Coronavirus is making clear what we already knew.
Cardell Calloway was at an Uber Eats Driver Appreciation Day pizza party when he realized he was getting screwed. It was just before Christmas 2017, and Calloway, who spent up to 80 hours a week delivering food for various gig companies including Uber’s food takeout service, had suspected he and his fellow drivers might be getting a bonus. Instead, an Uber Eats representative told the 40 or so people who’d gathered at a Southern California pizza parlor that the company’s pay model was changing.
No reason to worry, the rep explained: Yes, drivers would be paid less per delivery, but this would mean more deliveries, so more money. “We pull out our calculators,” Calloway recalls. “We’re barely making $8 an hour.” Caught in a flurry of anxious questions from the drivers, the rep got up to order more pizza and never returned.
Uber Eats could leave Calloway and his colleagues hanging because, officially, it wasn’t their employer. In the company’s view, they were just independent contractors who happened to use its app to connect with people who wanted takeout. Never mind that it established how much they were paid per trip or that its business would crumble without them: Because they weren’t real employees, Uber owed them none of the benefits of a real job, like overtime pay, workers’ comp, health insurance, or paid sick leave…
To read the entire article from Mother Jones, click https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/gig-workers-are-more-undervalued-than-ever-before-tech-companies-are-spending-like-crazy-to-keep-it-that-way/
