Gig-economy employers such as Uber and Instacart, and a state bill that could free them from obligations expected for full-time workers, were condemned Monday by city councillors as “trying to put the screws to the same immigrants and the same working-class people that they tried to do over 100 years ago.”
A unanimously adopted order written by councillor Marc McGovern opposed a House bill by Braintree and Springfield politicians seeking labor-law exemptions, and warned against a coming state ballot initiative funded by gig-economy companies that want to keep workers from being considered employees.
“If this bill and ballot question were to pass, it would allow Uber and Lyft, as well as other gig giants, to be exempt from paying Social Security. It would allow them out of the unemployment funds and cheat the state out of hundreds of millions of dollars. It would allow them to pay a sub-minimum wage,” McGovern said.
The companies spent more than $200 million passing a similar California law – later found to be unconstitutional – that would have paid as little as $5.64 an hour, McGovern said, citing a 2019 study.
The bill would also exempt the companies from civil rights laws and worker compensation payments, shield them from liability for injuries and car accidents and allow “arbitrary, unfair and discriminatory activities” that would likely affect immigrants, people of color and the poor the most, McGovern said.
“They are trying to put the screws to the same immigrants”...
The HYDRA Commissioner has clarified that HYDRA will not interfere with houses built in old layouts on ULC (Urban Land Ceiling) lands , nor with unregularised vacant plots in such layouts. He urge...