Opinion: High-growth start-ups need to stop fighting gig worker laws, offer basic benefits

THIS MONTH TENS of thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers took to picket lines in multiple U.S. states launching a massive strike demanding pay raises and increased staffing. Unions representing Kaiser workers in August asked for a $25 hourly minimum wage, as well as increases of 7 percent each year in the first two years and 6.25 percent each year in the two years afterward.

The issue of workers’ rights does not impact permanent employees alone. Temporary contract workers are indispensable to the business models of technology-based high growth starts-ups. Yet, companies like Amazon, Instacart, DoorDash, Lyft, and Uber have long resisted extending benefits to part-time workers. In classifying their gig workers as independent contractors rather than employees, these high-tech employers are not obligated to provide basic protections and benefits such as minimum wage and unemployment insurance, thus depriving their workers of a bare minimum safety net.