline rides without facing penalties by the platform. Make the changes necessary to fit the independent contractor model. And not just the rideshare company, but the state too: these workers need unemployment insurance, as Covid has shown, and somebody needs to pay for it: be it the workers or th…

I think they do allow them to set rates now in CA

https://www.uber.com/blog/california/set-your-fares/

Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#147

Completely anecdotal but I bring this question up every time I drive in an Uber and overwhelmingly the drivers tell me they want to stay independent. No one is forcing drivers into their jobs. I really struggle to understand why we need bureaucrats imposing their idea of what a market should look like on an fairly efficient market. From my experience the drivers are perfectly aware of the costs that go into driving s…

They want to stay independent, fine. Then actually treat them like independent contractors. Let them set rates. Let them decline rides without facing penalties by the platform. Make the changes necessary to fit the independent contractor model. And not just the rideshare company, but the state too: these workers need unemployment insurance, as Covid has shown, and somebody needs to pay for it: be it the workers or th…

Uber and Lyft already did this in California after the passage of AB5 earlier this year. That's why they now have price estimates instead of giving exact values ahead of time.

Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#148

"Uber and Lyft say drivers prefer the flexibility of working as freelancers, while labor unions and elected officials contend this deprives them of traditional benefits like health insurance and workers’ compensation." I was curious about what drivers think. I guess they're not happy [1] but want to be independent contractors still [2]. 1. https://therideshareguy.com/uber-driver-survey/ 2. (In a May online survey dra…

This reminded be of the Planet Money episode on long-haul truck drivers [0]. It's a similar contractor v. employee (company driver) scenario. Not a happy story, unfortunately.

[0] https://www.npr.org/2020/08/10/901110994/big-rigged

Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#149

Completely anecdotal but I bring this question up every time I drive in an Uber and overwhelmingly the drivers tell me they want to stay independent. No one is forcing drivers into their jobs. I really struggle to understand why we need bureaucrats imposing their idea of what a market should look like on an fairly efficient market. From my experience the drivers are perfectly aware of the costs that go into driving s…

They want to stay independent, fine. Then actually treat them like independent contractors. Let them set rates. Let them decline rides without facing penalties by the platform. Make the changes necessary to fit the independent contractor model. And not just the rideshare company, but the state too: these workers need unemployment insurance, as Covid has shown, and somebody needs to pay for it: be it the workers or th…

> Let them decline rides without facing penalties by the platform.

Does the model of IC have to imply that every ride is a new, independent contract? Is there no other reasonable model in which multiple rides are part of one contract? Why?

Re: Uber and Lyft shutdown in California averted as judge grants emergency stay

#150
post #111

> Seems like a loss for everyone except bureaucrats Not true, it's a great opportunity for javascript developers to get up on their soap boxes and share with us their moral and economic wisdom.

haha, point taken. But I'd say it's good that they care. Developers are in a different income bracket. Concern is far better than cold indifference, which is what usually happens...
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