The following report from the Communications Workers of America highlights a dilemma for workers that has been created by employers, politicians, and those who champion a free market without checks and balances for workers and who are running short on commonsense. The report also underscores why we need national labor policies and planning. Workers stress and often risk a great deal when having to choose between having the protections given to employees and becoming independent contractors and losing those protections and going the independent contractor route. We want a country that guarantees rights for all and has an adequate safety net. Libertarians want a country of small businesspeople exploiting themselves and at the mercy of monopolies. The risk factor is increasing with the spread of artificial intelligence. Most of us know someone who is driving or doing transport and delivery or working in logistics for a living and having to take on the pluses and minuses of whether or not to become an independent contractor. Those working folks are on the tip of the iceberg because corporations are finding it advantageous to contract out and use AI.
CWA says:In June, members of the Colorado Independent Drivers United (CIDU-CWA Local 7777) in Denver, Colo., won twin victories when Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed HB24-1129 and SB24-75 into law. The bills will require transparency between companies—such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash—and their workers, create a driver resource center, and provide protections for both delivery and transportation drivers against deactivation, which amounts to termination but can be entirely driven by artificial intelligence without human oversight.
These laws constitute the first-ever legislation of its kind and may form a blueprint for other states seeking to protect vulnerable rideshare and delivery workers.
Meanwhile, in California, the opposite is taking place, with the California Supreme Court’s recent ruling upholding a state ballot measure allowing app-based transportation companies to classify their drivers as independent contractors. The ballot measure, Proposition 22, received 58% of the vote in 2020 but was overturned in 2021 by a lower court. In 2023, the law was upheld by the state's 1st District Court of Appeals and has now been upheld by the state’s highest court.
Opponents of the California law hold that it disproportionately impacts Black, brown, and immigrant workers and is little more than a cash grab by app-based transportation companies.
While an Uber driver in Denver has workplace protections, access to a driver resource center, and protections against wrongful termination, their counterparts in Los Angeles have none.
Efforts to organize app-based delivery and transportation workers are stymied by the nature of the work, which can be isolating and provide almost no control for workers. Business owners have sought, through challenges to worker rights law, to make app-based transportation workers a permanent underclass with few protections and almost no legal responsibilities for the businesses that employ them. Industry experts put the number of app-based workers in California at approximately 1.4 million.
No comments:
Post a Comment