California Senate approves bill that requires gig economy workers to be reclassified as...

[MilwaukeeMike]

That is BECAUSE these companies business model is a falsehood & really don't work.

BTW.... getting a lift should not be cheap, it should cost you. People should pay, if they don't want to own a car, or take public transportation. See Taxi..

Work for who? They don't seem to be working for the executives and the share holders. Uber lost like $5 billion last quarter. It works great for the people who want rides and people who want to be drivers. You can ride when you want, where you want. You can work when you want for how long as you want.

Liberals don't like Uber though. They prefer the taxi-cab model. do a comparison....
Taxis - Must have a cab - not your own car. Must use a meter, not an app with GPS. Talk to disbatch to get your next rider assignment. Must have a special taxi license which is carefully controlled by the city and only a certain amount are allowed.

Uber - Anyone can be a driver - no limit on number in a city. use your own car! All ordering and pricing done with an app! Just pass a background check.

As a rider - would you rather use an app to call a clean car to pick you up in 5-10 mins? or call 1-800-TAXI-CAB to speak to a dispatcher to wait 30 mins for a dirty cab? You can see why Uber is so popular. at least now many taxi companies have apps - thanks to Uber forcing their hand.

Liberals prefer the taxi-cab model because they control the drivers, they control the pricing. Conservatives believe the regulation should be about safety. You passed a background check and have a safe car? Good enough.

Everyone prefers the Uber model except taxi drivers and politicians who want control. (you should read about the corruption and under-handed deals surrounding those coveted taxi-cab licenses - they can sell for over $100k in big cities)
California is expert at helping out small groups of people at the expense of the majority (see rent control for another example).

 

[Lew Zealand]

you have to be careful of how you say it. California is losing people who have lived there for a long time.
They are very very slowly increasing population because of immigration. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-population-growth-20190501-story.html
Considering immigration and births, the only way to keep growth at about 0% (where it is now) is for many people to leave.

My family resides in the Phoenix area - and all four quadrants surrounding the city itself (still technically PHX metro) are FLOODING with people from Illinois & California. People are escaping poor economies and horrible policy making (I.e. taxes, corruption) for AZ.

I have heard this straight from the lips of the people living in my housing addition there. So yes, people ARE leaving CA due to the trainwreck the state is, in addition to one of it’s other delinquent brothers, Illinois.

That's nothing new. It's been happening for over 40 years and Vegas is the same way. When you get enough $ out of your CA house, move to NV/AZ/OR and buy something in the temporary boonies for 1/3 the price.

 

[gamerk2]

Work for who? They don't seem to be working for the executives and the share holders. Uber lost like $5 billion last quarter. It works great for the people who want rides and people who want to be drivers. You can ride when you want, where you want. You can work when you want for how long as you want.

Liberals don't like Uber though. They prefer the taxi-cab model. do a comparison....
Taxis - Must have a cab - not your own car. Must use a meter, not an app with GPS. Talk to disbatch to get your next rider assignment. Must have a special taxi license which is carefully controlled by the city and only a certain amount are allowed.

Uber - Anyone can be a driver - no limit on number in a city. use your own car! All ordering and pricing done with an app! Just pass a background check.

As a rider - would you rather use an app to call a clean car to pick you up in 5-10 mins? or call 1-800-TAXI-CAB to speak to a dispatcher to wait 30 mins for a dirty cab? You can see why Uber is so popular. at least now many taxi companies have apps - thanks to Uber forcing their hand.

Liberals prefer the taxi-cab model because they control the drivers, they control the pricing. Conservatives believe the regulation should be about safety. You passed a background check and have a safe car? Good enough.

Everyone prefers the Uber model except taxi drivers and politicians who want control. (you should read about the corruption and under-handed deals surrounding those coveted taxi-cab licenses - they can sell for over $100k in big cities)
California is expert at helping out small groups of people at the expense of the majority (see rent control for another example).

Wrong, people like me dislike Uber because they are attempting to undercut the market by ignoring wage laws. That's why you are starting to see Uber/Lyft drivers fight for worker protections:

https://jalopnik.com/uber-and-lyft-pay-drivers-like-employees-to-protest-a-b-1836415195

And Ubers policies royally screw over it's "employees":

https://jalopnik.com/uber-and-lyft-take-a-lot-more-from-drivers-than-they-sa-1837450373

 

[bandit8623]

Wrong, people like me dislike Uber because they are attempting to undercut the market by ignoring wage laws. That's why you are starting to see Uber/Lyft drivers fight for worker protections:

https://jalopnik.com/uber-and-lyft-pay-drivers-like-employees-to-protest-a-b-1836415195

And Ubers policies royally screw over it's "employees":

https://jalopnik.com/uber-and-lyft-take-a-lot-more-from-drivers-than-they-sa-1837450373

Noone is forcing anyone to be a driver. Thats why I have zero sympathy. They can find a job at anytime.

 

[jpuroila]

"Gig Economy" is basically a new term being used to define "Underemployment" where a worker is working "full time" at multiple jobs but isn't earning health benefits or vacation time or even sick days.

Unscrupulous workers out there keep their employees working just short of being legally forced to provide these benefits (less than 40 hours for example).

California, not surprisingly is forcing businesses to reclassify them so the business will be forced to pay those benefits.

But that doesn't work.

Many of these Gig businesses have red balance sheets already.

Most of them absolutely can't afford - nor are constitutionally liable to pay benefits that weren't in the contract.

This is a reason states like California are out of control welfare states and losing so many citizens - especially job creators - to other states without such laws

This bill doesn't target companies that keep their employees under a certain number of hours. It's targeting companies like uber, that misclassify their main source of labor as contractors.

Problem is Uber is losing money. Like a lot of money every quarter

I might be sympathetic if Uber hadn't repeatedly and consistently flaunted breaking the law wherever they operate. Uber shouldn't even be in business any more.

 

[m3tavision]

Work for who? They don't seem to be working for the executives and the share holders. Uber lost like $5 billion last quarter. It works great for the people who want rides and people who want to be drivers. You can ride when you want, where you want. You can work when you want for how long as you want.

Liberals don't like Uber though. They prefer the taxi-cab model. do a comparison....
Taxis - Must have a cab - not your own car. Must use a meter, not an app with GPS. Talk to disbatch to get your next rider assignment. Must have a special taxi license which is carefully controlled by the city and only a certain amount are allowed.

Uber - Anyone can be a driver - no limit on number in a city. use your own car! All ordering and pricing done with an app! Just pass a background check.

As a rider - would you rather use an app to call a clean car to pick you up in 5-10 mins? or call 1-800-TAXI-CAB to speak to a dispatcher to wait 30 mins for a dirty cab? You can see why Uber is so popular. at least now many taxi companies have apps - thanks to Uber forcing their hand.

Liberals prefer the taxi-cab model because they control the drivers, they control the pricing. Conservatives believe the regulation should be about safety. You passed a background check and have a safe car? Good enough.

Everyone prefers the Uber model except taxi drivers and politicians who want control. (you should read about the corruption and under-handed deals surrounding those coveted taxi-cab licenses - they can sell for over $100k in big cities)
California is expert at helping out small groups of people at the expense of the majority (see rent control for another example).

Correct, for Uber/lyft anybody can be a driver. That is the problem. They can use any car (inspected?)and have any insurance they want.

How does any of that protect the customer..?


My suggestion, take a bus and stop pretending that you can afford to be chauffeured around. Taxi's are there for when you are away from your car, not in leu of it. Understand, if you are not 18 you can't use Uber because you can't own a credit card.

Uber is an App that is all, using the People to do all the earning. Why pay Uber executives, when you can pay Drivers?

 

[dragonherder]

Okay then if they are employees uber and co get to dictate their hours, set their schedules, and make sure they are working and only get paid an hourly rate not based on how many rides they actually get. The tips can still exist, but lets be real here they are contractors that are setting their own hours etc.

 

[captaincranky]

OK, let's face it, all the uber snobby Uber drivers, are now whining to be turned into the taxi drivers, they so much despised at the onset of this great company. But yet, when faced with the added mileage that outstrips their car leasing limits, and as the repair costs, hours worked, and tax bills start to mount,, it's "hey folks, this is a real job, and we're real employees".

What did y'all think was going to happen? Did you think that taxi drivers we're summarily ripping people off for their ride costs?

The truth of the matter is, none of these crap "gigs", were ever supposed to be "careers" in the first place. Delivering pizzas, driving for Lyft and Uber, along with the "barf bag on wheels", food delivery services which are springing up in scores, is sh!t you did once upon a time after school, to help you pay tuition to junior college, or for beer and pot money.

The only thing I get out of this trend, is that it's sad commentary on the American economy that real jobs just aren't around anymore, in spite of which, we American spendthrifts are getting lazier and dumber by the day.

As for Uber "running in the red", WTF do they do with their money? Or more accurately, in which executive's pocket has it been, "mislaid"?

I know I say the most awful things. I'm always looking gift horses in the mouth. But still, remember that your first food delivery is free, the same as your first online bet, that 1st bag of heroin, and your first copy of Windows 10, were all "free" as well.

 

[neeyik]

As for Uber "running in the red", WTF do they do with their money?

They've been spending a lot of money on research projects into autonomous vehicles:

https://qz.com/1599134/uber-secures-much-needed-1-billion-investment-for-self-driving-cars-unit/

In 2018, Uber spent $457 million on its autonomous vehicle unit, the Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), up 19% from the previous year. From 2016 through 2018, all the years for which Uber broke out its research and development spending in its IPO filing, the company poured $1.1 billion into ATG, or roughly 30% of its entire research and development budget.

Now the likes of Nvidia spend around $300 million per quarter on R&D, but their revenue was just under $12 billion last year, and net income was in the order of something like $500 million per quarter - I.e. they're only spending on R&D what they can actually afford. Uber just seems like a ponzi scheme in comparison.

 

[gamerk2]

Noone is forcing anyone to be a driver. Thats why I have zero sympathy. They can find a job at anytime.

A: Many of them can't.

B: Because Uber is illegally undercutting cab drivers, they are also putting many others out of work. The end result is more people with less money; literally no one aside from Uber execs comes out ahead.

 

[Todd Sauve]

the taxi biz was so overpriced and even more crooked than what uber is now. its improved actually.

Well, it isn't the drivers who are getting rich. Insurance companies and company owners? Most definitely!