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App Companies Propose New Model For Worker Benefits (cio.com)
itwbennett writes: In late October, four delivery drivers for the app-based Amazon Prime Now service filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the company misclassifies its workers as contractors. In June, the California Labor Commission ruled that Uber drivers are employees, not contractors. Now, worker advocacy groups, companies offering services through apps (including Lyft, Etsy, Care.com, and Instacart), a variety of policy experts, and venture capitalists are proposing a new model for worker benefits that will be "portable" across the number of jobs they do in the new on-demand economy. "Self-employed workers choosing to engage in flexible work may also encounter unforeseen work disruptions or other hardships without the protections and benefits that may be provided through full time employment," the group said in a statement posted on Medium.
It's a nice idea, but Weather Generator operations are actually a very small part of the COBRA budget.
Many armchair accountants are surprised to learn that, by far, COBRA's major expenditures are, simply, blue lasers. Laser weapons capable of blowing up a aircraft in flight and compact enough to be wielded by a common foot soldier are almost impossibly expensive, and COBRA loses at least four hundred of these in every single engagement. When you add to this fact that not a single COBRA laser blast has ever managed to inflict a human casualty, it really exposes how desperately overdue they are for a shakeup in their tactics.
Best compliment I've gotten all day.