6 ms·

I'd like to see a Gig Economy Union myself. Sure I can hire an Uber, get my laundry handled, my shopping done, but I want to know the poor s.o.b. doing the work

by pnathan 10y ago

I'd like to see a Gig Economy Union myself. Sure I can hire an Uber, get my laundry handled, my shopping done, but I want to know the poor s.o.b. doing the work has benefits and a decent wage, and isn't being screwed over by the app-company-of-the-month.

toomuchtodo 10y ago
> I'd like to see a Gig Economy Union myself. This is called "labor law". I'm personally looking forward to the IRS reaping its pound of flesh from Uber for contractor misclassification and the hundreds of millions of dollars in employer payroll back taxes and penalties that will be due.
- jMyles 10y ago
  Is it irony that, if this comes to pass, the government will use that money, made on the backs of mostly poor people in the USA, to drop bombs on mostly poor people on the other side of the world?
  - toomuchtodo 10y ago
    I'm hopeful the money will end up having to shore up social security or Medicare.
    - ticviking 10y ago
      Dream on...
      - toomuchtodo 10y ago
        I don't dream, I do. I apply political and financial pressure against my Congressional reps, and have even threatened (with someone else's financial backing) running someone against them (which secured their vote for a socially progressive bill I wanted passed). But you do you. I enjoy applying pressure in the political space, and I play a long game.
        jMyles 10y ago
        I'm not disagreeing about representative pressure. Listen, I've been in almost every congressional office building on the hill and participated in several house campaigns, including a successful one. But I also don't kid myself: this kind of action is not playing the long game. The agenda is set such that congress really doesn't even get to vote on the important matters directly. For example, there will never be a vote directly on the matter of whether to spend money gleaned from taxing gig economy companies on shoring up services or bombing brown people. But that's not even the point. Government is not the long game. The state is temporary and its time is nearly over. The long game is human evolution, especially what we today call "technology."
        notriddle 10y ago
        Government is a fact of how humans think. Tech isn't going to change how our brains work.
        jMyles 10y ago
        No?
        toomuchtodo 10y ago
        Check out how much cash the Clinton's and DNC poured into her campaign. A lot of good tech did there! /s "The state is temporary"? How outlandish. The state will outlive you, and will crush you if the people don't use effort to coerce it in the right direction. Tech might help or hurt a cause, but people will be the ones who are needed to win the day, not tech. But don't believe me; just watch who is getting inaugurated.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- cstejerean 10y ago
  Why should Uber driver be considered employees but not taxi drivers driving for Yellow Cab? Pretty much all taxi drivers are independent contractors, and I don't see how they are different from Uber drivers.
  - wavefunction 10y ago
    It might just be due to the labor laws that define what a contractor and an employee are, and how taxi drivers and uber drivers are thus classified. You might check into those!
    - didgeoridoo 10y ago
      Your dismissive tone is not warranted. Look into the 20-point list the IRS uses to make the W2/1099 distinction yourself, and you'll find Uber drivers as far (or further) to the "contractor" side as many yellow-car cabbies are.
      - toomuchtodo 10y ago
        Except Florida, New York, and California have already ruled in several cases drivers due meet the employee classification.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- pnathan 10y ago
  I don't believe so; they are related though. A union can force enforcement of laws, or simply strike; a law has to be enforced. Many laws on the books are unenforced. Generally, to be frank, I think the labor movement in the US is due for a revival and unions should take the lead in that. It's in my mind that gig workers are properly neither contractors nor employees, as understood commonly (not legally - they can fall into either bucket legally, iirc). They deserve a spot in the law and protections thereof.
alphonsegaston 10y ago
I'd like to think that a startup in this space structured around profit sharing would quickly outcompete their competitors by attracting all the best laborers. But I think the reality is that some more feudal tech entity would do whatever it takes to destroy them. Structuring working relationships this way is as deeply ideological as it is opportunistic. At some point we're going to have to realize that this isn't just cutthroat Capitalism, but the explicit way some people want this to be.

by pnathan 10y ago

toomuchtodo 10y ago

> I'd like to see a Gig Economy Union myself. This is called "labor law". I'm personally looking forward to the IRS reaping its pound of flesh from Uber for contractor misclassification and the hundreds of millions of dollars in employer payroll back taxes and penalties that will be due.

jMyles 10y ago
Is it irony that, if this comes to pass, the government will use that money, made on the backs of mostly poor people in the USA, to drop bombs on mostly poor people on the other side of the world?
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  I'm hopeful the money will end up having to shore up social security or Medicare.
  - ticviking 10y ago
    Dream on...
    - toomuchtodo 10y ago
      I don't dream, I do. I apply political and financial pressure against my Congressional reps, and have even threatened (with someone else's financial backing) running someone against them (which secured their vote for a socially progressive bill I wanted passed). But you do you. I enjoy applying pressure in the political space, and I play a long game.
      - jMyles 10y ago
        I'm not disagreeing about representative pressure. Listen, I've been in almost every congressional office building on the hill and participated in several house campaigns, including a successful one. But I also don't kid myself: this kind of action is not playing the long game. The agenda is set such that congress really doesn't even get to vote on the important matters directly. For example, there will never be a vote directly on the matter of whether to spend money gleaned from taxing gig economy companies on shoring up services or bombing brown people. But that's not even the point. Government is not the long game. The state is temporary and its time is nearly over. The long game is human evolution, especially what we today call "technology."
        notriddle 10y ago
        Government is a fact of how humans think. Tech isn't going to change how our brains work.
        jMyles 10y ago
        No?
        toomuchtodo 10y ago
        Check out how much cash the Clinton's and DNC poured into her campaign. A lot of good tech did there! /s "The state is temporary"? How outlandish. The state will outlive you, and will crush you if the people don't use effort to coerce it in the right direction. Tech might help or hurt a cause, but people will be the ones who are needed to win the day, not tech. But don't believe me; just watch who is getting inaugurated.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
cstejerean 10y ago
Why should Uber driver be considered employees but not taxi drivers driving for Yellow Cab? Pretty much all taxi drivers are independent contractors, and I don't see how they are different from Uber drivers.
- wavefunction 10y ago
  It might just be due to the labor laws that define what a contractor and an employee are, and how taxi drivers and uber drivers are thus classified. You might check into those!
  - didgeoridoo 10y ago
    Your dismissive tone is not warranted. Look into the 20-point list the IRS uses to make the W2/1099 distinction yourself, and you'll find Uber drivers as far (or further) to the "contractor" side as many yellow-car cabbies are.
    - toomuchtodo 10y ago
      Except Florida, New York, and California have already ruled in several cases drivers due meet the employee classification.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
pnathan 10y ago
I don't believe so; they are related though. A union can force enforcement of laws, or simply strike; a law has to be enforced. Many laws on the books are unenforced. Generally, to be frank, I think the labor movement in the US is due for a revival and unions should take the lead in that. It's in my mind that gig workers are properly neither contractors nor employees, as understood commonly (not legally - they can fall into either bucket legally, iirc). They deserve a spot in the law and protections thereof.

alphonsegaston 10y ago

I'd like to think that a startup in this space structured around profit sharing would quickly outcompete their competitors by attracting all the best laborers. But I think the reality is that some more feudal tech entity would do whatever it takes to destroy them. Structuring working relationships this way is as deeply ideological as it is opportunistic. At some point we're going to have to realize that this isn't just cutthroat Capitalism, but the explicit way some people want this to be.