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I do worry that the “app / gig economy” independent contractors with weak i9 verification is basically trying to import the developing-world inequality permanen
by steveBK123 2mo ago
I do worry that the “app / gig economy” independent contractors with weak i9 verification is basically trying to import the developing-world inequality permanent underclass service sector here.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- iambateman 2mo agoI would say this is true, but should be understood in the context of sharecropping, Jim crow, and slavery as a long and continuous outworking of poorly-checked capitalism. I’m not saying that you meant to say that it’s our first round with this…just pointing out that Americans have significant experience at maintaining a underclass.
- steveBK123 2mo agoRight, it's not the first time we've built upon a permanent underclass, but it feels like a quiet reversion that doesn't get a lot of attention. Arguably migrant workers working the harvests on farms is similar and bridges the Jim Crow era to now, but that has been more behind the scenes and didn't have the veneer of "tech".
- choutos 2mo agoDo you mean in terms of a loss of employment rights?
- steveBK123 2mo agoYes. These services allow mass employment of people who are more on the margin of society without any of the protections around minimum wage, working hours, benefits, etc because they are "independent contractors". Uber alone supposedly has 1M "independent contractors" in the US. Quick google searches would put them as the 3rd biggest employer in the US behind Walmart & Amazon, if they were actually classified as employees.
- red-iron-pine 2mo agobasically, yeah. in Canada they use Temporary Foreign Workers, but it's the same idea. Import the developing world inequality instead of using locals -- but only because the population base isn't there.