US elections: Uber & Co. await the result in California
It cost them more than $ 200 million, but Uber and the others have so far won an important vote in California that will allow them to avoid offering labor rights to their drivers.
With just over 80 percent of constituencies reporting, Proposition 22 is leading by 58 percent to 42 percent.
The move will mean that Uber, and other trucking companies, will be exempt from a California law designed to force companies to turn workers into employees, with health benefits, vacation pay, unemployment, etc.
Under Proposition 22, businesses will offer limited health care options and a minimum earnings guarantee, and drivers will remain “self-employed.”
If Proposition 22 wins, drivers and delivery men will no longer get access to benefits and protections.
Labor organizations that had opposed Proposition 22 conceded the contest shortly before midnight. In a statement, the groups reiterated their view that Uber, Lyft and others were exploiting workers.
“Contract workers didn’t lose today, democracy did,” said a spokesperson for Gig Workers Rising. “When corporations spend hundreds of millions of dollars to write their own labor laws … that is a loss to our system of government and workers.”
The company will now have the momentum to take measures similar to Proposition 22 to other parts of the US where it faces similar scrutiny.
US elections: Uber & Co. await the result in California
