If the vote measureProposition 22passes in California , technical school company will have undermined year of work towards securing fair recompense for gig workers , and — with a book $ 206 million poured into the effort — will send a resounding message that laws are compose solely by those with the deep pocket .
The ballot measure — create by Uber , Lyft , and DoorDash , and with support from Instacart and Postmates ( which Uber is acquiring)—attempts to roll back a firmly - fought labor law whichcourtrulingshave held to mean that gig companies must classify their workers as employee rather than contractors in California . Employee categorisation would , these company reason , eliminate actor ’ power to schedule their own minute ; they also claim employment overhead cost would force them to either shut down in the State Department or drastically snub the issue of drivers on payroll . Regulators and lawmakersarguethat these workers are employee like everyone else , and the companies are manipulating the estimation of “ the future of work ” to make everybody else report their volunteer unemployment banknote .
Their warfare chest ( the largest ever sum for California vote measure campaign ) has buy gig companies Republican political strategists and big baccy PR firm . It ’s pay for them to push their messaging via liberal - styled elector guides , and incessant electronic mail blasts about save proletarian tractability . It has even bought pro - Prop 22 delivery bags , which their own worker have been forced to use in client orders .
Photo: Josh Edelson (Getty Images)
winner for the society ’ “ Yes on Prop 22 ” campaign looks to be within grasp : A Berkeley poll parrot last weekfound that46 % of early elector had voted yes on 22 , compared to 42 % who ’d vote no . If you doubt the efficacy of these sorts of expensive atomic number 59 pushes , the non-profit-making California paper Capitol Weeklyfoundthat 40 % of people who ’d voted yes on 22 believe that they were vote to control drivers make a decent wage .
As Californians head up to the polls for the last day of voting , it ’s of import the remaining voters not go on to be misled . Almost all of the Yes on Prop 22 campaign ’s claims defy sovereign research and obscure commodious loophole . Here we ’ll take a last - second dive into the Yes on Prop 22 military campaign and show why many of its claims are unauthentic or outright false .
Claim 1: Drivers Will See an Increase in Pay
Yes on Prop 22 ’s big scam is its promise that drivers will make 120 % of minimum wage . They wo n’t .
Prop 22 peg scrimpy benefit — an earnings base , healthcare subsidy , some expense reimbursement , and accident insurance — to “ engaged time , ” i.e. meter expend pick up and dropping off customers . This means that Uber , Lyft , DoorDash , and the rest automatically time proletarian in and out throughout the solar day while they ’re waiting to begin a newfangled trip ( tick over ) or en road to a new customer ( deadheading ) . Researchers from the New School and Berkeleyestimatethat this could cut up to 35 percent out of Uber and Lyft number one wood ’ hours .
So when Yes on Prop 22 promise that drivers would make 120 % of minimum wage , that bears no relationship to hourly remuneration : Prop 22 would , instead , likely ensure that gig workers make less , possibly only a minimum of $ 5.64 per hour , concord toone studyfrom the UCLA Labor Center .
Additionally , when Prop 22 proposes to put up disbursal reimbursement for ( alow ) 30 cents per knot in engaged time , it ’s ensuring that number one wood pay for at leasta thirdof their natural gas out of pocket .
Under Prop 22 , worker get no overtime wage , no family leave , no gruesome leave , no unemployment insurance , no right field to collective bargaining , no protection from revenge , and no memory access to wash room . All of these protections should already be afford to driver under recent California law Assembly Bill 5 ( AB 5 ) .
Claim 2: Drivers Would Be More Flexible
Yes on Prop 22 often invoke the magic word “ flexible ” in pre - meet Uber driversurvey responsesandarguably coercedUber equipment driver video testimonial .
The “ conserve flexibility ” argument only works if most people using their chopine are part - timer , and both companies have said this is the case . According toUber , that ’s 81 % in California , and according toLyft , that ’s 86 % countrywide . But sovereign research worker have find exactly the opposite to be true , articulate that the meager pay actually makes the job very sturdy .
Ina 2018 reportexploring the viability of salary minimums for New York drivers , Michael Reich and James Parrot write that for the over 60 % of New York City drivers who work full - sentence to make ends meet , “ work hours are not flexible . ” A UCLA Berkeley Labor Centersurvey of Los Angeles driversfound that , as of 2018 , two - one-third of number one wood rely on ridesharing work as their main source of income , one-half do n’t have any other job , three in five drive more than five days per week , and one in five rely on public help such as intellectual nourishment legal tender .
Uber and Lyft know , however , that tractability is what lure workers onto their platform , and they know that they can leverage it to muscle people into working more “ flexible ” hours for less money . And that money has been tough to make as , researchersclaim , the companies have allowed drivers to flood the chopine to come down hold times .
“ tractability ” is what attracted Oakland - free-base societal justice minister Cherri Murphy to Lyft in 2017 , while she was finishing her doctor’s degree at divinity school .
“ In 2017 , Lyft seemed like a bonanza , ” Murphy say over the phone . “ They had advertised a job with a feature of ‘ tractableness ’ that allowed one to make money while giving me a lease . I was in desperate demand of that flexibleness , and they were hold out to give me a car to make money , so it seemed like a great deal . ”
On social function , Lyft give out bonuses like profits guarantees , where Lyft will make up the remainder if drivers do n’t make a certain amount of money after giving a identification number of rides . Over the retiring three days , Murphy said , while the fillip amounts have decreased , the benchmark for minimal hebdomadal minimum rides skyrocket from 70 to 150 , create it “ increasingly difficult to nurture a life . ” ( Lyft told Gizmodo that they could not at once confirm or abnegate this claim , since earnings guarantees and other bonuses vary by area . )
“ That good deal just never came , ” Murphy said .
driver in California protested the “ flexibility ” ambuscade last class , telling Recodethat Uber and Lyft had deceived them into signing postulation asking them to aid “ contend for driver flexibility and independence . ” They did n’t realize that the petitions , sent to lawmakers , were take to resist AB 5 , nor were they made cognizant of what AB 5 really does .
And , though it may be obvious , nothing prevents Uber or Lyft from employ driver who are allowed to make their own working hours . The flexibility or lack therefrom for ridesharing is entirely within their ascendency .
Claim 3: Democrats, Community Groups, and Drivers Support Prop 22
Then there ’s the Yes on Prop 22 - funded “ Feel the Bern , Progressive Voter Guide , ” which run with portrait of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ( both of whom have strongly controvert Prop 22 ) above a series of stances on ballot measure , admit Yes on Prop 22 . Bernie Sanderscalled them out .
While Yes on Prop 22 turn over the effect of popular support , it is distinctly align with GOP interests — kick the bucket so far as to make a $ 2 million contribution to the California Republican Party .
Last calendar month , a grouping of Uber driverssued the companyfor bombarding them with fast-growing in - app notifications at work and incessant messages during off - hours with required resume and video testimonial prompt that reasonably lead them to reverence revenge if they do n’t submit an enthusiastic reply . ( If Prop 22 passes , they would have no shelter from arbitrary retaliation . ) grounds include Prop 22 slide with wage calculations and disbursement reimbursement that are considerably less than what they should be getting as lawfully established employee . They claim that Uber also threatened them with warning that “ only 20 - 30 % of current machine driver ” would be capable to continue using the platform if Prop 22 fail .
Uber ’s attorney referred Gizmodo to theiropposition legal brief , in which they call the lawsuit a “ meritless political stunt ” and accused the driver , with a postulation for a temporary restraining parliamentary procedure , of attempt to “ silence speech they dislike . ” They called criticism of Uber ’s allegedly “ misleading statements ” “ completely baseless . ”
Claim 4: Gig Companies Would Have to Cut 70-90% of Workers
In the sameopposition brief , Uber claimed that the “ costs and other challenges ” of switching to an employment model could cause “ the number of driver who could utilize the app to fall from 209,000 to 51,000 . ” By Uber ’s appraisal , prices would increase by an stupefying 20 - 120 % ( a meaninglessly broad compass ) and that that need would “ plummet ” by 20 - 60 % .
Lyft similarly channelise Gizmodo toa abbreviated reportby the corporate consulting business firm Berkeley Research Group , which makes the even more challenging title that classifying drivers as employees will “ subdue the number of app - found driver that the companies will need to satisfy consumer need by 80 - 90 percent . ” The three - page dual - space study barely has a methodological analysis section , only a note bring up that the grouping was give admittance to proprietary datum from rideshare companies .
self-governing researchers present a far less dire outcome . In an October work , prof Michael Reichestimatedthat if Prop 22 fails , and drivers ’ compensation increase by 30 % , prices would only need to rise by 5 - 10 % , while demand would lessen by 1 - 2 % . Meanwhile , Uber could still make more while reduce its own commission rate . This “ may seem counterintuitive , ” Reich compose , but the combining of increase price and comparatively stable number of ride would easy cover the divergence . Reich order via e-mail that an upcoming subject area will show that requirement ontogenesis has slow up in New York City after the city go through the salary banner in late 2018 , but it was equivalent to Chicago , which has not made that variety .
In other words , the companies would n’t needfully suffer catastrophic fiscal ruin as a lineal resultant role of Prop 22 . They might opt to pass on , but that ’s their decision . As Reich said , Uber and Lyft “ nonetheless have adapted to a more regulated business model ” after New York City implemented its minimum earnings . “ And both companies are doing well there ( pre - covid ) , ” Reich added .
What a Prop 22 Victory Means
And of course , it specify the precedent that if company do n’t care a law , they can simply buy a new one .
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