*

Millions of Americans make money from app-based gig

platforms

*

Trump and Harris have outlined

different labor priorities that will affect freelancers

*

Gig platforms have pushed back on Biden administration

regulations

By Avi Asher -Schapiro and David Sherfinski

LOS ANGELES, Sept 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The

rights of millions of independent workers in the United States

may hinge on the presidential election, with supporters of the

candidates pushing widely divergent views of how federal policy

should regulate the gig economy.

In the United States, workers who find jobs via apps are

mostly treated as independent contractors and have far fewer

legal protections than traditional employees.

Estimates of how many people earn money this way vary

widely. The U.S. government has said it could be between 5

million and 30 million workers.

Industry group Flex said that 4.3% of American workers

make money from an on-demand app. A study by the University of

Chicago showed the number of people who collected income from

one of these platforms tripled between 2017 and 2021.

The Democratic and Republican parties have staked out

different positions on how this work should be regulated,

although presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

have not made it clear how they would approach the sector.

"Republicans are aligned on this issue completely: They're

100% great with no rights for gig workers. Democrats are

actually mixed on this," explained Laura Padin, a lawyer with

the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a pro-labor group.

NELP and other groups have argued that by classifying

app-based freelance workers as independent contractors, no

matter how many hours or how regularly they work for a

specific app, the companies are denying workers a raft of

benefits, from unemployment support, insurance for injuries on

the job, paid leave and minimum-wage protections.

Project 2025, a policy document for a prospective Trump

administration drawn up by a think tank close to the former

president, lauded the independent contractor model and the

ride-hailing app Uber ( UBER ) in particular. The Trump campaign has

recently distanced itself from Project 2025.

"The value of flexibility extends beyond ride-sharing,"

reads the chapter on the Department of Labor, which argues that

companies should be given wide leeway to treat workers as

contractors.

For her part, Harris backed a California law that would have

extended employee rights to many freelance workers. But her

campaign has brought in at least several gig industry insiders

as advisors. Her brother-in-law Tony West has taken temporary

leave from a top legal position at Uber ( UBER ) to work as a volunteer

on Harris' campaign.

The Trump campaign did not provide details about its plans

for the gig economy, but Republican National Committee

spokesperson Anna Kelly said that Trump is "the most pro-worker

president in history."

The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for details

about its plans. Flex, which represents a wide variety of gig

firms, did not respond to requests for an interview.

Some Republican senators and trade groups have proposed

creating a "portable benefits" system that would allow some gig

workers to access safety-net programs. Labor groups have

generally opposed such proposals as insufficient.

UBER AND LYFT CHANGE THE GAME

Though independent contracting has long been a fixture of

the U.S. economy, the advent of Uber ( UBER ) and rideshare rival Lyft ( LYFT ) a

little over a decade ago popularized a new labor relationship:

workers who make their own schedule, but who are tightly

controlled and managed by an app.

This labor model has spread beyond ride-hailing to

logistics, hospitality and even healthcare, explained Veena

Dubal, a professor at University of California Irvine law school

who studies the sector.

"It's a David vs. Goliath situation," she said. "On the one

side, you have corporations with extraordinary wealth, and on

the other side, you have some of the (most) precarious and

vulnerable workers in the country."

In recent years, gig platforms have taken advantage of

advances in artificial intelligence to more fully automate the

management of workers, set prices and streamline tasks like

hiring and firing drivers, a development that workers' rights

groups say is a cause for concern.

Under President Joe Biden, the Federal Trade Commission

launched a 2022 initiative to crack down on labor abuse in the

gig economy, levying small fines against three companies for

deceptive business practices.

Earlier this year, the Department of Labor rolled out new

rules for classifying workers as independent contractors,

essentially making it harder for companies to claim a gig worker

does not have employee rights.

STOP THE BLEEDING

Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor

Federation, said the organized labor movement is trying to "stop

the bleeding" when it comes to the freelance economy.

"We don't want to go to a society without any social safety

net for workers," she said.

Gonzalez is a former member of the California assembly who

authored a bill in California which would have extended employee

rights to independent workers.

On-demand platforms spent more than $200 million to promote

a voter initiative that ended up rolling back the law, saving

major companies nearly $400 million in payroll taxes and

workers' compensation costs alone, according to a Reuters tally.

"We will continue advocating for models that combine that

independence and flexibility with benefits and protections, such

as what we've seen in states like California, New York,

Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington," an Uber ( UBER )

spokesperson said.

The spokesperson cited surveys that showed drivers and

couriers want "the independence and flexibility that enables

them to decide when, where, and how they work."

Despite several attempts, labor groups have struggled to

organize freelance workers into traditional unions, although a

number of workers groups and associations have emerged.

One group, the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers

Association, worked with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz -

Harris' running mate - to pass a minimum wage law in that state.

"We are working really hard to build a union-and that would

be really hard to do if Trump wins," said Nicole Moore, a

rideshare driver in Los Angeles and an organizer with Rideshare

Drivers United.

Some experts and union officials expect Harris to continue

with the policies of the Biden administration.

"Harris is a staunch supporter of unions," Gonzalez said.

"And we have no indication she will go backwards."

Trump tried to reduce the National Labor Relations Board's

budget and appointed officials who were associated with business

interests. His running mate, J.D. Vance, has voiced support for

"sectoral bargaining," where labor deals are struck by entire

industries.

Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the conservative

Competitive Enterprise Institute, said he expected Trump

would likely return to a regulatory scheme to make it easier to

characterize gig workers as independent contractors.

"We're seeing new work arrangements emerge in the current

economy through things like ridesharing and that type of stuff -

and we need to be encouraging of that," he said.

(Reporting by Avi Asher-Schapiro; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson

Reuters. Visit https://context.news/)