Technological innovation in the context of profit-maximizing businesses has always been about displacing, de-skilling and/or cheapening labor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_ unemployment; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deskilling). So when financier Mr. Carolan suggests that Proposition 22 will generate “new business models” in fields like nursing, executive assistance, tutoring, programming, restaurant work and design, you can be sure that such “models” will result in greater employment precariousness and instability, declining worker incomes and workers increasingly competing against each other in a race to the bottom. All of it is designed to, and focused primarily on, expand profits for those who don’t do the direct work (https://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/santa-clara-co-to-probe-covid-related-workplace-safety/#comment-1692359).

The obvious remedy is to build greater solidarity among gig workers and workers in general, to re-double union organizing efforts and to challenge the neo-liberal business narratives propagated by the likes of the Bay Area Council and their political shills in government (https://gigworkersrising.org/; https://www.siliconvalleydebug.org/about; https://calaborfed.org/union-organizing/how_to_form_a_union_where_you_work/).

Let’s remember that Uber produces billions of dollars of negative profits every year (ie, big losses). The only reason they have such ‘wealth’ is because they are backed by Saudi Arabian investors. A big investor is SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which is partly owned by Saudis. Here they are talking about moving their HQ to Abu Dhabi.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/10/softbank-vision-fund-move-from-london-to-abu-dhabi.html

“The initiative promised 1.2 times the state’s minimum wage, and health insurance to workers who drive at least 15 hours a week. . . That means workers like Damabi, who works 10 hours a day, or 50 hours a week, may only have half that time counted toward qualifying for those benefits.”

Ummm, half of 50hrs/wk is 25hrs/wk and more than the 15hrs/wk threshold for the benefits, so why is not Damabi getting the benefits. Something is stated wrong or someone is lying. Maybe someone is just trying to sell media “news” or get attention for a pet advocacy position.

It is too bad that good news does not sell and humans seem to love stirring up conflict, pain and suffering.

This is the Liberal Dem playbook – promise the world, compassion, equality, free this and free that…then can’t possibly deliver. Then ask for “four more years!”