Drivers stanning for Uber and a new book

First, the book.

Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American Dream by Jamie McCallum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jamie McCallum writes in the vein of David Graeber and James Livingston, with on-the-ground observations as a sociology prof.

One fascinating idea broached by McCallum is “universal basic services.” Think basic income on steroids, including national health care, but also child care, adult social care and more.

McCallum also rightly notes one other power of national health care — employers lose leverage over employees when they can’t use the puppet strings of “benefits.”

The book also made me suspicious of people on Twitter and elsewhere, claiming to be Uber and Lyft drivers, who oppose California law reclassifying them as employees. Per the book, it’s clear that they currently have no real control over their schedule. So, are they that brainwashed, or are they company moles, part of management, or company shills/Oreos, paid to be traitors to their class?

Also of note is the sheer volume and number of times where union management, whether blue collar like the UAW or white-collar like state teachers unions, have been toadies to management on strikes and related issues.

One other thing of note is that McCallum looks at least a bit of how this micromanaging by technology is playing out not just on factory floors or the gray collar/service world of ridesharing and retailers, but is in the white collar world. COVID has only exacerbated companies trying to electronically peer over the shoulder of “creative” freelancers and now, work at home white-collar staff. That’s in addition to the “work more” as a competition that’s invaded the white collar world, too.

View all my reviews.

Speaking of Uber and Lyft, this leads to a new piece at Capital and Main about California's Prop 22 and how many drivers of color are supporting it. (For the unfamiliar, the Cal Assembly said a couple of years ago, by law, rideshare drivers are employees, not contractors. Prop 22 would roll that back.)

I've seen a bunch of drivers stanning for Prop 22, per the book. It's bad enough that White drivers are doing that, but Blacks and other minorities?

Per the Black orgs supporting it, I have no doubt Al Sharpton is being paid off; I just don't know how much. Otherwise? This is one of those big delusional moments, if Black supporters are focusing on racism on racial grounds and as something only governments do. Contra that, this is, per Doug Henwood, one of those times when race and class intersect and indeed largely merge.