They're calling
that "Remaking the Gig Economy"? Making Uber and Lyft drivers into employees? What a sham.
For 10 years I ran my own consultancy. Every new engagement was a new "job" where I could negotiate the rules of engagement however I deemed fit. Usually lasting no more than 5 days each. Every new month for 10 years I'd think: "this is it, it's over; I have no work scheduled for next month, I'm going to have to give up and get a real job." But somehow the work always rolled in, and I did really well. By the end I was billing over $300/hr, and I worked when and where I saw fit. As far as "gig workers" go, I was about as successful as you can possibly be.
And yet my wife had to work a Real Job at a Real Company because I couldn't buy reasonable health insurance for any price. Any price at all. So I spun down my company and got a real job. The Gig Economy is an utter poopshow; not even at the very top is it sustainable.
Making Uber's bottom-of-the-barrel jobs slightly less abysmal doesn't do crap for the Gig Economy. Driving for Uber isn't a Gig. You're not negotiating your rate on each pickup. It's a carefully managed relationship with the same company each time, who pays for your service on a recurring and predictable fee-for-work basis. It's a job.
Fixing the Gig Economy means making it possible for people to make a living without the shelter of an employer. And making Uber and Lift into real employers doesn't fix it. It's not even related.
For 10 years I ran my own consultancy. Every new engagement was a new "job" where I could negotiate the rules of engagement however I deemed fit. Usually lasting no more than 5 days each. Every new month for 10 years I'd think: "this is it, it's over; I have no work scheduled for next month, I'm going to have to give up and get a real job." But somehow the work always rolled in, and I did really well. By the end I was billing over $300/hr, and I worked when and where I saw fit. As far as "gig workers" go, I was about as successful as you can possibly be.
And yet my wife had to work a Real Job at a Real Company because I couldn't buy reasonable health insurance for any price. Any price at all. So I spun down my company and got a real job. The Gig Economy is an utter poopshow; not even at the very top is it sustainable.
Making Uber's bottom-of-the-barrel jobs slightly less abysmal doesn't do crap for the Gig Economy. Driving for Uber isn't a Gig. You're not negotiating your rate on each pickup. It's a carefully managed relationship with the same company each time, who pays for your service on a recurring and predictable fee-for-work basis. It's a job.
Fixing the Gig Economy means making it possible for people to make a living without the shelter of an employer. And making Uber and Lift into real employers doesn't fix it. It's not even related.