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Category:Gig Economy

Gig News — October 20, 2015

Oct 20, 2015 Jon Weinberg

This post is part of an ongoing series on labor and the gig economy. Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries released an advisory opinion concluding that Uber drivers should be classified as employees and not independent contractors. Portland Business Journal reports that the opinion was issued despite the fact that no complaints were filed in […]

Amazon's new "Independent Contractors"

Sep 29, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

As Jon wrote in the News and Commentary this morning, Amazon has started a new delivery service called “Amazon Flex.” The service, as the WSJ reports, will allow people to “sign up for shifts through an app that prompts them to fetch packages from mini-warehouses and take them to customers’ homes in as little as one hour.” The […]

1099 as Antitrust?

Sep 29, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

There’s an interesting post up on interfluidity arguing that independent contractor status should be awarded selectively, in a manner designed to incentivize competition in the gig economy. The basic idea is that there is a substantial risk that gig economy firms like Uber will become monopolists because of a particular kind of cycle, or “network effect.” The […]

New NLRB Decision on Independent Contractors

Sep 28, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

Last week, I argued that the “flexibility” of gig-economy jobs can comfortably coexist with a legal determination that those jobs are held by “employees” rather than by independent contractors. I emphasized that “workers can choose when and how much to work, and can even work without immediate supervision, and still be employees within the meaning of the […]

Gig News: Uber Drivers Claim Uber's Arbitration Policy Violates N.L.R.A.

Sep 28, 2015 Jon Weinberg

The Wall Street Journal reports that two Uber drivers have filed claims with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the company’s arbitration policy violates the National Labor Relations Act. The drivers are represented by Shannon Liss-Riordan, the lead attorney in the major Uber driver classification suit in federal court in California. As for this […]

Uber: Employee Status and "Flexibility"

Sep 25, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

There is a common trope in the debate about Uber that deserves clarification. The claim, commonly made, is that if Uber drivers were to be deemed employees – rather than independent contractors – the drivers would lose the flexibility that defines their jobs. Thus, NYU business professor Arun Sundararajan (who’s done important work on the gig economy) argues that if the drivers are […]

Gig News: Another California Agency Finds Uber Driver an Employee

Sep 21, 2015 Jon Weinberg

Earlier in September, The Wall Street Journal reported that another California regulatory agency found an Uber driver to be an employee rather than an independent contractor: The California Employment Development Department last month ruled that a former driver for Uber acted more like an employee than a contractor because the company controlled “every aspect” of […]

Gig News: Judge Allows Uber Driver Classification Suit to Proceed as Class Action

Sep 1, 2015 Jon Weinberg

In a major ruling today, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen allowed a lawsuit by California Uber drivers seeking employee status to proceed as a class action. Forbes summarized the ruling and its significance: Tuesday’s ruling means that Uber drivers, as a group, can now challenge the company on their main complaint: that they are actually employees […]

Gig News: LA Times Declares 2016 Presidential Race "First Uber Election"

Jul 22, 2015 Jon Weinberg

Today The Los Angeles Times published a story on the gig economy and the 2016 presidential election, noting attempts by Republican candidates to rally behind gig economy firms “as prime examples of free-market entrepreneurship and workplace deregulation” while Democrats struggle to “avoid appearing resistant to the popular new ventures while highlighting their potential negative effect […]

Gig News: Presidential Candidates Continue to Take and Talk Uber

Jul 16, 2015 Jon Weinberg

A day after a California administrative judge recommended that that Uber be fined $7.3 million and be suspended in the state, widespread coverage of the politicization of the gig economy continues. The New York Times reports that Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush personally hailed and took an Uber in San Francisco this morning to visit […]

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OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

OnLabor is a blog devoted to workers, unions, and their politics. We interpret our subject broadly to include the current crisis in the traditional union movement (why union decline is happening and what it means for our society); the new and contested forms of worker organization that are filling the labor union gap; how work ought to be structured and managed; how workers ought to be represented and compensated; and the appropriate role of government — all three branches — in each of these issues.

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Gig News — October 20, 2015

Amazon's new "Independent Contractors"

1099 as Antitrust?

New NLRB Decision on Independent Contractors

Gig News: Uber Drivers Claim Uber's Arbitration Policy Violates N.L.R.A.

Uber: Employee Status and "Flexibility"

Gig News: Another California Agency Finds Uber Driver an Employee

Gig News: Judge Allows Uber Driver Classification Suit to Proceed as Class Action

Gig News: LA Times Declares 2016 Presidential Race "First Uber Election"

Gig News: Presidential Candidates Continue to Take and Talk Uber