How Tech’s Lobbyists Are Using the Pandemic to Make Gains

He hopes that after the immediate shock of the virus passes, he said, the government and industry will look at lessons in how the government can increasingly do work in the cloud.

“I think this is a tremendous opportunity,” he said.

Uber, too, has cast a long-waged policy fight as newly urgent in light of the coronavirus. For years, the ride-hailing company, whose drivers are contractors, has resisted calls to make them full-time employees. Federal law does not require companies to give contractors certain benefits and protections, like health insurance, which can be expensive for companies to provide.

Last year, California lawmakers approved a measure meant to provide employment protections to contractors, over the continued objections of Uber, Lyft and others.

In recent days, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, has said the virus crisis shows the importance of creating a new classification for workers who are neither employees nor contractors, something the company pushed for before the pandemic took shape.

Last week, Mr. Khosrowshahi wrote a letter to President Trump, calling for the so-called third way approach. He has also spoken to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, since the outbreak began.

Privately, Uber has gone further. The company has asked lawmakers to shield it from lawsuits over how its drivers are classified if it provides the drivers with medical supplies or compensation during the pandemic, according to a mid-March email obtained by The New York Times. A labor lawyer recently asked courts in California and Massachusetts to reclassify Uber and Lyft drivers as employees in light of the crisis.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/technology/virus-tech-lobbyists-gains.html