SFC Columnist Asks ‘Why Not Ignore Private Sector Concerns and let Government Take Over Gig Economy?’

Soleil Ho (they/them) of the San Francisco Chronicle asks, Why not make the Gig economy a public utility?

“Labor activists say gig work is unjust; disability advocates say services such as DoorDash, Instacart, Uber and Lyft are essential to independence,” Soleil Ho says in the San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday. So just let the government take it over, right?

Ho’s justification is a conversation with journalist S.E. Smith who incorrectly assumes “unprotected” gig workers need government “protections.” I’m guessing neither has talked to a gig worker lately.

“So why not skip over the private sector concerns and let the government take over the gig economy?”

The “gig economy” became an issue in California when labor unions recognized an untapped resource in independent contractors, many who made very good livings with several “gigs.”

Assembly Bill 5, written by the AFL-CIO, was a union sponsored law that redefined millions of independent contractors as employees. AB 5 was authored by former State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego). Gonzalez, a community organizer and activist, as well as a union official with the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO, prior to being elected to the State Assembly, resigned in 2022 from the Assembly to take a leadership position in the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, after delivering millions of reclassified gig workers as potential union members.

AB 5 was one of the most egregious bills in California history, in effect, picking winners and losers, rather than allowing the free market to decide.

Soleil Ho reports in the SFC:

(“Soleil Ho is an opinion columnist and cultural critic, focusing on gender, race, food policy and life in San Francisco,” who goes by “they.”)

Ho continues:

So why not skip over the private sector concerns and let the government take over the gig economy? That’s what journalist Nick Romeo suggests in his book, “The Alternative: How to Build a Just Economy,” which examines multiple case studies of companies and communities looking for other ways of handling their money. Drawing from the ideas of British policy expert Wingham Rowan, the book argues that a public platform could match job seekers with short-term work, charge lower transaction fees and provide full employment benefits. It could be privately operated by licensed companies, like the lottery system; but with capped earnings which would ease the pressure to turn a profit. A public option with low user fees would compete with the DoorDashes of the world, which are already vague in terms of how they’re really that different from each other.

Indeed, “why not just skip over private sector concerns…”

And that is the crux of the issue – diminishing the private sector facilitates the march to Marxism, and appears in the pages of Nick Romero’s book, and S.E. Smith’s articles, if they are in fact, suggesting government step in and take over the independent contractor segment of the economy.

Notably, California’s AB 5 was so flawed, there were hundreds of exemptions to the law through additional legislation. Globe contributor Chris Micheli, an attorney, explained all of the legal stuff and background of AB 5, as well as the exemptions, here.

The U.S. Labor Department released new rules earlier in January governing freelance, consulting, and gig work, clearly aiming at destroying the livelihoods of millions of people. As Globe contributor Thomas Buckley recently explained, the motive is simple: “you can’t unionize freelancers, but you can unionize employees.  If millions of freelancers are forced to make the switch, union coffers will grow and then, in turn, so will the coffers of the Democratic Party.”