No on Prop. 22: “If Prop. 22 passes, we lose almost all our freedom.”

Jun Fan
Uber Eats / DoorDash / Postmates worker, Berkeley

The cost of living is so high in the Bay Area, I’ve relied on gig work for the last four years on top of a regular job, or sometimes even two jobs. When I first started on Uber Eats in 2017, I was a cook at a sushi restaurant. Now, I work in healthcare. My job pays around $2,500 a month, but my rent is $1,300 and I have about $400 a month in credit card debt.

When I started, the pay wasn’t bad. I could make around $2000 a month if I put in a few hours every day. But every single year, every major gig company has cut pay. The most I can make now is $500 a month, working three-hour shifts every day. That’s before factoring in all the expenses I cover. I spend about $6 just in gas every day. I had to change my tires three times last year, and got a $600 ticket when I desperately double-parked to get a customer their order.

In spite of the low pay, I chose gig work because freedom is really important to me. I don’t care if I’m classified as an employee or an independent contractor — I want to choose when I work and the pay rates I’m willing to accept.

I’m against Prop. 22 because I think what workers really need is choice.

Let us be full independent contractors, with full freedom and basic standards, or just choose to be employees with all the benefits that entails.

Right now, many apps don’t give us the freedom we should have as independent contractors. When you’re on a scheduled Dash with DoorDash, you may want to reject a job because it’s too far away or you need to take a bathroom break. But rejecting a job can mean you get less offers. A lot of the companies require you to have a high acceptance rating to get bonuses, and you end up having to accept jobs you don’t want.

Companies can also deactivate us for cancelling jobs or having a low customer rating. Sometimes it’s out of our control — the restaurant is taking too long with the order, or there’s a traffic jam. Instead of giving us independence, the companies decide our fate.

If Prop. 22 passes, companies can keep doing all of that and more. We would lose almost all of our freedom.

Under Prop. 22, companies could force us to work on a schedule, accept jobs, decide everything about how we work, and cut pay. Current laws require companies to give workers full independence if they are classified as contractors. Prop. 22 would change that, creating a new classification test that would allow companies to call us contractors but give us less independence.

The companies have already proven they can’t be trusted. They definitely shouldn’t be trusted to decide what being an “independent contractor” means. Their entire business model is built on controlling our work but cutting our pay. By voting against Prop. 22, we can be true independent contractors. We can create laws that give us freedom AND pay standards.

Companies are asking us a question they think they can answer for us: do you want to be an independent contractor and get flexibility, or be an employee and get benefits? We shouldn’t accept the question. We do want independence, but it isn’t going to happen under Prop. 22. We need real freedom, and companies need to fix their broken business model and figure out how to be profitable while paying a living wage.