Photo: President Joe Biden speaking to America
Well, one thing for certain is, Joe Biden is a bad speaker. He's a president that has some of the lowest approval ratings in history.
Shockingly, Joe Biden is potentially doing something good, and putting an end to the madness and horrible ways that Uber, Lyft, and other gig companies treat their most prized possessions, their drivers. Uber, Lyft and Doordash for years have relied on drivers to do all the dirty work for their company, and paid them shockingly low rates, and potentially illegally low pay under minimum wage. Because, when you take into account gas, wear and tear, vehicle maintenance, and car depreciation, most drivers make less than minimum wage after expenses. How do you get millions of Americans to work for less than minimum wage, no benefits, no overtime pay, no paid sick leave, and no paid vacation time or paid time off? Well, you start a company like Uber or Lyft that heavily relies on contract workers instead of employees. We've already seen the government try to step in AB5 in California and what happened? Uber, Lyft Doordash came together to spend $90 million campaigning against it! Because, they knew, that spending $90 million would be way less than if they actually had to pay drivers a fair wage. Matter of fact, $90 million would be pennies compared to the billions of dollars owed to drivers if you take into account a minimum wage, overtime pay (think of all the drivers working over 40 hours per week), etc.
And, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and other major apps have the audacity to deactivate drivers without any warning whatsoever! They just listen to the customer complaint and fire the driver, leaving them without any pay for the rest of the week! Normal companies don't do this, and there are actually laws that prevent this!
Luckily, there's a way to potentially get reactivated now. Driverly was created to give gig workers a voice, and helps drivers get reactivated who have been deactivated in the past. With a Driverly Premium membership, gig workers get access to a variety of features like tips to earn more, new driver education, reactivation services, and much more. While it isn't guaranteed, Driverly has helped many drivers who have been deactivated get their accounts back up and running again. To see more about Driverly and their benefits for gig workers, feel free to browse around the site.
So, what is the Biden Labor Proposal? Let's take a look.
Essentially, this labor law would make it so all of these gig apps like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, PostMates, Grubhub, etc. would have to classify their drivers as employees, or at least provide them with overtime pay, minimum wage, paid sick leave, and a whole lot more. You see, America has labor laws that make it so every American gets these benefits to live a happy and healthy life. And not only that, but its for the economy's sake as well. What happens when you have nearly a third of Americans working for gig apps or the gig economy and they can barely afford rent and food? There are a growing number of people who aren't going out and spending money, they aren't contributing to the economy as much, and Joe Biden wants to change that.
Uber's CEO, Dara Khosrowsahi, who is worth an estimated $250 million. This rich man's career is reliant on drivers working for extremely low rates.
Now, the Labor proposal is just a proposal, and nothing is final yet, but it seems like something may happen. And, if this does pass, and I wouldn't be surprised if it did, because it most likely will go to Congress to be discussed, I think people will advocate for drivers and everyday Americans who are being taken advantage of. And also, Chuck Schumer is the Senate Majority Leader, and he is a progressive Liberal who typically advocates for the lower income people. So, if this law does get passed, Uber, Lyft, and all these gig apps would have a really hard time at surviving and would potentially kill their business model which involves underpaying their workers.
Again, quick reminder, if you have been deactivated by Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash, Amazon Flex, or any other major gig apps, Driverly may be able to help you. With a Driverly Premium Membership, you get access to a variety of perks and benefits to help you on your journey as a gig worker. New driver education, tips for tax preparation, reactivation services, exclusive content for gig workers, and much more.
Joe Biden and his entourage like Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, and all these other Liberal Democrats want to help the working class. So, what does this mean for now? Well the Labor Proposal is just a labor proposal, and it's the beginning of a 45 day "comment period" where the gig apps can leave their comments on the matter, before it would be brought up in Congress. Make sure to stay tuned for updates on our site because we will be making any updates to this matter here.
This article was written by the Driverly team, who specializes in helping gig workers who have been deactivated, helping new drivers earn more income, prepare for taxes, and much more.
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