Politics-What's on your mind?

[Vincent]

fri DN
https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2020/11/13

[homoe]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election has entered a more dangerous phase as he stokes resistance and unrest among his supporters and spreads falsehoods aimed at undermining the integrity of the American voting system.

More than a week after President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner, Trump continues to block his successor’s transition, withholding intelligence briefings, critical information about the coronavirus pandemic and access to the vast machinery of government that Biden will soon oversee.

Some former top advisers to Trump have said that his refusal to cooperate is reckless and unwise. John F. Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, called it “crazy” on Friday. John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser who wrote a scathing memoir about his time in the administration, said the refusal “harms the country.” “Every day that he delays under the pretense that he’s simply asking for his legal remedies ultimately is to the country’s disadvantage,” Bolton said on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday morning.

[~ocean]

Trump is going to flee. He knows he lost. He can't live in the US a free man so he's going to flee after a violent act. Many will lose their lives . National Security along with world security are watching him and his children. I feel for Giuliani's children will have to lose their father He will either go with Trump or he will be a subject of Trump's fleeing. I dunno , maybe I'm writing my own movie in my head lol ~~ or ? lol oy vey . That insane mind of his is throwing up all these smoke screens by not conceding and false accusations for an exit only he knows how it will be. The whole time Trump is watching TV or reading tweets he is scheming , and pre meditating is deff. his forte'. I don't know if Trumps not attending the virus briefings is illegal not to do his job, and where is Mike Pence if the president isn't going . The pandemic was put in his hands.

[Orema]

What Happened in California Is a Cautionary Tale for Us All

A voter-approved measure strips gig workers of basic protections enjoyed by employees in other businesses.

By Terri Gerstein. Ms. Gerstein is the director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program.


An anti-Proposition 22 protest, last month.Credit...Mike Blake/Reuters

What happened in California? Despite the state’s liberal reputation, voters there last week approved Proposition 22, a ballot initiative exempting many gig companies from state workplace laws and stripping their workers of basic, essential protections.

Uber, Instacart, Lyft, DoorDash and other on-demand providers of ride-shares and food and grocery deliveries spent $200 million pushing the proposal, an astounding sum that workers and their allies couldn’t remotely hope to match. Not surprisingly, Californians were misled by an avalanche of claims about the proposal’s impact on workers. The measure, which takes effect next month, was approved with 58 percent of the vote.

Emboldened by the results in California, Uber and friends are apparently planning to take the show on the road. Potential targets could include Massachusetts or New Jersey, where state regulators have pursued them, or New York or Pennsylvania, where courts have rejected the argument by gig companies that workers run their own independent businesses. The rest of us need to understand what happened in California.

What was at stake with Proposition 22 was whether workers for app-based driver and delivery companies would be considered employees under California statutes, which like workplace laws nationwide, cover only employees, or whether they should be classified as independent contractors. Proponents argued that requiring gig companies to follow current laws would badly damage their on-demand business model and result in longer wait times, higher prices and the loss of countless jobs. These were the same bleak prognostications gig companies made about the minimum wage for drivers that New York City enacted two years ago — predictions that did not come to pass.

What they didn’t say was that it was a terrible deal for workers. Allowing companies to write their own exemption from California law is also a cautionary tale for our fragile democracy.

Now, workers for these gig companies in California will not have a right, as employees do under state law, to paid sick days, overtime pay, unemployment insurance or a workplace covered by occupational safety and health laws.

How did these companies persuade California voters to approve this snatching of rights from thousands of vulnerable people? They used a deluge of money to convince voters that the proposal served workers’ interests by preserving their flexibility, ensuring a guaranteed level of pay and providing them with “portable” benefits.

Their claims were deceptive.

There’s no law prohibiting flexible or part-time hours for employees. Millions of employees already work part-time or flexible hours. Indeed, these particular industries (ride-share and food delivery) would be unlikely to hire only full-time employees because of the ebb and flow of customer demand.

Under Proposition 22, gig companies will have to pay their contractors 120 percent of the state or local minimum wage. In addition, companies must pay 30 cents per mile for gas and other vehicle-related expenses, adjusted annually for inflation.

But here’s the catch: Workers will be paid only for “engaged time,” defined as the time between receiving a request and dropping off the passenger. This is far less than what’s required under laws for employees, who must be compensated for all work time. About a third of drivers’ work time wouldn’t fall within this definition of “engaged time,” according to a study funded by the companies themselves. Workers will not be paid for time spent getting gas, waiting for a ride request or cleaning and sanitizing their cars.

Plus, 30 cents per mile doesn’t cover all vehicle-related expenses; by comparison, the Internal Revenue Service’s optional standard deductible rate for the costs of operating a car for business is 57.5 cents per mile. And as independent contractors, drivers won’t have a right to overtime pay for long workweeks, as is required for employees. In light of all this, a study by three research groups at the University of California, Berkeley, found that Uber and Lyft drivers would be guaranteed only an estimated $5.64 per hour. This no doubt would have surprised 40 percent of those in a survey of early voters who said they had supported Proposition 22 to ensure workers earned livable wages.

Finally there is the issue of benefits. Gig companies have used snazzy “portable” benefits language, but Proposition 22 gives workers crumbs compared to what it takes away. Companies must provide a “health care subsidy” to people working at least 15 hours of “engaged time.” At 30 weekly hours, the subsidy would average about $1.22 per hour, or just over $36.00 a week, according to one analysis, a paltry sum compared with what workers would receive as employees who are paid for all of their work time — not just two-thirds of it.

And of course, rights are meaningful only if they are enforceable. If a company pays less than what’s required, shaves hours or doesn’t pay the health care subsidy, Proposition 22 is silent about what mechanism workers can use to enforce those pay and subsidy rights.

The kicker? Unlike most laws, which require only a majority vote of the State Legislature to revise, Proposition 22 requires the vote of seven-eighths of the Legislature to make any changes.

These are the truths that can be buried by well-funded advertising campaigns of large corporations collaborating to write their own rules. And this, in the end, is what’s most dangerous about Proposition 22. Companies shouldn’t be able to do this. Surely, lots of other industries would like to avoid paying unemployment insurance taxes, sick days or overtime. Surely, food manufacturers would like an exemption from safety requirements and inspections, and chemical companies would save a bundle if they got an exemption from environmental laws.

But that’s not how our system is supposed to work.

California has always been a bellwether. This time, let’s not follow its lead.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/o...ore-in-opinion
______________
Link to related articleL https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ash-labor-laws

[dark_crystal]

Originally Posted by Orema

What Happened in California Is a Cautionary Tale for Us All

[...]here’s the catch: Workers will be paid only for “engaged time,” defined as the time between receiving a request and dropping off the passenger. This is far less than what’s required under laws for employees, who must be compensated for all work time. About a third of drivers’ work time wouldn’t fall within this definition of “engaged time,” according to a study funded by the companies themselves. Workers will not be paid for time spent getting gas, waiting for a ride request or cleaning and sanitizing their cars.

Plus, 30 cents per mile doesn’t cover all vehicle-related expenses; by comparison, the Internal Revenue Service’s optional standard deductible rate for the costs of operating a car for business is 57.5 cents per mile. And as independent contractors, drivers won’t have a right to overtime pay for long workweeks, as is required for employees. In light of all this, a study by three research groups at the University of California, Berkeley, found that Uber and Lyft drivers would be guaranteed only an estimated $5.64 per hour. This no doubt would have surprised 40 percent of those in a survey of early voters who said they had supported Proposition 22 to ensure workers earned livable wages.

Finally there is the issue of benefits. Gig companies have used snazzy “portable” benefits language, but Proposition 22 gives workers crumbs compared to what it takes away. Companies must provide a “health care subsidy” to people working at least 15 hours of “engaged time.” At 30 weekly hours, the subsidy would average about $1.22 per hour, or just over $36.00 a week, according to one analysis, a paltry sum compared with what workers would receive as employees who are paid for all of their work time — not just two-thirds of it.[...]

California has always been a bellwether. This time, let’s not follow its lead.

This is awful, and i do think that other states WILL follow California's lead. I feel like companies in general are trying to shed employees any way they can-- from outsourcing to gig-ification to independent contracting to adjunct faculty to part-time only.

After experiencing this pandemic as an essential worker, I'm to the point where i am not even sure we wouldn't have been safer if everyone WAS an independent contractor (assuming Dems get some protections in place). I don't know that we SHOULD be in monogamous employment relationships. Its supposed to provide security and stability, but it can become a hostage situation.

If the Dems are able to pass VERY meaningful health-care reform with a public option, a lot of people can be liberated from some extremely toxic employment situations.

[Orema]

Originally Posted by dark_crystal

This is awful, and i do think that other states WILL follow California's lead. I feel like companies in general are trying to shed employees any way they can-- from outsourcing to gig-ification to independent contracting to adjunct faculty to part-time only.

After experiencing this pandemic as an essential worker, I'm to the point where i am not even sure we wouldn't have been safer if everyone WAS an independent contractor (assuming Dems get some protections in place). I don't know that we SHOULD be in monogamous employment relationships. Its supposed to provide security and stability, but it can become a hostage situation.

If the Dems are able to pass VERY meaningful health-care reform with a public option, a lot of people can be liberated from some extremely toxic employment situations.

I think other states will follow, too. If nothing else, the ads were very effective and constant. PlutoTV was swamped with ads and based on the ads, you would have thought it was the best thing for workers since sliced toast.

Having employees as independent contractors has been popular since the Reagan years. That’s when the “Temp Agencies” exploded and employers were able to avoid healthcare and unemployment taxes for employees.

Yes, good healthcare will help, but there needs to be more protection for independent workers.

[Vincent]

https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2020/11/18