Op-Ed: California’s Prop 22 Is Not Only Bad for Drivers, it’s Bad for Traffic and the Environment

Photo of an Uber dropoff in a bike lane in San Francisco by Roger Rudick, Streetsblog SF California’s Proposition 22 , featured on the upcoming November ballot, seeks to ensure that app-based drivers for companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash are classified as independent contractors as opposed to employees. If passed, the measure would exempt gig economy companies from following employment classification rules established under Assembly Bill 5 , which went into effect earlier this year. Under Prop 22, the companies would not be liable for providing drivers with a minimum hourly wage, paid sick leave, or unemployment, among other benefits. Instead, companies would treat drivers as contractors under special rules they created for Prop 22. To date, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Postmates have collectively poured over $180 million in funding into the measure, making it the most expensive initiative campaign in state history. One of the most critical issues the ballot initiative seeks to codify is the strategy of paying drivers only for ‘engaged’ time instead of an hourly wage. ‘Engaged’ time refers to the time between when a driver accepts a service request and when the request is completed. It does not include ‘unengaged’ time spent […]

Click here to view original web page at cal.streetsblog.org

More from Environment