Prominent labor experts have echoed this point, and it appears to have gained traction among unions in California, where a split within labor torpedoed a possible deal on gig work last year.
At the time, the state’s powerful building trades union opposed a compromise that California affiliates of the Teamsters and Service Employees International Union had discussed with the companies. Earlier this week, however, the president of the state building trades council, Robbie Hunter, confirmed through a spokeswoman that he is open to such a compromise if the Teamsters sign on.
But other activists and union officials remain deeply skeptical of settling for anything less than full employment rights, including Sean McGarvey, the president of the North America’s Building Trades Unions. Mr. McGarvey called gig work “a breeding ground for the underground economy” in an email.
Cherri Murphy, a Lyft driver and organizer with Gig Workers Rising, a group that opposed Prop. 22, said, “Drivers in California are riled up to ensure we get our fundamental rights met in a Prop. 22 world and that we keep fighting for protections equal to those granted to other workers.”
Some labor leaders and activists argue that in a world with bargaining rights but not employee status, workers would spend all their time negotiating to win the basic protections that the law already grants employees. The point of a union, they say, is to win additional benefits.
“A labor organization in this context is not going to get you to where a union normally gets workers,” Ms. Desai said. “If the new role of a labor organization is to get workers to just minimum wage, then, you know, what good are they?”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/business/economy/california-gig-workers-ballot-uber-lyft.html
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