RESEARCH: ‘I can’t keep doing this’: Gig Workers Say Pay Has Fallen After California’s Prop 22

[Prop. 22 has also threatened the jobs of musicians in California. COMBO is following this as similar rules may make their way to Colorado.] Weeks after Proposition 22 went into effect in California and exempted some major tech firms from fully complying with labor laws, workers for rideshare and delivery apps in the state claim poor working conditions have persisted and pay has decreased.

Drivers and labor groups opposed Prop 22, saying it would allow companies to sidestep their obligations to provide benefits and standard minimum wages to their workers even as they make billions of dollars. But the measure passed at the ballot box.

“It’s clear that as soon as Prop 22 passed, it was open season to start cutting my pay again,” said Peter Young, a rideshare driver for four years in Los Angeles. “I’m looking for other work. I can’t keep doing this at this pay. I’m doing food delivery right now. Everyone is ordering food online so there’s demand. It’s just that what they are choosing to pay me isn’t reliable any more and it’s getting lower.”

When the coronavirus pandemic started, Young switched from rideshare driving to relying on food delivery apps such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, and the Uber-owned Postmates. After Prop 22 passed, he claimed incentives offered to drivers ahead of the Prop 22 vote disappeared, and he has experienced cuts to his base pay amid unreliable fluctuations.
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Read the whole article here:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/18/uber-lyft-doordash-prop-22-drivers-california

[Thank you to Alex Teitz, http://www.femmusic.com, for contributing this article.]