“If I want to work 20 minutes a week, or 30 hours, I can do that,” says a worker in a mysterious new TV ad. “When I need a day off to study for a big exam, I can do that,” says another.
The ad isn’t for a jobs site or any one employer. It’s been made by a new lobbying group called Flex, which calls itself the “voice of the app-based economy”, and is backed by gig work mainstays including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart.
Flex seeks to defend the business models of these companies, which use workers labeled as independent contractors, amid a renewed push in Washington to pass labor laws that would defend those workers’ right to unionize and strike. Joe Biden made a renewed call in his State of the Union address for the passage of the Pro Act, which would expand the federal definition of employees to include many gig workers.
Flex’s website takes a veiled shot at the legislation: “Policymakers want to implement a one-size-fits-all employment model for all workers, regardless of their needs or desires,” it claims, under the headline “Independence Works”.
It shows pictures of smiling college students, parents and teachers alongside apparent testimonials from people without surnames. “Let’s say I want to work a few hours outside of my regular job to save for my kid’s college. I can do that,” says one Ricardo P.
“Independence works, ’cause I’m the boss around here,” says Ian W, handily repeating Flex’s tagline verbatim.
But workers and labor advocates are already pushing back against Flex’s narrative. Nicole Moore, a Los Angeles-based rideshare driver, told the Guardian that gig economy apps are designed to control workers who usually don’t have the means to say no.
Moore described a daily frustration that she and other drivers face: apps like Uber and Lyft don’t give her the details of a ride, such as its distance, expected time, and pay, until after she’s accepted it – at which point she has little choice but to follow through, even if it loses her money.
“I find out that it’s going to take me 45 minutes to go five miles, and I’m going to get about $5 for the ride. My only choice then is to either basically do volunteer work by accepting the ride, or canceling it. And we are disciplined, and threatened with being terminated, if we cancel it.
“So don’t call me an independent contractor, because that’s not what we are.”
Moore said that the gig companies’ narrow definition of “flexibility” only focuses on scheduling. But real flexibility, she said, would mean providing “things like family leave, medical leave and paid parental leave.”
Veena Dubal, a labor law professor at UC Hastings said the gig companies’ tactics were “insidious and very seductive” because “the vast majority of people in the US don’t understan
