What I find astonishing is that some groups need government laws and regulations in order to officially unionize.
Any group of workers no matter their circumstance should be able to work together collectively to fight for their rights.
And for anyone that wants to argue that this would be detrimental to businesses and business owners and give workers more rights that would take away the rights of the owner … the business owners and corporations already have way more rights and privileges that it is almost necessary for any and every worker to unionize because they have no way of protecting themselves from their bosses anyway.
Gig companies have been pushing the claim that these are all independent contractors, not employees. As an independent contractor, you are a business and can’t collude with other businesses. So far they’ve had sufficient claim to hold in this gray area.
It is important to recognize there is something to these claims, but not really. Explicitly giving drivers the right to unionize gives them at least some rights of employees regardless of the gig companies claiming they’re not employees
Freedom of association is a basic human right.
How does unionization help for independent contractors? Genuinely asking, because drivers are generally not considered to be employed by the platform they drive for, so I’m unclear as to what sort of bargaining power this actually offers them, beyond better-organized lobbying efforts.
Probably forces Uber and Lyft to a negotiation table where they can bargain for better rates, and allows contractors to organize as if they were employees, including the ability to strike.
it turns out if you are all able to stop work at once (and discourage scabs from crossing your picket line) you have power, whether or not you’re an employee on paper.
Thanks for stepping it up Newsom……fucking too you long enough getting your shit together and should have done a long time ago. Getting better but not my president.
