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Silicon Valley Has Been Treating Workers 'Miserably' Since the 1970s, Economic Historian Says (recode.net)
Don't blame Uber for the problems of the gig economy -- they didn't start it, economic historian Louis Hyman says. Recode: "Uber is the waste product of the service economy," Hyman said on the latest episode of Recode Decode, a podcast. "It relies on a bunch of people who don't have an alternative." Hyman told Recode that the number of people who have to rely on temporary, freelance or other "alternative work arrangements" has been growing since the 1970s, when the era of bloated corporations gave way to businesses that optimized for short-term profits and began treating workers as disposable. "The alternative to driving for Uber is not a good job in a factory with a union wage or working in a stable office job, it's slinging coffee at a Starbucks where you may or may not get the hours you need," he said. "That is what people are shoring up. They're shoring up getting enough hours, trying to make ends meet. Oftentimes, people talk about the gig economy as 'supplementary income' ... It's not supplemental if you need it to pay for your kids' braces, or food, or rent." Hyman argued that this phenomenon could be traced back to the legions of undocumented migrant laborers who built early computers, before those manufacturing jobs moved overseas.
Industry loves an unending flow of people too inexperienced to know that they are being taken advantage of. It wants people age 25-35 that it can grind up, spit out, and roll right over. Instead of focusing on working smarter, our industry has become a mill into which we pour youngsters and out of which fall cynical outsiders.
Alternative Right.
You either learn how to gain the upper hand in negotiation, or you become some employer's bitch. It's that simple.
If you have an in-demand skill, I recommend you learn how to use the word "no" until the people you're negotiating with tack on enough zeros. As sad as it is, it's a dog-eat-dog world, and you definitely want to be the dog with a full belly.
If you don't have in-demand skills, you'd better get on it or you'll continue to get shit on.
I don't see an Uber or Lyft driver as having a miserable life. A coal miner breathing in toxic dust has a miserable life. Diamond mine workers in Africa have a miserable life. Chinese factories workers outside of the biggest areas have a miserable life. Uber drivers can always find a new job. There's no forced labor here, in spite of low wages and long hours.
California has extremely high worker mobility and that is key to success.
Non-competes are illegal. (This is key. Noncompetes murdered the 'silicon valley' of other states right in the cradle. Being able to hop jobs promotes the sharing of ideas and enables employees to advocate for what's in their own best interest)
SV companies are largely union free (Unions aren't all pro-labor. They're mostly pro-incumbent-labor and are detrimental to worker mobility.)
California is generally pro immigration, and that labor supply is key to growth.
California is an at-will employment state (Employers can let you go with no notice, for any reason other than reasons that are illegal under labor law) which further increases worker mobility. (Companies don't have to hold on to employees they don't need or want and are free to hire ones they do)
Lefties tend to see immagrant labor is exploitative of the worker, when in reality these people are simply more free to fill the labor demand as the market needs. This leads to growth and California's huge economy is proof. Restrictions on labor distort the market and harm workers because demand is not met.
The far-right tends to see immigrant labor as labor being stolen from natives, when in fact the extra labor is needed to fill demand. If the native workforce was able to fill demand importing labor would not be necessary. Restrictions on labor distort the market and harm workers because demand is not met.
California is not a lefty paradise/hellhole as many portray. It's a healthy centrist combination of pro-labor and pro-business that's made the region one of the largest economies in the world.
If the native workforce was able to fill demand importing labor would not be necessary.
The native workforce is able to fill demand; many employers do not want to pay them American wages to do so.
Imported people are used to artificially change the market and depress wages.
I've never once seen a Union care if a worker quits. If anything the higher wages they bargain for benefit worker mobility. One of the key things that hurts worker mobility is that in the modern economy if you're an hourly worker your experience doesn't count for anything. When you quit you're starting over from scratch.
Right now we're seeing something never before: near full employment but wages are declining. Economists have mostly agreed this is caused by two things: Low wage jobs replacing high wages ones (factory jobs replaced with fast food & Walmart) and the end of collective bargaining reducing workers ability to negotiate better wages. Notice I didn't use the "U" word there. Neither do they. There's been a non-stop anti-Union propaganda campaign from the mega corporations (which, let's be real, own the mass media). So much so that you're not generally allowed to say anything as simple as "Wages are down because one guy on his own can't negotiate the same rates as half a million workers".
You don't have to take my word for it, just google what Walmart does everytime their employees try to Unionize. Or look at Disney, where the workers just got bumped to $15/hr because they organized. No Man is an Island. Collective bargaining works.
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