A few weeks intomy tenure at Uber, where I started as a software developer just a yearafter graduating from college, still blindly convinced I could make theworld a better place, a co-worker sat down next to my desk. Of course, the threads of this disillusionment are woven into the verystructure that has made these start-ups so successful. When the CaliforniaSupreme Court ruled in May that delivery company Dynamex must treat itsgig workers like full-time employees, Eve Wagner, an attorney whospecializes in employment litigation, predicted to Wired, ''The numberof employment lawsuits is going to explode.''
In recent months, however, a spateof lawsuits has highlighted an alarming by-product of the gigeconomy'-a class of workers who aren't protected by labor laws, oreligible for benefits provided to the rest of the nation'sworkforce'-evident even to those outside the bubble of Silicon Valley.A July report commissioned by the New York City Taxi and LimousineCommission found that 85 percent of New York City's Uber, Lyft, Juno,and Via drivers earn less than $17.22 an hour. These companieshave been wildly successful: Uber, perhaps the most notorious, is alsothe most valuable start-up in the U.S., reportedly worth $72 billion.Lyft is valued at $11 billion, and grocery delivery start-up Instacartis valued at just over $4 billion.
''Set your own schedule,''touts the Uber-driver Web site ''Be your own boss,'' tempts Lyft ''Make an impact on people's lives,'' lures Instacart. The gig-economy ecosystem was supposed to represent the promised land,striking a harmonious egalitarian balance between supply and demand:consumers could off-load the drudgery of commuting or grocery shopping,while workers were set free from the Man.