Gig Is Up Press Conference

Good morning everyone. My name is Deb Holland. I'm the Congresswoman for New Mexico's first Congressional district. Thank you all for joining us on this cold morning to bring the issue of fair pay for workers in our country. I want to welcome Alex Lawson with Social Security Works and Mooney Freeman, a New York City driver and executive Director of Alliance for Independent Workers Driver's Unite movement for being here for this important introduction. Today we're here to say the gig is up back in January. I got into an interesting conversation with my Uber driver on my way to vote at the US Capitol. He told me about the long hours he worked. Jedi was still having a hard time making rent. He was just one of many workers whose jobs have been transformed by technology weeks later, Uber announced it was going public. The company was valued at more than 90 -, one billion dollars and Uber's top executives are Hundred 40 million dollars just last year yet drivers were having a hard time putting food on the table paying for electricity or even paying their rent. The massive income differences between company heads and the workers that make their businesses successful is plain wrong. Our tax code has not kept pace with the transformational changes in the labor market. Large gig economies valued at billions of dollars are taking advantage of workers by miss classifying them as independent. Gig economy companies are using this as a loophole to get out of paying their fair share of social security and Medicare taxes, which makes all of us suffer. The impact has far-reaching consequences for families and our economy. It puts the security of retirement out of reach for workers and creates a 60 - nine billion- dollar tax gap, which results in social security and Medicare Are using a loophole instead of paying their fair share. That's why I'm introducing the gig is up act. Our proposal would require corporations that gross at least a hundred million dollars and employed 10000 or more independent contractors to pay the full cost of both the employer contribution and the worker contribution to Social Security and Medicare. Maybe it will prompt corporations to do the right thing and provide gig work. With the full benefits they earn day in and day out the benefits that make those companies successful by providing this National solution to strengthen Social Security, protect workers, retirement and disability protections and deter corporations from against taking advantage of the workers who make their businesses successful. Now, I'd like to introduce Alex Lawson, the executive director. Social security works. Thank you. First thank you so much Representative Holland for introducing this bill. The gig is up act. my name is Alex Austin. I'm the executive director of Social Security Works and I wanna talk about the fact that we are living in an age of almost unparalleled inequality. the last time we saw any quality of this nature was in the 19 twenties and at that time, we did a few things to address it. we created a social. Curity we created and enforced the the ability for workers to collectively, bargain and form a Union to stand up for their rights and we created a minimum wage. These are just some of the things that we did to address inequality now that we are facing similar levels of inequality where a company like Uber's top executives are taking home a hundred and 40 million dollars while. Average the drivers are averaging eight to $10 an hour and a lot of the profits or potential profits in these companies are actually in evading the things that we created in the last age of inequality. so what we need to do now is we need to increase the minimum wage We need to expand social security. We need to strengthen the ability of workers to collectively bargain and form a Union to stand up for their rights and we certainly cannot allow. Billion- Dollar corporations to use loopholes to get out of the of them paying in to Social Security and Medicare, which is what this act is aimed at doing right now. The entire the entire amount is on the drivers to pay in to Social Security and Medicare, and what this means is that the inequality that we're seeing in people's working lives is following them into retirement. We're seeing Wages during the working life mean that people do not have a secure retirement and when these corporations are able to divulge their responsibility, they're not only hurting their own workers, which they are. they're hurting the entire system that benefits all of us. They're hurting our social security system, and that's why the gig is up act is so important. It's not only going to help the drivers and the workers to ensure that after a lifetime of hard work, they can have a secure retirement with dignity. It's all. Going to strengthen our social security system and strengthen our Medicare system so that all of us can rely on the benefits that we earned during our working life. Social security is a system that works for us. It's their during retirement so that we can retire with with dignity, but very importantly, it's also there for workers right now. if they face a life-changing event and become disabled and can't work. social security is there for workers. Also Indiana the Event that a worker dies the life insurance component of social security is there for their surf surviving family. This is a system that protects all of us and it works because all of us do our part to pay into it and to make it there for all of us. Now we need these corporations to do their part to fulfill their responsibility and if they're not going to then they can pay both the employer and the employee side of the withholding, which I think is eminent. Fair So with that I want I have the the pleasure of introducing Money Braman, who is a driver who can speak specifically about the impacts of of companies like Uber and Lyft and I'd like to close with just thanking Credo action and Social Security works members. We have over 80 - 5000 petition signatures standing up for drivers like Monique and saying the gig Thank you Alex thank you Congressman the time is always right to do what's right and I repeat the time is always right to do what's right as a New York City driver for many years and I've seen the promise of American Dream by the best companies like Uber and Lyft turn into American's nightmare, the reality of corporations putting profits before people driving drivers into poverty this free and an ever increasing suicides I myself suffered an. Stroke as a father of three children with no savings and no health insurance, I didn't get any support from these companies at all, which one I made an oath to myself that I will get out and and if I can do anything to support the drivers I will I will do that. I will become that voice. The many Americans caught up in this new gig economy workforce are facing desperate challenges in trying to survive. There are new class of homeless people being introduced, which are forced to live out of their cars, Uber and Lyft drivers. Of them are living in their cars trying to make their ends meet. the so-called opportunities hyped by these corporations are not making dollars or sense for the heavy exploitation workforce to continue working, let alone surviving. There's no it's not sustainable and it's not acceptable. CEOs are making billions of dollars on the back of these drivers, which cannot even pay their bills. This is not fair just incredible immigrants man. Low income seniors disabled veteran single mom dad drivers that they are working hard and putting in endless hours and not getting anything out of it. Many drivers in this gig economy have paid the ultimate price of extreme cooperation profit, causing extreme human suffering such as Mandy Martinez who was a driver's Unite team member in Chicago, Fraud Uber and left. And then lost the battle with cancer fighting to make ends meet and and her family were still looking to to pay for our funeral. you know that's the reality. Doug Shifter on New York City driver for 30 years and someone I knew personally pushed the edge and killed himself with a shotgun in front of a New York City Hall was buried under piling that he wrote about the worsening plight of drivers often unable to feed their family struggling to survive. Doug was not only a driver to supplement his income. It was his full-time job and he didn't he did it with a pride. Doug was not partisan. The gig economy he was a victim of the gig economy, and there are many many more gut-wrenching stories that are not heard in the media. These are real-life stories revealed the dark side of Giga Conor, The Alliance of Independent Workers Driver Unite movement calls upon the legislators and the American people to stop this third world style practice of exploitation of workers by corporations in America, The Bay and search on workers misclassification of employment must stop support the. is a act corporations must pay their feature i would like to thank congress women then how in that from new mexico for offering the gas up at it's long over do we are also working with that global and and direct local cops and to bring them into you as where the drivers on their right share and their own voice will always be heard ah with only tangible solution to reserving the issues of automation and a i technology which is coming And you're talking about with that elimination of like one million drivers in the US and that's our Uber and Lyft are playing the drivers around in the gig economy at the moment. Thank you. I think now we are going to hear back from Congresswoman Deb Holland to close this up, maybe take some some questions. Yes. Thank you all again so much for coming for caring about workers for caring about the inequity that persists in our country that we absolutely need to do something about this is one way. This is one solution to one of the issues that that we have in this country. with respect to the disparity between the rich and the poor, we want to make a more level playing field for for. And so I ask everyone to support this bill and at this time. If anyone has any questions, we're happy to try and answer those. Thank you all so much for coming. Thank you.