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0 pointstimeinput1mo ago0 comments

Many countries have minimum wages for many jobs [1].

There is a tacit agreement in polite society that people should be paid that minimum wage, and by tacit agreement I mean laws passed by the government that democratic countries voted for / approved of.

The gig economy found a way to ~~undermine that law~~ pay people (not employees, "gig workers") less than the minimum wage.

If you found a McDonalds paying people $1 per hour we would call it exploitative (even if those people are glad to earn $1 per hour at McDonalds, and would keep doing it, the theoretical company is violating the law). If you found someone delivering food for that McDonalds for $1 per hour we call them gig workers, and let them keep at it.

I mean yeah, it's not as bad as being tortured forever? I guess? What's your point?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_minimum_w...

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Dylan168071mo ago

There's reasons to make a distinction though.

Minimum wage is a lower class of violation than most worker exploitations.

Uber drivers are over the minimum wage a lot of the time, especially the federal one. Nowhere near this $1 hypothetical.

A big one is that the actual wage you get is complicated. You get paid okay for the actual trips, as far as I'm aware. But how to handle the idle time is harder. There are valid reasons to say you should get paid for that time, and valid reasons to say you shouldn't get paid for that time.

Nextgrid1mo ago

> Uber drivers are over the minimum wage a lot of the time

Does this still hold once you account for fuel, insurance, and vehicle maintenance?

emtel1mo ago

But McDonalds can't pay people $1 an hour because no one is willing to work for that little, regardless of how they classify them.

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