Proposition 22 keeps workers for app-based companies like Uber and Lyft classified as independent contractors, but it also reveals deeper problems with contemporary labour markets.
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Articles on Gig workers
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The debate over how to classify gig workers pits flexibility against the higher incomes and benefits that come with being classified as an employee.
Workers say they love the freedom of platforms like Uber and TaskRabbit but find it hard to earn a livable wage. Cooperatives that give worker-owners a voice in how they are run offer a solution.
With the recession exposing more workers to the vagaries of gig work, it's more urgent than ever to close the legal loopholes that deny workers employment rights.
Delivery workers and others who ensure most people don't have to go outside for essential goods are creating what economic theorists call an uncompensated 'positive externality.'
Food delivery workers are now essential workers. But they're still not treated as employees.
A scholar of the American safety net explains how, through her own brother, she's getting a personal window into what it means to face COVID-19 as a worker in the gig economy.
If government and business collaborate with workers, a scholar of labor relations writes, current economic problems could get less severe, the recovery smoother and lasting prosperity more likely.
We need to see uberisation in the context of all forms of precarious and insecure work becoming more acceptable.
A growing number of jobs are becoming less stable, with fewer benefits and stagnating wages. This is taking a significant toll on the psychological health of workers.
The tensions between platforms and their workers can be better understood by studying the mutual expectations of both parties.
Many vulnerable workers aren't covered for work-related injuries and illness. Employment law is largely a federal matter while compensation schemes are state-run, but there's a way to fix the problem.
It isn't easy, but musicians build 'portfolio careers' by being adaptable, multiskilled and willing to learn, so they can pursue creative work that they believe in.
That the Fair Work Ombudsman brought a case against Foodora suggests its workers are most likely to be classified as employees. This could dissuade other platforms from offering similar benefits.
Top contributors
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Professor of Sociology, Boston College
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Professor of Employment Relations, Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Griffith University
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Associate professor, The University of Queensland
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Lecturer - Management and Organisations, UWA Business School, University of Western Australia
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Professor of Organization Studies, University of Technology Sydney
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Professor of Management, Co-Director of the MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research, MIT Sloan School of Management
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Lecturer (Academic Fellow) in Work and Organisational Studies, University of Sydney
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Professor, former Dean, & Director Elect., Grenoble École de Management (GEM)
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Etudiante PhD, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)
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Lecturer, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University
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Lecturer in Music, University of New England
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Professor, University of Technology Sydney
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Assistant Professor of Government, Cornell University
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Post-Doctoral Visitor, Department of Politics, York University, Canada
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Professor of Counseling Psychology, Boston College
