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posted by janrinok on Wednesday January 01 2020, @03:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the goes-for-popcorn dept.

Uber sues California to block gig-worker law going into effect this week:

Ride-hailing service Uber filed a lawsuit Monday against the state of California, alleging a landmark gig-worker law set to go into effect is unconstitutional. The lawsuit seeks to block AB 5, which has the potential to upend gig economy companies such as Uber and Lyft.

The complaint, which also lists Postmates as a plaintiff, argues that the law unfairly targets workers and companies in the on-demand economy, treating them differently than traditional employees and threatening their flexibility.

In September, California became the first state to pass a law aimed at protecting gig worker rights, which forces Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Postmates and other gig economy companies reclassify their workers as employees. Using independent contractors allows the companies to shift many costs to the workers.

The lawsuit says the law arbitrarily exempts dozens of occupations, including direct salespeople, travel agents, grant writers, commercial fishermen and construction truck drivers, among others.

"There is no rhyme or reason to these nonsensical exemptions, and some are so ill-defined or entirely undefined that it is impossible to discern what they include or exclude," says the complaint (see below), which was filed in a Los Angeles federal court.

Postmates and Uber v State of California on Scribd


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  • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Wednesday January 01 2020, @02:11PM (13 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 01 2020, @02:11PM (#938193) Journal
    If anyone wants to see some genuine post-capitalism empire dying, this is how you get it. What problem was here that this law needs to fix? It's an elevation of ideology over peoples' livelihoods. California is a big state, it can handle a lot of dysfunction, but eventually this sort of thing will kill it.
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 01 2020, @03:05PM (12 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 01 2020, @03:05PM (#938220)

    You're an idiot. Anything that can be done to destroy the gig economy is great. These aren't people that are just looking for drinking money and these aren't businesses that only need the service for a few hours on a sporadic basis. These are people who don't necessarily have many other options to support themselves and companies who mostly don't have employees.

    If you want to look at nails in the coffin, look at the Trump tax cuts and the routine refusal of politicians to take the common sense step of taxing the people with money to fund government programs. They cut taxes on the wealthy and then cut services to the poor as if that makes any sense. People like you will be some of the first up against the wall when the revolution comes. And there's a revolution coming, if nothing is done to ensure that everybody has the ability to feed themselves and that anybody with a job is making enough money to have a decent life.

    • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Wednesday January 01 2020, @03:53PM (5 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 01 2020, @03:53PM (#938238) Journal

      These aren't people that are just looking for drinking money and these aren't businesses that only need the service for a few hours on a sporadic basis.

      Except, of course, for when it is just that.

      These are people who don't necessarily have many other options to support themselves and companies who mostly don't have employees.

      So let's get rid of their jobs and make their lives worse. Why do you hate poor people so much?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 01 2020, @06:09PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 01 2020, @06:09PM (#938304)

        Why do you hate poor people so much? These lies really aren't helping anybody. While we're at it, why don't we just bring back slave labor as clearly the slaves were happier having the work than being beaten to death. Oh wait, it's only humane to starve people to death or die of exposure because they didn't earn enough money to afford food and shelter.

        People like you are sick and need to be treated. Yes, there will be some job losses, but you'll also have an increased number of jobs that pay a decent wage, the taxi companies won't have to compete with what is barely better than slave labor and the economy will benefit from additional workers that can afford to pay for the basic necessities of life.

        It never ceases to amaze me how much mental gymnastics you'll go through in order to rationalize why corporations should be entitled to rob and exploit the people, just so that the government doesn't have any control. Fascism is a terrible system to live under, even worse than actual communism.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 02 2020, @01:02AM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 02 2020, @01:02AM (#938441) Journal

          People like you are sick and need to be treated. Yes, there will be some job losses, but you'll also have an increased number of jobs that pay a decent wage, the taxi companies won't have to compete with what is barely better than slave labor and the economy will benefit from additional workers that can afford to pay for the basic necessities of life.

          I suggest we start my treatment with a huge heaping of clue for you. Blowing off continued job loss as "there will be some" ignores that the "increased number" will woefully inadequate and that sectors of the economy do more important things than merely have jobs at a decent wage. You're harming anyone who needs ride hailing to get somewhere.

          As to the "barely better than slave labor", as an Uber/Lyft you can choose when to start and stop working instantly. No genuine slavery would allow you to just drop things, perhaps permanently, whenever you felt like it.

          Further, I noticed this Freudian slip where you started talking about taxi companies not competing rather than taxi drivers not competing. A stagnant cartel is a shitty end state and you really can do better than to be some dim-witted pawn for their propaganda.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 01 2020, @06:10PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 01 2020, @06:10PM (#938305)

        So let's get rid of their jobs and make their lives worse.

        That depends on how elastic the demand is for taxi drivers. It might raise prices, but that might be unrelated to how many people are needed to drive other people around.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 02 2020, @12:24AM (1 child)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 02 2020, @12:24AM (#938426) Journal

          That depends on how elastic the demand is for taxi drivers.

          So how elastic is the demand so that we may talk about it? My take is that there's an inelastic core combined with a huge pool of opportunistic travelers who can find other means to travel, if the taxi ride is too expensive.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 03 2020, @11:26PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 03 2020, @11:26PM (#939277)

            I guess I'm part of the inelastic core then. I usually prefer to drive, but on the occasional times I take a taxi there really aren't any other options. I would still take the taxi even if it cost twice as much.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 01 2020, @06:18PM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 01 2020, @06:18PM (#938309)

      (in reply to khallow) You're an idiot.

      No. he's actually quite intelligent. The problem is that he is a feudalist. His new aristocracy is the rich, and his subservient attitude is that they have the god-given right to trample the peasants under the wheels of their carriages. In fact, the peasants should organize themselves so that the fatter ones are lying in the pot-holes, so that their betters have a smoother ride.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 02 2020, @01:05AM (4 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 02 2020, @01:05AM (#938443) Journal

        The problem is that he is a feudalist.

        Sorry, you're not even on the right planet with that accusation. And gig economy businesses where contractors/employers come and go at will are pretty damn far from a system where the labor is tied down to a plot of land.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 02 2020, @03:46AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 02 2020, @03:46AM (#938485)

          You do have a genius for missing the point. Your feudalism is your craven bootlicking attitude towards the aristocracy, not the literal tying of a peasant to a plot of land.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 02 2020, @04:07AM (2 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 02 2020, @04:07AM (#938489) Journal

            Your feudalism is your craven bootlicking attitude towards the aristocracy, not the literal tying of a peasant to a plot of land.

            Then it's not feudalism. Carry on.

            • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 02 2020, @08:02PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 02 2020, @08:02PM (#938777)

              Huh, finally you admit to being a little bitch for rich people. Didn't think you had the capacity for honest reflection.

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 03 2020, @12:54AM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 03 2020, @12:54AM (#938892) Journal
                Defeating an argument in context doesn't imply that I believe in the context.