Gig jobs promise flexibility and a low barrier to entry, but often pay less on an hourly basis than the prevailing minimum wage and lack basic protections such as overtime, sick pay and unemploymen…
Caitlin Dewey | Stateline.org
“There was a sense among workers, coming off the pandemic, that something really needed to be done,” said Wood, a member of the labor group Los Deliveristas Unidos, which fights for gig worker benefits in New York City. “So much of the city is dependent on the work that we do — but if we want to make the conditions better for us, we have to be the ones to do it.”
But gig companies fiercely oppose any effort to reclassify gig workers, a change that would grant the workers new rights and protections under state and federal law. In public statements, legal filings and elaborate marketing campaigns, gig platforms have argued that any significant shake-up to their current labor arrangement would jeopardize workers’ flexibility and independence — as well as raise consumer costs.
For consumers, such marketplaces offer flexibility and convenience, and may fill gaps in existing transportation, logistical or social support systems. Workers flock to gig platforms for similar reasons: In a 2016 Pew Research survey of gig workers whose households relied on their platform income, 45% said they needed control over their schedules and 25% said they lacked other job options.
In addition to New York City — which approved a minimum wage for ride-share drivers in 2018, and for food deliverers in 2021 — gig workers have also notched a string of significant victories in Seattle. The city unanimously passed a minimum pay floor for ride-share drivers in 2020 and app-based delivery workers in 2022. Earlier this year, Seattle mandated paid sick leave and due process procedures for a broader swath of gig workers if they are suspended from the apps.
In addition to raising consumer prices, wage-floor policies risk cutting worker incomes as higher pay rates attract more gig workers to the apps, said Adam Kovacevich, the founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a tech policy group whose corporate partners include Uber and Lyft. If there are more workers, Kovacevich said, each driver could get fewer total orders, pulling down their total earnings even if each individual order pays more.
“The gig companies have done a great job organizing and developing a strong message,” said LiJia Gong, the policy and legal director at Local Progress, a membership organization for progressive lawmakers that supports gig worker bills. “These are massive corporations — they have the funds and the ability to get their message in front of a lot of people.”
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