Jon Weinberg is a student at Harvard Law School.
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 the headquarters of technology company Thumbtack. Bush’s choice of Uber was symbolic and indicated his support for gig economy firms. In fact, according to Business Insider, Bush’s campaign spent about $1,400 on 70 Uber rides during the last two weeks of June.
Meanwhile, major publications highlighted the emerging positions of presidential candidates on the gig economy. The New York Times noted that Uber has become “an unexpected proxy in the emerging debate between the left and right over the future of work, the responsibilities of employers, the virtues of technology and the necessity of workplace regulation.” The Times story also highlighted that Republican candidates see support for Uber as a way to promote the free market and win votes in cities with large Democratic bases, while Democratic candidates take issue with the classification of drivers but are reluctant to criticize the company by name to avoid alienating those voters.
Time also covered the politics of the gig economy, and concluded that Republican and Democratic positions aren’t as clear cut as they seem. The Time story points out that Uber and other gig economy firms are primarily based in largely-Democratic California and predicate their business models on independent contractors being able to take advantage of a large social safety net. Time also focuses on the efforts of Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) to explore Congressional action to account for the situation faced by workers in the gig economy.
OnLabor will continue to monitor coverage surrounding the election and gig economy workers.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 16
In today’s news and commentary, the NLRB sues New York, a flight attendant sues United, and the Third Circuit considers the employment status of Uber drivers The NLRB sued New York to block a new law that would grant the state authority over private-sector labor disputes. As reported on recently by Finlay, the law, which […]
September 15
Unemployment claims rise; a federal court hands victory to government employees union; and employers fire workers over social media posts.
September 14
Workers at Boeing reject the company’s third contract proposal; NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cohen plans to sue New York over the state’s trigger bill; Air Canada flight attendants reject a tentative contract.
September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.