• Opinion

By Dave Thomasson

As a musician, this pandemic has been brutal for me. Paying gigs have all but disappeared. I wouldn’t even be able to pay my bills, except that I use my car to drive rideshare on the side.

By Al Porche

Six months into the worst health and economic crises anyone alive has ever known, California’s economy is reeling. Millions have lost their jobs and many laid-off Californians have turned to app-based delivery to make ends meet. But these newfound opportunities could be gone for good unless the voters step up to save them.

By Greg Ferenstein

This post makes the case that there are millions of gig workers who genuinely benefit from being independent contractors; the law should reflect their voice with public policies that improve conditions for self-employment, rather than restricting access to it.

By Alice Huffman

The California legislature is known for producing progressive, forward-thinking policies that empower people of color. But when it comes to protecting the freedom of workers who drive cars, buy groceries, and deliver other services via app-based platforms—the majority of them Black and Brown Californians—the legislature is failing our community.

By Michael Saltsman

Does the future of America’s labor movement run through our smartphones? As many as a quarter of American adults earn income as gig workers, either through an app-based service like Uber or Lyft, or as traditional freelancers. Labor advocates would grant gig workers the right to bargain collectively. But unionization might hurt these workers more than it helps.

By Jim Pyatt

AB 5 is a hot mess. Mere months after it took effect, the same politicians who forced AB 5 on California’s workforce are adding more exemptions to the law—bringing the total number of exemptions to over 100. They are all listed below. There’s a reason they have to keep adding fixes to the shoddily crafted legislation: the law is completely unworkable for an extraordinarily large number of professions and occupations. Already, the bill is creating a state of confusion for workers like me. But the scramble to add so many exemptions makes three things undeniably clear to app-based drivers and California voters alike.

By Steven Greenhut – Editorial Board member, Southern California News Group

Uber and Lyft, we hardly knew you. As the California attorney general pursues its lawsuit against these ride-sharing companies, to force them to comply immediately with the state’s virtual ban on using contractors as workers, the firms had announced last week that they would temporarily leave the state as they retool into smaller operations.

By Dr. Tecoy Porter Sr.

Although millions of Californians are suffering, people of color and disadvantaged communities have been disproportionately ravaged by the double blow of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic meltdown.

By John Diaz – Editorial Page Editor, San Francisco Chronicle

California’s attorney general is charged with providing a “true and impartial” title and summary for ballot propositions. Once again, the attorney general’s office is being legitimately accused of skewing the language in favor of one side of an issue.

By Patricia Mulholland

Five years ago, traditional jobs stopped being an option for me. As a retired, disabled Vietnam veteran and a caretaker for an ill family member, I needed to earn a living that kept the stress down but the flexibility up so I could meet my family obligations.

By Jim Pyatt

I’m semi-retired and usually drive rideshare part time. Like 80% of on-demand delivery and rideshare drivers, I did this to earn extra income so my wife and I can afford things our retirement savings wouldn’t otherwise provide.

By Alfred Porche III

Two months ago my entire life changed. In March, I worried about stocking up on toilet paper and buying masks. Then the state’s 40 million residents were asked to stay in their homes with limited social contact because of COVID-19 and I signed up to help bring food and supplies to people who can’t get out.

By Jeff Joseph

Call it a case of missed delivery.

By Maria Rodriguez

I’m a single mom with three daughters who works as a school secretary in San Diego. Money is always tight, but usually I can make ends meet. That changed last year when I had to take unpaid furlough days.

By Akamine Kiarie

In January, I’ll reach a lifelong dream: becoming a student at California State University, Sacramento. I’m excited, but also worried because a new state law could threaten my ability to pay my bills and stay in school.

By Tony Pierce

On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5, which is intended to reduce worker misclassification by turning “independent contractors,” like rideshare drivers, into employees of the companies they work with. The new law would force giants like Lyft and Uber to do things like pay a minimum wage, provide health insurance benefits and paid sick days off.

By Louis Hyman – Contributor, CNN Business

On January 1, a law went into effect in California known as AB5 that is intended to reclassify many of the state’s independent contractors as regular employees and give them the workplace benefits they deserve, such as unemployment and disability insurance. Perhaps even more importantly, as employees, these gig workers will have access to the full body of rights under labor and employment law. Without those rights, contractors — Uber and Lyft drivers, freelancers and other gig workers — are being exploited. As employees under the new law, it is hoped, they will enjoy job stability and decent wages. The unstated assumption of lawmakers here is that companies will simply comply with the law and convert those gig jobs into full-time positions.

By Kerry Jackson

With Assembly Bill 5, lawmakers not only came up with a solution for which there is no problem, they created hardships where there were none before.

By Jonathan Rothwell

Even after a long economic expansion, America is still the land of the side hustle.

By Heidi Lynne Kurter – Contributor, Forbes

California isn’t shy when it comes to making the daily headlines. Often heralded as a progressive utopia, the Golden State recently signed into law, Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) that will change the landscape of the gig worker economy. Stemming from the groundbreaking court decision established in Dynamex West Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, the California Supreme Court found Dynamex’s workers were misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees.