App-based companies say drivers want to be contractors. Opponents say that strips workers' rights

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Supporters say a state bill would let workers maintain flexible hours and establish portable benefit accounts, but opponents say it would allow the companies to pay subminimum wages and push the costs of those benefits on to its workers. A similar proposal may be on the ballot next November.

Uber and Lyft stickers are pictured inside a ride-hailing vehicle outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston on Nov. 14, 2019. Supporters say the bill lets workers maintain flexible hours and establishes portable benefit accounts, but opponents say it allows the companies to pay subminimum wages and push the costs of those benefits on to its workers.in favor of the bill to be delivered to legislators, organized by Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work.

“I want to be independent because of my families’ needs — you know, being there for my daughter and my mother and my grandmother, and dealing with tasks with them on a day-to-day basis." Cole said. "It changes all the time. So, it's very important that I keep my flexibility to keep everybody happy." "Everything falls on me. I used to be able to provide a living wage for my children," she said."I've made hundreds of thousands of dollars for these companies with nothing to show. There is nothing paid into Social Security and there is nothing paid into anything.", a worker is presumed to be an employee and can only be classified as a contractor under certain conditions — which she and other opponents argue the tech companies are not meeting.

 

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