Congresscritters float benefits for gig workers Two US legislators are drafting bills to provide "gig" contract workers many of the same benefits afforded to those who work full time. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and and Representative Suzan DelBene (D-WA) have announced to their respective houses bills that would allow contract workers with companies like Uber, Lyft, and …
Get the federal gov't to pay benefits for their workers, so they don't have to? I imagine Lyft et al will love it.
It's no different from WalMart helping its greeters to claim food stamps. Anything's better than actually paying your pesky workers what they're worth, amirite?
Add to that the $20 Million. Won't go all that far and I'm sure there's a few groups that will actually use the money as intended. Not many though. Most will probably figure out a way to get some grant money use it to fund a "study" or some other meaningless nonsense.
I think if you read the article a little more carefully the grant is to allow local authorities to set up groups that will provide the benefits - not that the government will pay them (because in this political climate that is a non starter).
The issue in the US is that most people, no matter how much money they earn, cannot buy "group" health insurance or contract with agencies to pay unemployment insurance etc. It would similar to the Freelancers Union set up in NYC a few years ago which just allows self employed people to band together to buy their own benefits as a group.
Of course the bigger issue is (as you say) socializing of benefits while privatizing profits - where walmart underpays their workers and helps them to claim food stamps, and the absurd tying of health benefits to employment which stifles job mobility and risk taking at a time when those should be encouraged. ACA went a small way to addressing some of the minor issues, but nothing apart from single-payer will fix the cobbled together mess that is the US healthcare "system".
... get benefits such as unemployment insurance, paid time off, and tax-advantaged retirement savings.
I understand some bits. Sure, I can imagine getting unemployment insurance and even group rates. Likewise tax-advantaged retirement savings although there are SEP IRAs, and Solo 401(k) plans and the like that are pretty nice already. Yep, detaching health insurance from the job and being able to buy health insurance at group rates would also be swell.
My problem is that I get hung up on "paid time off". What does that even mean really in the "gig" context? Is it supposed to be some sort of income leveling scheme where pay goes into some sort of holding account and is metered out evenly over the course of a year or more like a Christmas/vacation club account at the bank where deposits are taken over the course of the year and dispensed only during a chosen time window? As someone who frequently used to pick up side jobs during my ostensibly paid vacations I'm struggling to find meaning here.
There are laws and programs in place already for self employed people. Adding "gig" to the mix just means the self employed somehow use the Internet to get their customers. Otherwise, no different than self employed people thirty years ago (we had consultants, contractors etc. before the Internet. Really. I'm not making it up.)
There are lots of things wrong with health insurance availability and tax laws and other things, both in the U.S. and in other countries. But we don't need special laws for people who use an Internet app to get customers. Existing laws for self employed people should be used, and if flawed they should be fixed, without reference to "gig." And of course, if the laws classifying workers was being followed, drivers who use Uber would be employees and would have employee benefits already.
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