
NY State Deems 2 Ex-Uber Drivers Employees, Not Contractors - acjohnson55
http://www.inc.com/associated-press/uber-ny-driver-benefits.html
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chinese_dan
So, Uber becomes popular because it's 'better', by destroying the unionized
taxi industry and now the contractors want to be considered employees? If you
wanted that, why not just drive a cab?

Many of these modern companies destroy what they think is old and out-dated
and only come to realize that those companies already used that business model
decades ago and it evolved into what we have now. Uber will eventually evolve
into a cab company. I suppose it's a great way for some venture capitalists to
make a ton of cash and destroy competitors, but not so good for the average
person.

Bitcoin is another good example of this. It takes a centralized and federally
insured organization to truly have the security that the general public needs.
Many websites need to be hacked and millions of dollars stolen to come to this
conclusion. Banks figured this out 100+ years ago.

The other issue is that they shouldn't be considered employees. Drivers can
work as little or as much as they want, which doesn't sound like an employee
to me.

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acjohnson55
Although, driver's can't set their own rates. To me, this sounds like
employment. Historically, part-time workers have usually had to set their
hours in advance, for practical reasons. To me, the only thing Uber's tech
does is minimize the advance notice, but not really fundamentally alter the
relationship.

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chinese_dan
A part-time worker would have to be there a certain amount of hours, or they
would be fired.

An Uber driver can come and go as they please. This is the fundamental
difference.

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acjohnson55
That's simply because the no-tech solution doesn't have the flexibility. But
that isn't inherent to the concept of part-time employment.

