Uber and Lyft's big win
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2020
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When they cast their votes for US president, Californians also approved a change to the law allowing gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft to keep treating their drivers as contractors, not employees. The move could have major consequences for the gig economy. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Geoff Vetter from the Yes to 22 campaign, which fought for the law change, and to Veena Dubal, law professor at the University of California, who argues the vote is a disaster for workers' rights. Dave Lee, Silicon Valley correspondent for the Financial Times, tells us what it means for the future of companies like Uber.
(Photo: Uber and Lyft logos, Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. I'm Manuel Saragossa. |
| 0:08.1 | Coming up, the other vote, one you may have missed this week and one that changes the rights |
| 0:13.1 | of gig economy workers in California. For workers in the United States, this is a huge loss. |
| 0:19.7 | It's really, I think, one of the most dangerous laws that I have |
| 0:23.9 | seen for working people in my own lifetime. A new law in California allows the likes of Uber and Lyft |
| 0:30.2 | to keep treating their workers not as employees, but as independent contractors. I think what this is |
| 0:36.0 | done is set a model for other states and |
| 0:39.2 | potentially the federal government to follow in, to maintain that flexibility, ensure that |
| 0:43.8 | drivers can choose when, where and how they want to work. It could even become a model well |
| 0:48.6 | beyond U.S. borders. That's all here in Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:56.6 | We lost today, and so did democracy. |
| 0:59.7 | Terry Murphy there is an Uber driver, |
| 1:02.1 | and no, she's not talking about the US presidential elections. |
| 1:06.0 | Rather, she's among California's many gig economy workers |
| 1:09.0 | who opposed a proposed new state law about their |
| 1:12.1 | working conditions, a law called Prop 22 or Prop 22. This week, those gig economy workers lost |
| 1:19.6 | their fight. Californians, urged on by Uber and other tech firms, voted in favor of Prop |
| 1:25.5 | 22. Proposition 22 is an illegitimate corporate power grab. |
| 1:30.3 | And like every employee, we want to work in a safe environment. We want to have fair wages and we want |
| 1:35.3 | to be free from discrimination and with the opportunity to unionize. And under this proposition, |
| 1:40.3 | it will not allow that. Effectively, this new Californian law allows gig economy companies like Uber, Lyft, and many others, to keep treating their workers not as employees, but as independent contractors. |
| 1:52.3 | There's nothing flexible about cutting wages and health care for workers or weakening safety regulations or stripping away workers' rights, or putting drivers and riders |
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