There's no doubt that the results of proposition 22 in California is going to have a major impact on all Doordash drivers and other gig economy workers around the country. Everybody is watching, and the results of Prop 22 is going to have a major impact on how other states handle these gig companies in the future. That is not to say that every other state out there is going to just copy whatever California does, but trust me when I say that it will have a major impact on the future actions of these other states.
Those in support of Prop 22, that is those that will vote "Yes" on 22 agree with Doordash and the other gig companies. An individual that votes "Yes" on 22 wants things to basically stay as they are. They want to continue working as independent contractors and work whenever they want to.
The opposition sees things a bit different, and these people will vote "No" on 22. The thinking here is that Doordash, Uber and all the other gig companies should not be treated any different from any other company. They should not get any special privileges. This is especially true when the courts find that their drivers should be classified as employees and not independent contractors. They should have to live with all of the expenses that other companies have to pay. This is basically seen as an unfair gig economy advantage, and the state of California wants it stopped for good.
Also, "No" on 22 supporters feel that Doordash and the other gig companies should have to guarantee their drivers a lawful minimum wage, paid sick leave and safety protections. They also feel that these gig companies should have to contribute to social security, medicare and unemployment insurance just like any other company.
My opinion on California's Prop 22
I will be voting "Yes" on prop 22. Why? Don't I think that drivers deserve the benefits and protection of the law? Well, let me respond to some of the statements that the "No" on 22 supporters like to preach.
Prop 22 would force workers to put in more hours for less pay
To me this is a bunch of crock. If I am paid minimum wage, and yes it would be minimum wage if Doordash had to pay us by the hour; I would earn way less than what I currently do as an independent contractor. If I worked 8 hours I would earn around $100 for the day? Take away taxes and I have $80 for the day. No thank you! I'd rather have the freedom to earn whatever my efforts deserve.
I've made over $200 in 8 hours before. I've had little spurts when I have worked 4 hours and made the $70 or $80 that I need. All tax free for that moment. I don't need an employee telling me that I am scheduled from this time to this time and that I will be working 4 hour shifts this week. I don't need a company that will fire me when I don't show up to work when they tell me to. Again, if I want that I'd go get a regular job.
Prop 22 allows these gig companies to avoid paying for overtime and full mileage reimbursements
As nice as the mileage reimbursements sound, it would not be worth giving up my freedom to work whenever I want. In order for me to get mileage reimbursements I would have to be an employee with set hours that I have to work. No thank you! Again, if I wanted all of that I would go out and get me a regular job that offered that. Instead, I want to be an independent contractor that chooses when and how I work.
The "No on 22" supporters also make it sound like we are getting burned because we do not get any overtime pay. Guess what? We really don't need your over time pay. Again, it's not worth the trade off. If I wanted a typical job as an employee that paid an hourly wage and paid overtime then that's what I would get. Instead, I'm driving for Doordash on the side to earn some extra cash.
When told what he thinks about Uber and Lyft's response that most of their drivers want to continue to be classified as independent contractors, the Attorney General of California, Xavier Becerra, recently stated with sarcasm and a confident tone "What worker doesn't want access to paid sick leave? What worker doesn't want to have unemployment insurance at a time of Covid 19 crisis? What worker doesn't want to know that they will get paid for overtime if they work 60 hours in a week or 12 hours in a day? It's a bogus argument."
Talk about a closed mind. This guy has an employee's brain. He was taught to do good in school, be a slave and get a good job. That's exactly what he did and that's great, but he does not realize that not everybody does things that way. I don't need sick leave pay. I really don't. I work almost every single day even though I don't see it as work. I am involved in many business ventures that I enjoy and that I look forward to doing everyday.
I have five income streams and Doordash is always my what if everything else failed backup. Don't get me wrong, even when things are going great in my life financially, I will still find a few hours a month to do at least a few dashes just to keep it alive and know what's going on. It's nice knowing that I would have Doordash whenever I needed them. Sure, you won't get wealthy doing Doordash alone, but if you have to do it full-time you can earn over 3K per month which is a livable wage. It sure beats those minimum wage employee jobs that the state of California is trying to turn Doordashh in to.
As far as unemployment insurance is concerned I really don't care. I don't need your overtime pay either because if I were to work that many hours I would make more hustling than getting paid by the hour and over time pay. All the things he talks about everybody wanting I do not want. I don't have an employee's brain. I'm an entrepreneur. I am involved with many businesses and different income streams. I have investments. I don't pay attention to how much money I make by the hour. I look at how much money I make by the day, by the week or by the month. Only those with an employee's mind count their money by the hour. I don't trade my hours for an agreed upon amount of money. Again, that's what employees do, and I'm not an employee.
"No" on Prop 22 supporters say that if Prop 22 passes it will weaken discrimination protection for workers
What discrimination? When I dash I jump into my car at my home, I turn on my app, I pick up food and deliver that food to customers. Who is going to discriminate against me? Doordash? Nope! I don't even see anybody or talk to anybody from Doordash 99 percent of the time. When I do, it's through chat and it's usually very short as they usually cannot help me with whatever I contacted them for.
Again, what discrimination? Do I supposed to sue Doordash if an employee at McDonald's called me a racial slur during a pick up. Or maybe a customer was mean to me when I delivered to them and I thought that they may be racist. I guess as an employee I would be more protected because I would be able to blame Doordash for it. As an independent contractor there is nobody to blame and you are on your own. Guess what? I like being on my own. I like working for myself.
Over the past four years or so that I have been doing Doordash deliveries I have gotten into words with probably seven people off the top of my head. If I was an employee, I would have been fired long ago, but I am an independent contractor, and I work for myself so I am still here. Sure, Doordash can still deactivate you if a customer complains.
In my incidents I made sure that I was the first one to complain. I called up Doordash and let them know what happened right away before the customer did. I would let them know the terrible things that the customer said and so on. No, I didn't tell them what I said. That would defeat the whole purpose. Protecting your ass is the name of the game here. I'm getting off subject here, but no I do not need any discrimination protection from Doordash.
"No" on 22 supporters say that if Prop 22 passes it will deny worker's safety or income protection if hurt on the job
Well I have been delivering food for Doordash for many years and can confidentially say that I don't need any worker's safety or income protection if hurt on the job. Workers comp, disability, unemployment benefits, etc. I don't need any of that from Doordash. I have been dong fine without it. If anybody wants all of this they should have a regular job where they are an employee. They can then do Doordash on the side the way it was meant to be.
"No" on 22 supporters say that if Prop 22 passes that it will prevent workers from accessing paid sick leave and family leave
Paid sick leave, family leave and all of the other benefits should come from your regular full time job and not from these gig companies. I know somebody out there is saying that this is their only full time job and that they want all of these benefits. I would argue that these gig jobs were not made to be a person's full time job. These gig jobs were meant to be side hustles. If a person wants all those benefits, they should have to go get a regular job that classifies them as employees because Doordash and these other gig companies should not have to.
Just because I vote "Yes" on 22 does not mean I am siding with the gig companies
Well, I am. I mean, as far as this proposition 22 is concerned I want what they want for reasons that I believe is best for the majority of drivers. I'd guess 80 percent of us want things to remain as they are. As far as gig greed is concerned I know that it exists, and I am not okay with it, but if fighting that gig greed means becoming employees, I, as well as most other drivers are not for it.
The way I see it is that I have two evil entities. Yes, I see
California as an evil entity, and I see the gig companies as the other
evil entity. I know that Doordash, Uber, Lyft and all of the rest of
these gig companies are crooks. For those that have been around long
enough, do you remember when Doordash would steal our tips? Remember how
they would twist words and always act like us dashers were in their
best interest?
It got so bad that it eventually came to a
point where they even admitted that they were stealing our tips but used
some "Guaranteed Pay" BS formula to try and protect their thieving ways
as they knew that us normal people could not do anything about it. It
took some major pressure from some large media outlets to finally get
them to change their tipping policy.
Anyways, I'm not going to get
into bashing Doordash, but I have to look at two evil entities that
don't have our best interest in mind. They both try to make it sound
like they have our best interest in mind, but both of them could care
less about us drivers. These gig companies do not care about us. They
just don't want to have to pay out more money. If they have to pay all
of the costs associated with having employees they are doomed and they
know it. These gig companies are not even profitable the way things are.
Can you imagine how much worse it will be for them if they have all
these employee expenses?
Why would any Doordash driver vote "No" on Prop 22?
In my opinion, the only drivers that would consider voting NO on Prop 22 are those that driver full time for their gig company. With this being their only income they may want all the protection that they can get, and it may take becoming an employee for that to happen. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem is that most of us drivers are part timers that do this on the side. We don't need this as a full time job, and we don't want to be an employees.
Think about the house wife who can currently go out and supplement her household's income whenever she wants. She does not want a job as as employee where she has to report at 8am every day. She wants to remain an independent contractor and be able to earn extra cash whenever she feels up to it.
How about the parent that earns a few dollars with Doordash and that takes their child with them. Sometimes a single parent don't have a choice but to take their child with them when they go dashing. If Doordash drivers became employees there would be none of that going on anymore.
Then you have the guy that does one of these gig jobs on the weekends every once in a while to help him make his car payment. He has a full time job, but he uses these gig jobs to pay his car. He doesn't always do it. He likes to enjoy his weekends with his family most of the time, but he likes to take three or four of the weekend days of the month and use these gig jobs to make his car payment.
He does not want a schedule that an employer would give him. He basically does it whenever he feels like it. If drivers became employees this guy would likely not be able to drive on the weekends anymore. He doesn't want a job that has a schedule for him every weekend. He already has a full time job that he reports to. He want to earn extra cash on his own time whenever he want. He is not looking for a new obligation.
Then there's the lady that needs to pay her light bill tomorrow. Yes, she can dash today and have her money in her bank by the end of the day by just requesting it and then paying her light bill tomorrow. If she was a regular employee she would have to wait until pay day to get her check. She'll have to borrow money from somebody or get hit with late fees from the light company. Maybe she'll have to get a pay day loan if she has nobody to borrow from. Forget all of that!! As an independent contractor driving for these gig companies you can work and have your money deposited into your bank account right away. There is no getting paid every one or two weeks.
As you can see there are so many examples that we can use about people who need the gig work to stay the way it is. I really believe that the main problem here came about when people started turning these gig jobs into full time jobs. I'm not saying that this is always their fault. Maybe they got laid off and started dashing until they found a new job. Something happened though. They then realize that they are earning more doing Doordash than they made at their full time job and turn this gig job into a full time job.
There is so much more that can be talked about with Proposition 22. I mean the state of California has really put its foot down on the gig companies. How everything plays out will soon reveal itself. I really hope that gig workers stay as independent contractors and that there is minimal change. Most gig workers use these platforms as a side hustle and will not be able to work as a scheduled employee. I would not even attempt it as it would not be worth my time, and I'm sure a lot of others feel exactly the same way I do.
Happy Dashing!
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