for gig workers, which would have been the far-sighted thing to do, labor-friendly Democrats in the Legislature spurned overtures from Uber et al. and, in essence, required those workers be treated as employees eligible for minimum wage, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, workers compensation and other state-mandated protections.for drivers on those platforms.
That left the No on 22 campaign struggling to explain why the state should force changes in the app companies’ business model that threatened those jobs. After all, the proponents argued, no one is forced to work for Uber or Postmates. People who didn’t like the miserly pay and limited benefits provided by Proposition 22 don’t have to drive for those companies.
So the app-based transportation and delivery services will no longer have to worry about AB 5. And they will continue to offer their drivers great flexibility, along with some new benefits — a wage floor that translates into, insurance that covers them to some degree in the case of on-the-job injury or death, and the chance to earn subsidies for health insurance. It’s not nothing.
And for the tens of thousands of Californians who count on doing a few hours of gig work occasionally to help pay the bills or spend a bit more, the passage of Proposition 22 means that those opportunities will still be there. But for the workers who’ve chosen gig driving as a full-time job — the ones the apps rely on to deliver the bulk of their services, and who would be most likely to keep their gigs if Proposition 22 failed — the result is a perpetuation of their second-class treatment.
Just as ominously, the app companies have provided a template for future efforts, in California and elsewhere, to use the ballot box to reclassify employees as contractors and cut their benefits. Before we see the next Proposition 22, lawmakers should do the work they could have done last year and
opinion Editorial: Prop. 22 just shows WallStreet how to write their own labor laws
opinion Nobody is entitled to work benefits.
opinion No thanks to LA times trying to force AB5 onto the drivers and doing all you can to give no voice to Yes side. I am so glad your propaganda failed. There are plenty of props backed by Corp which failed, stop fear mongering