Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-11-02)

◼ TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek November 2, 2020

20

at 46% and 42%, respectively, with the rest of

respondents saying they’re unsure.

Gig platforms are highlighting worker freedoms

that they argue come with contractor status. They

say Prop 22 will allow workers to keep their flexibil-

ity, while also introducing extra measures such as

health insurance stipends and regular background

checks and safety courses for drivers. Most import-

ant, it will maintain a way for hard-up workers to

get quick cash during a job-crushing pandemic.

Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dara

Khosrowshahi describes Prop 22 as the “best of two

worlds.” Uber estimates that redefining workers

as employees could double the price of rides and

may force the company to reduce its driver base

in California. That’s assuming the companies stay—

Uber and its rival Lyft Inc. have previously threat-

ened to shut down in California, or parts of it, if

they’re forced to change.

Drivers and labor advocates on the “no” side,

which has raised only $20 million to promote its

views, say the ballot initiative is a way for well-

funded tech companies to buy themselves favorable

legislation and fend off related lawsuits. They argue

that Prop 22’s pledged benefits are tied to driving

time, which doesn’t account for the hours drivers

spend waiting for a ping, shuttling to and from more

lucrative cities to work, and disinfecting their cars.

The companies get an advantage from drivers

who are waiting to pick up passengers so that the

service can be deemed “on-demand,” says Kurt

Nelson, an Uber engineer who wrote an op-ed

against Prop 22 in October—disagreeing with his

employer’s view. “Workers are subsidizing the

product with their free labor,” he wrote. If those

workers had to be paid for waiting time, it would

limit the number of drivers on the road at any

given moment.

If California voters reject the measure, “the com-

pany will have a powerful economic interest to put

as much of the work hours into the fewest num-

ber of drivers possible because payroll taxes are

per head, not per income,” says Bill Hamm, an eco-

nomics consultant with Berkeley Research Group.

The barrage of “Yes on 22” messages from gig

platforms has become more frenzied as the elec-

tion nears. Uber’s in-app map shows little “Yes

on 22” bubbles hovering over the car icon, and

DoorDash Inc. said in a filing that it spent $100,000

distributing takeout paper bags adorned with “Yes

on 22” to restaurants that use its service. “I choose

to be an independent contractor. It provides the

Dollars Devoted to Prop 22

“Yes” campaigners have outspent the “no” side by about 10 to 1

▼Donationsfor Prop 22 ... ... andagainst▼

DoorDash

$48.1m

Lyft

$48.9m

Instacart

$31.6m

Postmates

$13.3m

Uber

$57.3m

①Inter-

national

Brotherhood

ofTeamsters

$1.5m

②SEIU

Local 721

CTW, CLC

Issues &

Initiatives

$1.5m

③ California

Labor

Federation,

AFL-CIO

$1.1m

Other

$109k

DATA: CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE, AS OF OCT. 26

“Why would

you kill an

industry that

employs

so many

individuals?”

①

②

③