Jon Fortt co-anchors TechCheck on CNBC, and has covered technology and innovation for more than 15 years. Fortt Knox brings you rich ideas and powerful people. Guests include Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Accenture CEO of North America Julie Sweet, Olympic champion Michael Phelps, and Broadway veteran Rory O'Malley (Hamilton, The Book of Mormon). Join Jon's conversations with power brokers on how they made it, what they value, and what makes them tick.
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Jon Fortt co-anchors TechCheck on CNBC, and has covered technology and innovation for more than 15 years. Fortt Knox brings you rich ideas and powerful people. Guests include Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Accenture CEO of North America Julie Sweet, Olympic champion Michael Phelps, and Broadway veteran Rory O'Malley (Hamilton, The Book of Mormon). Join Jon's conversations with power brokers on how they made it, what they value, and what makes them tick.
137 - Employees or Contractors? Gig Economy’s Labor Crisis
Fortt Knox
26 minutes 6 seconds
6 years ago
137 - Employees or Contractors? Gig Economy’s Labor Crisis
Days ago California lawmakers passed a bill, AB5, that would force more companies to treat more workers as employees, not contractors. What’s the big deal?
The gig economy. Whether it’s Uber and Lyft, or Postmates and Doordash, or TaskRabbit and Instacart, a slew of companies have grown up in the smartphone era with a radical idea. When just about everyone has a smartphone and a credit card, you can assemble a workforce on a moment’s notice, pay workers electronically, and let them be independent contractors. They can work as much or as little as they want!
But just because employers can do this doesn’t mean they should. And that’s what we’re going to debate today.
With me this week: Two professionals who have driven for Uber and Lyft and have different opinions about what should happen here.
Karim Bayumi is out of LA. He says drivers like him – he’s driven 5 to 6 days a week for the platforms – deserve the protections of employee status, and the companies can’t be trusted to provide that without a law.
Harry Campbell is a former part-time Uber and Lyft driver who’s known as the Rideshare Guy. He’s got a blog that focuses on the driver community, a YouTube channel, a podcast – and he says forcing companies to treat drivers as employees is the wrong way to go.
Fortt Knox
Jon Fortt co-anchors TechCheck on CNBC, and has covered technology and innovation for more than 15 years. Fortt Knox brings you rich ideas and powerful people. Guests include Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Accenture CEO of North America Julie Sweet, Olympic champion Michael Phelps, and Broadway veteran Rory O'Malley (Hamilton, The Book of Mormon). Join Jon's conversations with power brokers on how they made it, what they value, and what makes them tick.