As this election season nears its peak I’m looking down the ballot with friends. We all know who we are voting for in the oval office (sidebar: has a debate ever changed your mind?), we are pretty solid on the local elections, but the state propositions can be overwhelming. Some of my friends have gone through the ballot and published voting guides like this one, and other friends have blog posts about one proposition or another. And since so many of us are freelancers I’m seeing a lot of chatter about Prop 22. Lindsay wrote a compelling argument for a “Yes on Prop 22,” and it helped me make sense of things.
First and foremost, as a freelancer myself, these app-based workers have my empathy.
As I have come to understand it, the state legislature wrote a law called “AB5,” or, Assembly Bill 5. I hate this bill. A lot of my peers and colleagues hate this bill. It made it nearly impossible to have freelance workers here in the state of California. Yet so many of us were affected by this crazy bill that one by one industries were exempted from it, but of course, no one in government loves or gets tech so there was no exemption for app based drivers.
This left the apps with only one way out: GET IT ON THE BALLOR. App based drivers like their freelance status. They enjoy the freedom to work with multiple companies in a single day, whichever day they choose. As you can imagine, I have a lot in common with app drivers in wanting – no, needing – to control my schedule.
It’s interesting that even though I’m not now, and never have been an app-based driver I feel a kinship to them and I wonder if it’s because of Covid-19, or because of our shared freelance status. I can say, with earnest, that were it not for the delivery people with Instacart and Postmates, this sheltering-at-home order would have driven me absolutely bonkers. Thank goodness for those people.
So here I am. I will be championing a YES on Prop 22.
Let’s talk about it on Twitter or Instagram with #YesOnProp22.
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