The underlying issue is RAMPANT employee misclassification. Most of these people aren’t contractors, they are just illegally misclassified.
gig workers are being unfairly terminated, or “deactivated,” as the companies call it.
I, for one, loathe our new techbro overlords.
Workers being exploited is nothing new though. Same overlords, different labels.
But usually there are some laws protecting them, they didn’t have any.
THESE DAYS there are some laws protecting most workers. Those laws were written in the blood of striking miners.
deleted by creator
Removed by mod
Gig jobs with regulations are just normal job. Why do people support adding complexity to an already complex system?
Removed by mod
deleted by creator
Washington does not have “right to work” laws.
You are mistaken.
deleted by creator
Any competent contractor will include a termination clause in their contract. I have signed many contracts, and every single one had language to terminate the contract under some specific circumstances.
Especially with a big company like uber they can bury a favorable termination clause somewhere in the contract, and you can’t exactly negotiate with an app if the terms aren’t to your liking.
Companies have lawyers who get paid handsomely to write language to let them get away with things. There’s no way they would be deactivating contractors if it was opening them up to significant liabilities.
‘Right to work’ has to do with not being required to be in a Union in order to get a job (ie, you have a right to work at a location whether you’re in the union or not).
Right to work is bullshit and definitely helped in gutting the unions, but, I’m not sure how that has to do with anything to do with gig workers at all.
deleted by creator
Do a quick Google search for “right to work vs at will employment” because you’ve got them mixed up.
Additionally, the gig folks don’t have a contract that protects them and they’re being classified as contractors when (it’s being argued) they shouldn’t be. That’s literally the issue.
It doesn’t; this guy is just unaware of what ‘right to work’ means (admittedly, it’s a deliberately obtuse name), and seems to have no willingness to entertain the possibility that he might not know something.
The idea of the “right to work” is bizarre to me. I am a USA citizen and it still confuses me. Isn’t our right to freedom from oppression, life, liberty, and happiness? I’m not sure how the right to work gets mixed up in there. I should be able to live happily if I work or not. Call me a commie but a strong social program (including free healthcare, free standardized education, and transit) and universal income would solve many of the issues the USA faces today. That all costs money of course but it doesn’t take an economist to see how much the USA spends on the military, and we are not even in an active war, so I think the budget could probably be finagled a little. Anyway I forgot what I was talking about, and all I’m saying is if the guy at the Wendy’s drive thru is replaced with a tablet for ordering he should still get paid.
Removed by mod
Right to work refers specifically to laws that make mandatory union membership illegal. It has absolutely nothing to do with at-will employment, termination, or anything relevant here.
deleted by creator
Again, that is not what ‘right to work’ means. You are talking about ‘at-will’ employment, which is a completely different topic that is essentially unrelated.
Yes, it’s a deliberately obtuse name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law
Note the “Not to be confused with At-will employment.” bit at the top. This isn’t really a debatable matter, so cheers. Have an enjoyable read.
deleted by creator
Yes, use your piles of cash and unlimited time to get what you’re already owed. Perfect system, you’re right.
deleted by creator
Time?
My DoorDasher picked up my order the other day and went to a mall parking lot and sat there for an hour until the order was cancelled since DD couldn’t get ahold of them. They presumably ate it. They should be deactivated. Bad workers shouldn’t get extra protections.
“Deactivation” sounds so fucking dehumanizing, it’s like they’re talking about robots 💀
