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Opinion | I Am the C.E.O. of Uber. Gig Workers Deserve Better.


I’m proposing that gig economy companies be required to establish benefits funds which give workers cash that they can use for the benefits they want, like health insurance or paid time off. Independent workers in any state that passes this law could take money out for every hour of work they put in. All gig companies would be required to participate, so that workers can build up benefits even if they switch between apps.

Had this been the law in all 50 states, Uber would have contributed $655 million to benefits funds last year alone. Taking one example, we estimate that a driver in Colorado averaging over 35 hours per week would have accrued approximately $1,350 in benefits funds in 2019. That’s enough to cover two weeks of paid time off, or the median annual premium payment for subsidized health insurance available through an existing Uber partnership.

Why just give drivers money and let them decide what to do with it, rather than requiring companies to provide specific benefits to everyone? Once again, it comes down to what drivers want. When you ask many policymakers which benefit they think is most important to drivers, the answer is almost always health care. Yet when we ask drivers which benefits they most want, health care doesn’t crack the top five. That’s most likely because most drivers already have some form of health insurance, whether through another job, the Affordable Care Act or a family member.

Driving passengers or delivering food on a bike comes with real risks. States should require all gig companies to provide medical and disability coverage for injuries incurred on the job, creating a baseline safety net that we cannot give to drivers today without risking their independent status under the law. We also need new laws that prevent companies from denying independent workers opportunities based on their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic. Shockingly, that fundamental measure of equality is not fully enshrined into law for all American workers today.

There are changes we should make on our own. Uber will start, and I hope others will follow. To begin with, we have to be more transparent about what drivers make and the realities of the work. That’s why we’ve launched a new earnings estimator, using historical data to give drivers a clearer view of what they can expect to earn in their area, before they even sign up.

We also need to do a better job acting on driver concerns. That starts with holding ourselves accountable: We commit to surveying every single active driver in the country about what’s working and what’s not and to publicly releasing the results, no matter what they say. With the upcoming election, we commit to helping every driver register to vote, so that independent workers have a stronger voice in our democracy.

For many people, nothing short of us reclassifying all drivers as employees will be enough. That is the thrust of several lawsuits against Uber in the wake of a new California law, known as Assembly Bill 5. (We’re backing a November ballot initiative in California that would keep drivers as independent contractors, while requiring us to provide new benefits.)



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