Just a Platform? Instacart Workers Strike at the Gig Economy’s Favorite Lie

". . . The strike, which lasted three days, was about a lot more than tips. The larger issue, Bain said, is that Instacart is doing the classic tech-company move of pretending its employees aren’t actual employees.

'Instacart classifies as independent contractors. But Instacart also employs people to do very similar work to what we do,' Bain explained to Mother Jones. 'The only point of difference between us is that we do the delivery aspect of the orders as well. And we use our own cars.' Instacart is the only gig company she knows of with two different classifications for seemingly the same job—an 'obvious hypocrisy,' Bain said.

The city attorney’s office in San Diego in September sued Instacart for misclassifying workers as independent contractors. It was one of the first cases in California pursued under Assembly Bill 5, passed only three days before the suit was brought. Under AB5, independent contractors have to be properly classified, and companies can be sued for misclassification. . ."

Just a platform? Instacart workers strike at the gig economy's favorite lie.

“Their argument is that they’re a marketplace. They’re a software company. They’re just connecting—that’s just not true.”

www.motherjones.com