Why We Should Be Very Skeptical of Uber's New "Portable Benefits" Scheme
NOVANEWS
Lipstick on a Gig: Why We Should Be Very Skeptical of Uber's New "Portable Benefits" Scheme
By Julianne Tveten, In These Times
An iPhone with an Uber application login screen on October 25, 2017. (Photo:Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In 2016, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) filed a class-action lawsuit against Uber, claiming the rideshare giant denied them benefits, even though they were full-time workers. The company accomplished this, the suit charged, by classifying workers who spent "six or seven" days a week "laboring for 12-plus-hour shifts" as independent contractors.
These grievances will likely sound familiar. Uber is widely reviled for its instrumental role in creating a tenuous 21st-century gig economy fueled by a precariat of contracted dri...