Pieties for gig workers

Updates

  1. Originally published, March 7, 2020, 7:45 pm.
  2. March 7, 9:30 pm:
    • While I have not received an email from Uber like the one I received from Lyft,[1] Reuters is reporting that Uber will compensate drivers.[2] The same absences of detail apply.

Gig economy

All these oh so pious words and a couple bucks might—only might—buy you a small cup of coffee. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia wants gig companies to take care of their drivers who may have to take time off due to coronavirus, and whom we all want to follow medical advice, including that which would help to limit the spread of the virus. The companies profusely promise that they are looking into doing just that.[3]

I cannot afford to be so easily impressed.[4] I have, however, received the following from Lyft (I’ve chased down actual links and substituted those for the email redirects so they should all actually work):

With recent news around coronavirus (COVID-19), we want to help you stay informed. We’re continuing to update our online resource with answers to frequently asked questions.

In addition, we wanted to share actions we’re taking to help support the community.

Hand sanitizer

We’ve partnered with our friends at EO Products, makers of Everyone, to offer free hand sanitizer at our Driver Hubs and Service Centers. These will be ready for pickup in the coming days and we’ll let you know when they are available in your city.

Driver fund

We’ve set up a fund to support drivers should they be diagnosed with COVID-19, or put under individual quarantine by a public health agency.

Sharing updates

We’re getting guidance from health officials as this develops, and will continue to share any updates on our online resource.

Thanks for doing your part to help the community.[5]

There are no further details on the “driver fund.” Especially missing here is an assurance that a full income, paltry though it is, will be assured. The nearest driver hub or service center to where I live is clear on the other side of Pittsburgh; it’d have to be a pretty big bottle of hand sanitizer (assuming it’s even vegan) to warrant the trip.

Megan Rose Dickey, “Senator urges Uber, Lyft, Instacart and others to offer gig workers financial security in light of COVID-19 concerns,” TechCrunch, March 6, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/06/senator-urges-uber-lyft-instacart-and-others-to-offer-gig-workers-financial-security-in-light-of-covid-19-concerns/

Mekhla Raina, “Uber says it will compensate drivers diagnosed with coronavirus,” Reuters, March 7, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-uber-idUSKBN20U105


  1. [1]Lyft to David Benfell, “Caring for the Lyft community,” March 7, 2020, https://www.lyft.com/
  2. [2]Mekhla Raina, “Uber says it will compensate drivers diagnosed with coronavirus,” Reuters, March 7, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-uber-idUSKBN20U105
  3. [3]Megan Rose Dickey, “Senator urges Uber, Lyft, Instacart and others to offer gig workers financial security in light of COVID-19 concerns,” TechCrunch, March 6, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/06/senator-urges-uber-lyft-instacart-and-others-to-offer-gig-workers-financial-security-in-light-of-covid-19-concerns/
  4. [4]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/
  5. [5]Lyft to David Benfell, “Caring for the Lyft community,” March 7, 2020, https://www.lyft.com/

Capitalist ideology and coronavirus

Donald Trump

Garrett Epps, “Trump Is at War With the Whole Idea of an Independent Judiciary,” Atlantic, March 4, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/trump-independent-judiciary/607375/


Coronavirus

I have previously pointed out that,

  • Capitalist medicine hinders rather than helps.[1]
  • Neoliberal employment policies, in which “efficiency” is defined as low labor cost, such as those the gig economy depends upon, hinder rather than help.[2]
  • People in charge should care more about taking care of people than about taking care of the stock market.[3][4]

So, um, what I said:

Sara R. Collins and David Blumenthal, “Without universal healthcare, coronavirus puts us all at risk,” Los Angeles Times, March 5, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-03-05/op-ed-time-to-ramp-up-medicaid-to-pay-for-universal-coronavirus-care

Mariel Garza, “Why aren’t we paying people with the coronavirus to stay home?” Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-03-06/opinion-why-arent-we-paying-people-with-the-coronavirus-to-stay-home


  1. [1]Amy Goldstein, “Worries about medical bills and lost pay may hamper coronavirus efforts in the United States,” Washington Post, March 2, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/worries-about-medical-bills-and-lost-pay-may-hamper-coronavirus-efforts-in-the-united-states/2020/03/02/75825be0-5c9c-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html
  2. [2]Amy Goldstein, “Worries about medical bills and lost pay may hamper coronavirus efforts in the United States,” Washington Post, March 2, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/worries-about-medical-bills-and-lost-pay-may-hamper-coronavirus-efforts-in-the-united-states/2020/03/02/75825be0-5c9c-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html; Nitasha Tiku, “Gig workers face the spread of the new coronavirus with no safety net,” Washington Post, February 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/02/29/gig-workers-face-spread-new-coronavirus-with-no-safety-net/
  3. [3]Dana Milbank, “For Trump, a reckoning has come,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/trump-reckoning-has-come/; Paul Waldman, “How coronavirus has deeply flummoxed conservative media,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/how-coronavirus-has-deeply-flummuxed-conservative-media/
  4. [4]David Benfell, “Coronavirus shows how Joe Biden is the wrong answer,” Irregular Bullshit, March 3, 2020, https://disunitedstates.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-shows-how-joe-biden-is-the-wrong-answer/

The inexcusable hypocrisy of #VoteBlueNoMatterWho

Democrats

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez barely begins to demonstrate the absolute sheer hypocrisy of #VoteBlueNoMatterWho:

At some point, you really have to say, this is not okay:

And it never gets better with the Democratic Party’s status quo.

What happened when Barack Obama embraced and extended George W. Bush’s policies, the wars, the war crimes, the neoliberalism, the domestic spying?[1] The answer here is not limited to the crimes themselves. It lies in a bipartisan embrace and extension of criminality, a criminality directed not merely at the Global South, but domestically, at everyone who is not wealthy, white, and male. It lies not in a system of “checks and balances” where the opposition calls out ruling party misdeeds, but rather where the opposition embraces those misdeeds on the assumption that they will have their turn in power.

ESJ6LkFVUAAMScF
Fig. 1. Downloaded from Twitter on March 3, 2020, posted by a non-public user, probably on March 2.

Blessed by both parties, these crimes are now beyond challenge. But we’re supposed to be “civil.”

And oh yeah, #VoteBlueNoMatterWho.


  1. [1]David Benfell, “Barack Obama’s legacy,” Irregular Bullshit, January 10, 2017, https://disunitedstates.com/2017/01/10/barack-obamas-legacy-daily-bullshit-january-9-10-2017-early/; Cornel West, “Pity the sad legacy of Barack Obama,” Guardian, January 9, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/barack-obama-legacy-presidency