The trend toward gig work has increased in recent years, and it’s easy to see why the business class has encouraged this. Gig work is often transitory and isolating, which keeps workers from forming bonds and acting collectively. Gig work obviates the need for companies to pay for benefits like health care. Gig work, essentially, allows employers to offload many of the costs associated with a workforce onto the workers themselves.
Proponents for the independent contractor model will point to increased flexibility and autonomy and the capacity for workers to set their own hours and only work when they want. And there is some truth to that. But for many gig workers, especially those in rideshare and delivery sectors, more freedom often comes with less protection, and “being your own boss” doesn’t amount to much when you can’t afford to take any time off.
“I work forty hours a week minimum,” said Elliott Awatt, an Uber driver in Denver, Colorado. “Seems like the rideshare companies are taking more and more from drivers every day.”
As difficult as it may be for workers to navigate the comminuting dystopia of the freelance economy, there are new examples of successful organizing. Denver and Minneapolis are two places where first-time pro-driver laws in cities and states are acting as templates for other locales, demonstrating that local gains for drivers can have nationwide consequences.
Building on the success of Washington State, where a statewide law that raises drivers’ pay and provides for sick time and workers compensation went…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: Abe Brennan
