Clearly those people are well-clear of the minimum standards we generally apply to full-time workers. There's a reason we've collectively decided that companies

Clearly those people are well-clear of the minimum standards we generally apply to full-time workers. There's a reason we've collectively decided that companies can't just call their employees contractors and screw them over: we think that companies have certain responsibilities to the people they employ. It's a compelling argument not because people wish they had more benefits and pay but because the benefits and pay they have fall below generally accepted minimum standards. I've talked to many Uber drivers who are in the middle of an endless shift because its the only way they can make enough money for everything to work out positively for them. I've talked to one Uber driver who had switched between black cars and black SUVs and UberX because the careful balance between the overhead of the cars and the amount he earns and gas prices etc. meant that he spent a year breaking even while driving full time. My experience is mostly in Chicago, in case that matters. Being broke is worse than being underemployed, but working constantly because you aren't being compensated fairly is still a failure on the part of the employer. It's great that rich people also wish they were richer but that's not really relevant. It's also great that you've talked to a bunch of Uber drivers wherever you live and travel to and that they've decided to represent themselves as happy, but that's not really scientific enough to end an argument or to carve out an exception to established laws on independent contractors. As a sidenote, I appreciate that you aren't an Uber apologist, and didn't mean to imply that you were— I take your reasoning in good faith even if I disagree with you.