Hi-Phi Nation: The Problem with Gig Work

Slate Culture

Slate Podcasts

Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Willy and Heidi were both gig workers for Shipt, the fast-delivery app for groceries or same-day shopping. In 2020, they both realised: the pay algorithm had changed. Now, they couldn’t tell what a job would pay, or whether it would earn or lose them money. Instead of just taking it, they decided to fight back. In the gig economy, companies like Shipt, Instacart, and UberEats all use black box pay algorithms to try and get workers to accept gigs but hide information from them to do so. Early in the pandemic, a rag tag group of gig workers tried to resist, and found someone at MIT to help them. Host Barry Lam talks to them about the steps they took, and political philosopher Daniel Halliday (University of Melbourne) talks about the differences between wage labor and freelance labor and why he thinks the biggest gig economy companies are morally suspect. Then, we talk the future of regulation and worker-owned apps and delivery platforms. Guests include Drew Ambrogi (coworker.org), Dan Calacci (MIT). This is an in-depth, longform version of a story originally done for WNYC studio’s Radiolab in their Gigaverse episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Nike.
0:04.2	It's packed to school season, and you and your child might be feeling a bit anxious.
0:09.0	As a parent, you're the best team mate for your mini-me, and together you can use sport
0:13.2	to help overcome anxiety.
0:15.6	Try something new as a family and celebrate even the little wins you achieve on the journey.
0:19.9	Create long-lasting memories that will take your kids from class to court and beyond.
0:25.5	Go to Nike.com, Ford slash Kids, to get school ready.
0:30.8	A show where philosophy and reality meet.
0:35.4	From...
0:36.4	Sweet, sweet, sweet.
0:38.8	Heidi was an insurance agent for 16 years in Florida.
0:43.6	In a region called the Treasure Coast, about 125 miles north of Miami,
0:49.4	along the Atlantic shore.
0:51.6	It's a little bit of paradise with rivers and estuaries and palm trees.
0:57.2	Today's story starts with her journey from full-time employee to gig worker.
1:04.8	Really, what kind of changed was motherhood for the third time.
1:08.9	Basically, I drove an hour away to North Palm Beach to my office.
1:14.6	When I had my daughter, I don't know, something inside of me changed, and you know,
1:18.8	you're like, I can't be this far away.
1:20.8	Heidi isn't her real name, by the way.
1:23.6	She decided to use a pseudonym for reasons that will become clear later.
1:28.9	Meanwhile, around the same time in Denton, Texas, a suburb outside of Dallas,
	...

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