OnLabor

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Tag:gig workers

September 3, 2020
News & Commentary

Maxwell Ulin

Around 833,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims in the past week, according to this morning’s report from the Department of Labor (DoL). The new jobless numbers, which include an additional 759,000 new claims under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, reflect the continuing economic damage wrought by the coronavirus, as well as growing economic […]

Uber’s Flexibility Myth: Reprise

Aug 19, 2020 Benjamin Sachs

As Uber has done countless times before, it argued in a recent NYT op-ed that the firm can’t possibly classify its drivers as employees because doing so would undermine the core feature of its business model: “flexibility.” I have argued many times myself that Uber’s argument about flexibility is nothing more than a myth; that […]

August 6, 2020
News & Commentary

Maxwell Ulin

As unemployment benefits declined this week, lawmakers have remained at an impasse over the contents of Congress’s upcoming relief bill. Republicans thus far have offered to extend expanded unemployment benefits at a reduced $400 per week and have proposed around $200 million in aid to state and local governments. Sensing the upper hand, Democrats have […]

June 29, 2020
News & Commentary

Randon Herrera

This past Wednesday, a group of about 50 Uber drivers staged a protest outside Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s house. According to Forbes, the protesters blasted labor-friendly music and held up a banner reading, “A Thief Lives Here” in front of the $17 million mansion. The Uber drivers were protesting the company’s efforts to avoid complying […]

May 14, 2020
News & Commentary

Maxwell Ulin

The Department of Labor announced this morning that 2.9 million more Americans filed for unemployment in the past week, raising the nation’s record-shattering unemployment rate beyond 14.7%. Among the 36.5 million people now unemployed are some 600,000 clean energy workers, whose employment has been especially affected due to comparative economic fragility of many clean-energy start-ups […]

May 12, 2020
News & Commentary

Zachary Boullt

Amidst informal congressional negotiations on the next coronavirus stimulus aid, Labor Secretary Scalia has expressed tacit reluctance to extend the $600 weekly unemployment payment boost beyond the July 31 expiration date. Scalia criticized the current program for giving flat benefit increases regardless of income, and he sympathized with concerns that the payment boosts are incentivizing […]

May 11, 2020
News & Commentary

Alexandra Butler

In a recent online survey, the Groundwork Collaborative gauged national approval of potential ideas on how to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. Two of these proposals included increased, federally-mandated collaboration between 1) worker representatives and business leaders and 2) labor unions and business leaders to develop plans on how workplaces can better support their employees. […]

May 8, 2020
News & Commentary

Rund Khayyat

The April monthly jobs report, released today, is a “portrait of devastation.” In a single month, Americans lost 20.5 million jobs – more than was lost throughout the entire 2008 recession. The unemployment rate has soared to 14.7% percent from the half-century low of 3.5 percent in February. The numbers reveal a fast unraveling economy […]

May 1, 2020
News & Commentary

Alexandra Butler

As the pandemic continues to devastate the job economy, the Washington Post has tracked job loss across sectors, highlighting the widespread impact of COV-ID 19. In addition, rising unemployment numbers have revealed major flaws in state unemployment insurance (UI) systems that, as the New York Times reports, have been continuously modified to limit the number […]

Covid-19 Shows Urgent Need to Hold Gig-Companies Accountable for Misclassification

Apr 15, 2020 Jason Salgado

So-called “gig-economy” workers are on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic. Instacart and Shipt workers have handled a massive increase in demand for grocery deliveries. DoorDash and Postmates couriers have delivered countless take-out orders as restaurants close in-person services. Uber and Lyft drivers have transported passengers with Covid-19 symptoms to receive care. Yet, even as […]

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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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September 3, 2020

Uber’s Flexibility Myth: Reprise

August 6, 2020

June 29, 2020

May 14, 2020

May 12, 2020

May 11, 2020

May 8, 2020

May 1, 2020

Covid-19 Shows Urgent Need to Hold Gig-Companies Accountable for Misclassification