“Here we are in a great economy and yet most working people have no money saved,” Caitlin Vega, legislative director for the California Labor Federation, told me.
This quote from the article resounds heavily with me.
California is cracking down on the gig economy
311–320 of 330 posts
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One side: People should be free to decide what to do with their money and the government should stay out of the way because people understand their lives better and governments can be corrupt. > Other side: Governments should impose restrictions and fees as society as a whole will be effected by certain actions of individuals and governments have a responsibility to look out for the people's best interest. I feel l…
What does any of what you just typed out have to do with the original comment about someone who drives for GrubHub for supplemental income and feel that they prefer to be an independent contractor as opposed to an employee? You are completely derailing the conversation with common discussions that have been had tens of thousands of times all over the internet. The information exists in excessive quantities for anyone…
> What does any of what you just typed out have to do with the original comment about someone who drives for GrubHub for supplemental income and feel that they prefer to be an independent contractor as opposed to an employee?
It is a policy proposal that allows them to do so without suffering the risks you identified. If they like to be an independent contractor but don't like those risks, they should ask the government for a UBI rather than a law requiring them to be reclassified as an employee, which then mitigates those risks without requiring them to indirectly overpay for unemployment insurance that suffers from an insurance fraud problem that a UBI doesn't (among other advantages).
> Wouldn't it be better use of time to go find a discussion specifically about what you are talking about?
Here's one:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20069094
Based on their comment, the person there was apparently not aware of the details of the discussions that have been had about this numerous times by other people. Which is fine -- many people really are only having these discussions for the first time. There is nothing wrong with that.
But why do you assume that no one reading this thread has never been exposed to this information before? Some people have, but no one requires that they participate in a similar discussion again.
It's not as if we're on a totally irrelevant tangent here. The fact that some people have discussed it in the past doesn't reduce its relevance as a policy alternative.
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#313I wish they would rework the laws so that being an employee or contractor mattered less. It seems we've created a perverse financial incentive to encourage this behavior of pretending everyone is a contractor.
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
Slaves and serf were historically also free to go if they have paid off their masters. You could also argue thst they had received some protection and benefits. "Freedom" of choice is relative term here.
Talking about the historical situation of slaves while referring only to ancient Rome is incredibly contrived considering slavery was alive and well not that long ago.
“Slavery” doesn’t have just one configuration.
It’s just a word that we sometimes use to describe certain kinds of superior-inferior relationships: master-servant, lord-peasant, employer-employee, landlord-tenant, etc.
Or how about debtpeon-bank?
Taxman-taxpayer...
Government-citizen...
State-subject...
You say “slavery” and you think of “black slavery”, but do you think of the ruthlessly exploited sharecropper?
How about the fresh-faced grad indentured to his debt for life?
The newlywed with the mortgage on the house that cost him 10x what it cost his father?
Slavery is closer than you think.
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#315> The California bill, known as AB5, expands a groundbreaking California Supreme Court decision last year known as Dynamex. The ruling and the bill instruct businesses to use the so-called “ABC test” to figure out whether a worker is an employee. To hire an independent contractor, businesses must prove that the worker (a) is free from the company’s control, (b) is doing work that isn’t central to the company’s busine…
Journalists, photographers, video editors, live/TB production crews, movie crews, artists, illustrators, designers, programmers, almost EVERY construction worker...
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's clear it will cause a lot of contractors in the software industry to be reclassified as employees. To me, the real test is what will happen is this passes. Will it move hiring to other states and offshore? I'm in CA and I haven't hired someone from CA in a long time. Poland and Ukraine are the main places. The last 3 candidates wanted more than the CEO makes. We're small and can't afford Bay Area salarie…
Are you in the Bay Area though? If you are, then the people applying may well not be able to afford living without Bay Area salaries.
That's a two way street, As a media person, I can't survive in the bay area without freelancing for various media companies. My rates are far higher than salary if I can stay in demand. I guess I could survive, but it's a huge cut to what I could make in a good year.
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#317Why don't we start with extending some employee coverage to 1099? Like just one thing healthcare, and idk car insurance for Uber/Lyft and then see how it goes. Sounds better than dealing with extremes.
That sounds far more reasonable of a solution.
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#318In the 80s IBM got the federal law changed so that tech workers no longer had a safe harbor provision to be 1099s. They wanted to pay less for the workers, and they got their wish. The take home for tech workers dropped a lot. You have to wonder what the big interest is that is pushing this puff piece from vox. This law will have an overall negative impact on people who want to work independently and take care of the…
I fall under this umbrella, as I do journalism, media and TV production work. It looks as if it will have a HUGE impact. But to be honest, I don't think many of the freelancers/contractors really understand any of the fine print. I barely do.
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#319Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does any of what you just typed out have to do with the original comment about someone who drives for GrubHub for supplemental income and feel that they prefer to be an independent contractor as opposed to an employee? You are completely derailing the conversation with common discussions that have been had tens of thousands of times all over the internet. The information exists in excessive quantities for anyone…
> What does any of what you just typed out have to do with the original comment about someone who drives for GrubHub for supplemental income and feel that they prefer to be an independent contractor as opposed to an employee? It is a policy proposal that allows them to do so without suffering the risks you identified. If they like to be an independent contractor but don't like those risks, they should ask the governm…
I was not talking about policy _at_all_. I was giving some additional info to a specific person about their specific situation. Why are you doing this? How did we now arrive at a tangent about UBI? What does UBI have to do with how that specific person I was replying to should decide about driving for GrubHub? Are you suggesting that that person should first go lobby government officials to implement UBI and see if that works before deciding to drive for GrubHub or not? This is nuts.
Okay, you're obviously a troll. I fell for it. Lesson learned. I'm going to disengage. Got me, nice work.
Re: California is cracking down on the gig economy
#320Gig economy is a capitalisam at it’s worst.