Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

AOC warns of big tech’s influence on Biden after Prop 22 win

AOC warns of big tech’s influence on Biden after Prop 22 win

Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she is ‘very concerned’ about Uber’s role in Joe Biden’s incoming US administration.

United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has warned about the influence big technology companies may have on President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration, after Uber, Lyft and DoorDash won a political victory in California with the passage of Proposition 22.

Speaking to constituents during a townhall meeting on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez said she was “very concerned about the role that Uber executives would play in this administration after we saw what happened in California with Prop 22”.

Proposition 22, which passed with 58 percent support, lets firms like Uber classify their drivers as independent contractors, dodging state requirements for labour protections and workers’ benefits.

Opposition labour groups were vastly outspent by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates, which contributed more than $200m to successfully persuade California voters to support the measure.


App-based gig worker Terresa Mercado participated in a demonstration outside Los Angeles City Hall to urge voters to vote no on Proposition 22


“Our district here, New York 14 – we are a district of cab drivers, which includes yellow cab medallion drivers, and app drivers,” said Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who represents parts of the New York City boroughs of The Bronx and Queens.

Prop 22 allows ride-hailing and delivery companies to offer limited benefits, such as a guaranteed minimum wage and flexible hours.

“These app companies have made very public that they want to roll back the labour protections that they successfully did in California and bring that nationwide,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments are the first post-election sign of what is likely to be a fight between progressives in the new US Congress, the incoming Biden administration and Republicans about rules governing the gig economy.

“What we are seeing is a dawning of a new era whereby we are moving towards recognition of a new hybrid category of worker between a contractor and an employee,” said Richard Meneghello, a lawyer in Oregon who writes a gig economy blog.

Nationwide push


Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi told investors in an earnings call on November 5 the firm would be seeking to apply the Prop 22 model nationwide.

“We should be adding benefits to gig work to make it better, not getting rid of it altogether in favour of an employment-only system,” Khosrowshahi said on the call with investors.

Uber will “loudly advocate” for similar legislation and will “work with governments across the US and the world to make this a reality”, he said.

Tony West, the chief legal officer of Uber who was a leading advocate for Prop 22, is Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s brother-in-law.

West is married to Harris’s sister Maya Harris and has been a longtime political adviser to Harris since she first ran for office in 2003.

Both Harris and President-elect Biden opposed Prop 22 during the campaign and Harris has told the Los Angeles Times she has never been lobbied by West, although he was a major fundraiser for the Biden campaign.

Prop 22 overrides a 2019 California law that attempted to give gig workers regular job benefits such as overtime pay, sick leave and unemployment insurance.

Uber, Lyft and other companies argued successfully the California law would crush their business models and eliminate services relied on by millions of Californians.

“What I’m going to be looking for and what I’m concerned about are picks [in the Biden transition] from big tech, that will pose an incredible, incredibly damaging role in labour rights and impact on labour,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Thursday, without specifically naming West.

‘They feel emboldened’


“It is interesting to see AOC jump into this,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer in Boston who has pursued class-action lawsuits against employers that classified workers as contractors to avoid paying for benefits.

“They feel emboldened after what they did in California to try to take this show on the road nationwide and it is critical that Congress and the public understand what they pulled off in California and not let them do it anywhere else,” Liss-Riordan told Al Jazeera.

Biden, who campaigned with the support of the AFL-CIO labour federation as “a union guy”, will be under pressure to roll back new regulations promulgated by Donald Trump’s administration that would make it easier for companies like Uber to classify employees as gig workers.


Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden gave a thumbs-up as campaigned with union leaders outside an AFL-CIO union hall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania


“This is a fierce fight that has been going on for years. Those regulations are very, very pro-employer,” said Michael Maslanka, an assistant professor of law at the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law.

Outgoing Trump Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia on Thursday said California’s Prop 22 vote was a rebuke of efforts by pro-labour politicians to prevent the liberalisation of new gig worker rules.

“That vote in California is a strong warning to progressives who believe that Americans want radical changes in our employment laws,” Scalia told a meeting of The Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, according to a Law360 report.

In September, a group of Democratic legislators led by Senators Patty Murray and Sherrod Brown introduced legislation in Congress that would provide protections and require benefits for gig workers.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×