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by kartan 3804 days ago
I think that this article explains why that is not so good: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/applo...

"There is a place in this world for the sharing economy, and it could be a beautiful thing, but where I live these companies run the show. There are no rules. The apps are breaking the spirit of the law by abusing the independent contractor loophole and actively encourage (e.g., through dubious car placards) actually breaking the law. But it will only ever be the workers, not the companies, who are punished."

The problem with this companies is that they have traditional workers but they are hired as one man companies. So the workers lose all their rights, all their benefits and all their negotiation power. I work on the tech industry, as probably most of the readers, and I understand how apps works. I don't think that the apps are a problem, but removing the rights of thousands of workers is not a good thing. The article that I linked explains it better than I can here.
1 comments
caskance 3804 days ago
If those rights were really so important, why shouldn't independent contractors have them too? If the rights are not important when dealing with an interchangeable service provider like a driving contractor, then Uber is right not to grant them.
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kartan 3803 days ago
Each kind of contract makes sense in different situations. There are already laws that cover this situations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misclassification_of_employees... And there are precedents in the UK for this on Uber: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/11/uber-drive... All this app companies that people work for like employees but are classified as contractors are breaking the law. And I think that, as the abuse is growing, this laws should be revised and improved to cover all the cases.
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caskance 3803 days ago
Yes, it should. That's what my entire comment says.

Each kind of contract is used in different kinds of situations. That doesn't mean it makes sense to be that way. Much of that is antiquated tradition. The kind of thinking that gave rise to Uber in the first place.

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