CAlifornia gig workers share their analysis:
Voting AGAINST Prop. 22 to vote FOR flexibility
Prop. 22, a ballot measure designed & funded by Uber, Instacart, Postmates, and others, would be a dramatic shift for hundreds of thousands in California who rely on gig work, whether they depend on it for full-time income or work just a few hours a week to make ends meet.
Hundreds of thousands of workers means a lot of different opinions about what laws will work best for workers. Some workers want to be independent contractors. Some want employment status. Some are most concerned about benefits like unemployment & sick leave, while others want to focus first on laws to drive up pay.
But there are two key issues almost all gig workers agree on: 1) flexibility is key and 2) the pay is too low.
Prop. 22 is harmful for workers on both counts. It limits flexibility, and it crushes efforts to raise pay. That’s why regardless of where they stand on issues like employment classification, workers are standing against Prop. 22.
That’s right: while the gig companies say Prop. 22 is about protecting flexibility, the ballot initiative actually allows companies to limit flexibility for independent contractors. It redefines independent contractor status, allowing companies to call their workers contractors but restrict freedom even more. Under Prop. 22, gig companies would only have to provide bare-minimum flexibility to consider workers independent contractors: not “unilaterally” scheduling shifts, not deactivating workers for rejecting any given job, and not restricting workers from working on other apps in their downtime. That’s it — that’s all the flexibility companies would have to offer.
That means companies could get away with all kinds of other restrictions on workers’ flexibility, like requiring high acceptance ratings to maintain access to jobs, capping the number of hours workers could put in per week, or banning them from opening other apps while out on deliveries. And whether they want to be employees or contractors, the tradeoff Prop. 22 offers simply isn’t worth it for the vast majority of gig workers. Prop. 22 offers minimal pay standards, underpaying for both time and mileage costs, and preventing cities from creating local pay standards for gig workers. It’s missing protections for workers who are deactivated, injured on the job, or get sick.
And if Prop. 22 passes, it would lock in all of these restrictions permanently, requiring a 7/8ths majority in the California Legislature to amend.
Gig companies have spent nearly $200 million to advertise Prop. 22. They have marketed aggressively to drivers in-app. They want to pass Prop. 22 so badly because it’s good for them — the gig model has always been to maximize control over workers while minimizing pay, and Prop. 22 would cement that into law. But is it good for workers?
It’s crucial for workers to understand what Prop. 22 really does before they decide.
That’s why these five California gig workers, with a variety of opinions on regulating the gig economy, took the time to read the fine print.
Click below to read each of their takes on why Prop. 22 would harm their ability to make flexible income:
Jun Fan - Postmates/Uber Eats/DoorDash, Berkeley
“What workers really need is choice. Let us choose to be an independent contractor or an employee. If Prop. 22 passes, we lose almost all our freedom.”
Lavelle Jackson - Postmates, Rialto
“I value being an independent contractor. I don’t want to be locked in with them telling me when to work and how to do it. That’s why I oppose Prop. 22.”
Mia Shilpi - formerly Postmates, Topanga
“I believed in the promise of freedom in gig work. But it didn’t pan out, and I get more flexibility as an employee at my minimum-wage retail job. Prop. 22 won’t fix that.”
Denny U. - Instacart, Los Angeles
“I know what it’s like to be an employee, and I love being independent. The little flexibility gig work now offers is no longer worth the sacrifices we have to make.”
Jon Wong - DoorDash, Oakland
“I deliver for a few hours a day on top of a full-time employee job. I’m exactly the worker companies say needs Prop. 22. But it won’t help me, or other part-timers.”