Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates spent more than $ 200 million on Proposition 22, the most expensive ballot box in California history, which successfully convinced voters that they would not be able to pay and protect their workers properly if they were forced to be them as a full-time employee – at least not without reducing the service or significantly increasing the price you would pay.
But now the dust has settled, every single economic enterprise the supported Prop 22 increased the prices anyway. Instacart was the last to join the bait-and-switch today, according to the San Francisco Chroniclesee Carolyn Said, which told us earlier in January exactly how many of these companies California is asking to pay worker benefits: $ 1- $ 2 per meal with Uber, $ 1.50 per ride with Grubhub, up to $ 1.50 per ride with Lyft, and a whole additional 3 percent increase per order with Instacart (for a total of 8 percent, although this does not yet apply to the company’s “Express” subscription plan). Postmen charge as much as $ 2.50 extra per order, our sister site Eater report.
Instacart threatened price increases if they lost Prop 22.
Now that they have won, they are raising it anyway.
Gig corporations have no shame.
We can not allow them to make this terrible law known to other states. pic.twitter.com/FAF9LJ91yA
– Gig Workers Rising (@GigWorkersRise) 19 February 2021
Instead of paying their workers, gig companies pumped $ 200 million to pass prop 22, claiming that protecting the workers guaranteed under the law would force them to increase costs and pass it on to customers. by giving. Now guess what? They did it anyway. It’s honestly disgusting at this point. https://t.co/tMH2jBjWPE
– California Labor Federation (@CaliforniaLabor) 14 December 2020
Just to be clear, these companies explicitly urged voters to support Prop 22 prevent higher prices. Uara CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said publicly that prices will rise between 20 and 40 percent in major California cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, and to smaller towns to double that. In the official election guide for California, which is accompanied by the consent of the ballot papers, supporters of the bill warned that there will be ‘significantly higher consumer prices’ if Prop 22 does not pass.
Businesses like Uber and Lyft have succeeded in part because of the scare tactics and by appealing to voters that they can help workers get more protection and higher pay in this way, instead of possibly getting the job done. endanger. (It probably did not hurt that the application companies bombarded drivers and passengers with messages using their own programs, causing a lawsuit from drivers claiming that Uber was bullying them.)
But there is still an open question whether Prop 22 helps workers, no matter how much we pay more to make it happen. The guardian reported yesterday that some managers claim that the payment has actually dropped and that the work has become less reliable.
In the UK today, Uber has lost a five-year legal battle over a similar case, which will give workers there a guaranteed minimum wage, paid holiday and other protection (although they will not necessarily be ’employees’). But here in the United States, where Prop 22 passes, it has opened the door for other parts of the country to also replace many ordinary workers with contractors. Bloomberg has a good piece to read about what that future might look like, for better or for worse.