After a lengthy fallow period, today there is an abundance of things I found worth commenting on. Is it just me? For example, I found this article by Lisa Russell at The New Republic on the havoc being wrought by the “gig economy” interesting. Here’s a notable snippet:
“Gig companies have developed a business model that has been geared toward evading labor and employment law and shifting all costs and risk onto workers.â€
Yuh think? That has been the case for some time—far preceding the invention of the “gig economy”. 40 years ago substantial education allowances paid by the company were a commonplace in large corporations. Now they’re practically unheard of. A company-paid health care plan meant just that. Companies offered generous pension plans. All of those costs have been shifted to workers.
I don’t know if it’s just Chicago but AFAICT a lot of Uber’s and Lyft’s drivers, frequently the same people, are not ordinary people trying to supplement their incomes by occasionally giving rides to strangers and getting paid for it as was advertised by the ride-sharing companies but foreign-born workers trying to earn their full livings that way. It would be interesting to see how many of these drivers are refugees, how many people who’ve just overstayed their visas, and how many are people who have been sponsored by other immigrants.
Back when I was in my twenties it was not uncommon for a Chinese doctor to open up a Chinese restaurant and sponsor all of his cousins to immigrate and go to work for him in his restaurant. Are automobiles the new Chinese restaurants?
