Washington (AFP)
The California Parliament has dealt a blow to the flagship of the "gig economy", the economy of independent employees, like Uber or Lyft, whose drivers today without protection or guarantees should soon enjoy the status of employee . An example that could have a snowball effect.
The California Senate passed Tuesday night, with 29 votes in favor and 11 against, a bill forcing car rental giants to requalify VTC drivers as employees, while at the moment they are considered as workers. independent.
The text must now be approved by the governor of the state Gavin Newsom, who has already declared it favorable.
According to the Wall Street Journal, however, Newsom said it intends to "stay at the negotiating table and continue to negotiate" even if it failed to reach an agreement with Uber and Lyft before the end of the parliamentary session.
On the New York Stock Exchange, Lyft shares rose 4% and Uber rose 1.8% at 18:15 GMT. These two stocks are in need, having performed poorly since their IPO and continuing to record heavy losses quarter after quarter.
- Protect drivers -
After Tuesday's vote in the Senate, Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin expressed regret that the House "missed an important opportunity to support the overwhelming majority of drivers in favor of a thoughtful solution that balances flexibility with pay and benefits. supervised by labor law. "
"We are absolutely prepared to bring this issue to California voters to safeguard the freedom and access that drivers and passengers need," said Durbin.
But for Lorena Gonzalez, Democratic Member of the Senate of California at the origin of the text, the project aims to protect drivers and force companies to pay their payroll taxes.
"We can not sit idly by while these companies charge California taxpayers and businesses responsible for their expenses and deprive millions of workers of the labor protections to which they are entitled," Gonzalez said in a statement.
The California Labor Federation union was pleased with the result, calling it a "huge victory for workers across the country!"
"It's time to get the middle class back up and make sure ALL workers have the basic protections they deserve," the union tweeted.
In the event of adoption, this law, which would come into force on January 1, 2020, could reshape the sharing economy in depth and could be used in the United States and around the world.
- Security net -
Lyft and Uber defend the idea that many of their drivers want to work their schedules of their choice without the constraints of a full-time job.
For Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University and author of The Sharing Economy, California lawmakers have failed to deliver benefits to drivers while maintaining the flexibility of employment of the "gig economy".
This text "will affect all platforms via a rise in structural costs," said Sundararajan to AFP.
"But it will particularly affect the smaller platforms that will have less opportunity to spread demand among their workforce," added the academic.
In addition to higher prices, Mr Sundararajan believes that the new law "would make it virtually impossible" for a new competitor to emerge in the online car booking sector.
But for the expert, this industry should continue to grow despite legislative restrictions.
"I would not say it's a turning point," he said. It simply means that there is still a lot of work to be done to shape a social safety net, "he said.
© 2019 AFP