Latest news with #gigeconomy
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I was a movie editor. Fighting for workers' rights made me quit the industry and go to law school.
After over a decade, Edward Wardrip is leaving documentary editing to attend UCLA Law School. Documentary and reality TV workers lack union protections, unlike many other film industry sectors. Wardrip aims to advocate for gig economy workers' rights, including healthcare and fair pay. This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Edward Wardrip, who worked as a documentary editor for over a decade. He's planning to attend UCLA Law School to become a labor attorney. It's been edited for length and clarity. I graduated from college in 2012, which was shortly after the financial crash, but when things were starting to pick up again. I loved working in documentary. I mostly worked on PBS-style historical documentaries. That's always been my favorite. It always felt like I was in school, still learning. My first two mentors were both incredibly talented editors who lived solid, middle-class lives in New York. I was inspired by that. I think the industry has changed. It was more plausible to have a middle-class life 10 years ago than it is now. But despite documentary and reality TV production increasing over the years, many workers feel like they haven't reaped the benefits. I spent the last couple of years fighting to unionize our section of the industry, which has been left behind by other film and TV unions. Now, at 34 years old, I'm going to law school to learn how to fight for workers like myself. Movie and TV unions are strong — but documentaries and reality TV are left out The movie and TV industry is known for its strong unions. But it's less common for documentary and reality TV projects to have a unionized crew. People who work on documentaries are seldom given the same protections as those in other parts of the industry. We work long hours and don't always get overtime pay or healthcare, which is getting more expensive. It's upsetting to open a streaming app, see your documentary or a friend's documentary on the homepage, and know that none of the people who worked on it got healthcare. The industry unions haven't always adapted to the gig economy nature of documentary work. Even as documentary filmmaking and reality TV production have expanded dramatically, we rarely have a seat at the bargaining table with traditional unions. A group of us in the Alliance of Documentary Editors formed an organizing committee. We found the traditional model of flipping one show at a time didn't work for us. Documentaries are not multiple seasons. By the time you spend months organizing and negotiating a union contract for a documentary crew, it's over. You're on to the next thing. We found out about the non-majority union model, which we thought made more sense for the fast-paced film and TV industry of this era. The organizing campaign is still ongoing. Many documentary filmmakers work on both big projects and small, independent projects. And we wanted to find a way to ensure everyone could have healthcare all the time, not just on the giant studio productions. It was time for a change I've worked only one union job, for 17 months in 2015 and 2016: "Spielberg," an HBO documentary about Steven Spielberg. The healthcare was incredible. If there was an issue, you called the union and it was fixed. The claims above say that there is no healthcare for people in documentary films That was the last documentary union job I've seen listed anywhere. I haven't heard of anyone I know working another one since. By 2024, my documentary film work was getting really, really scarce. I mean, it was very dead for a lot of people. I had to completely eat through my retirement savings just to stay afloat. That's the reality of freelance life. No one's putting anything into a retirement check for me. I was doing it all myself. At 34, I looked around and thought, "This doesn't feel worth it to me anymore." I felt like I was on a dead-end road and I was never going to be able to retire. And I was still young enough that I could do something else. But organizing a union energized me. I was passionate about labor law. I just started studying at night and on the weekends for the LSAT. I did an online class with a bunch of 22-year-olds. I got a 174 on the LSAT, which is the 98th percentile. UCLA gave me the best offer. And since I already live in Los Angeles, I could keep my apartment and stay relatively close to my relatives in California. There's a whole class of people in our economy who are doing what we have not typically considered union work. I want to work and fight for Amazon workers, Whole Foods employees, Uber drivers, YouTube content moderators — you name it. Our jobs have really changed, and the gig economy has changed, and there's this huge group of people who deserve healthcare and who are not getting it. I want to fight for them. Read the original article on Business Insider
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
‘Ludicrous' to blame gig economy for mass migration, insists Lord Cameron
Lord Cameron has hit out at 'ludicrous' claims that he contributed to the small boats crisis by embracing a wave of loosely-regulated gig economy apps. The former prime minister denied that his backing for the expansion of firms such as Uber and Deliveroo helped create a thriving black market for jobs. His comments come amid revelations that asylum seekers are making money illegally as couriers and food delivery drivers in the so-called gig economy of lightly regulated part-time work. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has vowed to crack down on the practice, warning it 'undermines honest business and undercuts local wages'. Lord Cameron's government pledged to become a global centre for tech companies involved in the gig economy 11 years ago, courting some of the biggest players. Lee Anderson, the Reform UK MP, suggested the Coalition's stance had allowed illegal migrants 'to roam the streets on e-bikes and make a living'. A spokesman for the former prime minister denied the claims, insisting Lord Cameron was 'proud' of having brought investment into the UK. He said: 'Lord Cameron remains incredibly proud of everything he and the governments he led did to ensure the UK established itself as a truly successful global tech hub – attracting global businesses, creating jobs, and boosting economic growth. 'To link this success story to the legitimate issues of illegal immigration is ludicrous. 'Indeed, it's a legacy we should be proud of and successive governments should build on, as we seek to ensure the UK remains an attractive place to do business; attract talent and innovation; and secure our place as a global centre for tech and entrepreneurialism.' The Coalition government, which was led by Lord Cameron, commissioned a review into what was then called the 'sharing economy' in 2015. It had the aim of making Britain the 'global centre' of the new wave of services such as Uber and Deliveroo, and lifting regulations on the sector. But the delivery apps have become controversial, with accusations they are attracting illegal migrant labour. Their delivery drivers are classed as self-employed workers, rather than employees, which has meant they have been subject to fewer checks. There have also been issues around the use of 'substitute' drivers – where people who are legitimately in the UK own a delivery account with one of the companies but then subcontract it out to illegal workers for a fee. The Home Office has announced plans to tighten up the system, forcing delivery firms to carry out more illegal working checks on riders working for them. On Friday, ministers announced that hundreds of delivery drivers had been arrested in a single week last month as part of a new crackdown on illegal migrants. A total of 1,780 people were intercepted at locations across Britain for suspected illegal working activity between July 20 and 27. The Home Office said 280 people were detained in areas including Hillingdon in north-west London, Dumfries in Scotland, and Birmingham. Of these, 53 are now having their asylum support reviewed, which could lead to it being withdrawn, the Government said. The findings follow a Telegraph investigation that revealed asylum seekers housed in Home Office hotels were paying off debts to people smugglers by illegally working as bike couriers. The Telegraph found that migrants were making up to £500 a week by working for delivery services such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, even though many of them were banned from working because of their immigration status. Illegal work carried out by asylum seekers has become a political flashpoint amid growing public anger over the failure to stop small boat crossings. The Tories and Reform have criticised Labour for having a soft touch approach, with the number of illegal arrivals on course to break records. More than 25,000 people had crossed the Channel by the end of June, the earliest in the year at which that figure has been reached. Lee Anderson, the Reform chief whip, said: 'Labour and the Tories have completely lost control of the asylum system and taxpaying Britons are footing the bill. 'Not only are these unidentified fighting-age males being welcomed and housed in luxurious hotels, they are also able to roam the streets on e-bikes and make a living. 'The fact that this is being allowed to happen without a serious crackdown is appalling'.
Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Times
Why ‘dynamic pay' is the new way to rip you off
Workers are having their wages cut by new 'dynamic pay' schemes, unions and academics have warned. The practice of surge pricing came under fire after firms used demand to drive up the cost of Oasis reunion tickets. Some gig-economy workers, including Uber drivers and Deliveroo workers, are having their own problems with surge pricing, because their pay is adjusted based on real-time demand. The pay models are based on algorithms. Instead of receiving a predictable, formula-based fee per task, workers are being offered personalised payments for each job. A University of Oxford study published in June found that Uber's 'dynamic pay' system, introduced in 2023 and which alters pay as well as passenger fares, is cutting driver earnings on higher-value trips. Unlike the familiar surge pricing that bumps up fares during busy times to get more drivers on the road, the 'dynamic' system also tweaks how the fare is split, often meaning Uber takes a bigger cut and drivers end up with less. Reuben Binns, an associate professor at Oxford's Department of Computer Science, said: 'The higher the value of the trip, the more of a cut Uber takes. So the more the customer pays, the less the driver actually earns per minute. • What is Ticketmaster, the $22bn music giant under fire for 'dynamic pricing'? 'Workers try all sorts of things to cope — switching apps, refusing certain jobs, tracking their own data — but they're always a step behind the algorithm. 'Platforms are getting more secretive over time. They've moved from a relatively transparent system to a much more complicated one. If this model becomes widespread, it raises big questions about how workers can plan their finances.' Katie Wells, an academic from Georgetown University in Washington DC who studies algorithmic pay systems, said similar models are appearing in other sectors, including healthcare in the US where nurses bid for shifts. She said: 'Uber's personalised wages and prices echo what's happening with grocery prices, plane tickets, and other goods increasingly being priced with granular data.' One London-based Uber driver, who asked to remain anonymous, said: 'I have noticed that our fares or the amount we receive have gone down. Plenty of the drivers I know complain that Uber is deducting more than expected. Many drivers are getting frustrated. 'One of my fellow drivers said he wants to quit Uber because he feels like it's tormenting him as he works so hard just to make £140 a day. I reject a lot of jobs based on fares now. You have to see what job brings you more money.' The former Uber driver Ronak Kazi, 39, said the pay system often felt unpredictable. 'We would get very different amounts for very similar jobs,' he said. Henry Chango Lopez, general secretary of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), said: 'The spread of dynamic pricing models should worry us all. These systems keep workers in a constant state of anxiety — forced to make hundreds of snap decisions a day without any transparency into how pay is calculated. It's not just that the game is rigged, it's that workers aren't even allowed to know the rules.' Lopez said that many drivers were working 70-hour weeks under the model and still struggling to cover basic costs, noting that Uber's adoption of dynamic pay preceded the largest driver strike in UK history. • Read more money advice and tips on investing from our experts The GMB union says the lack of transparency in how platforms calculate pay highlights the inequalities between workers and operators, increasing insecurity in already low-income roles. Alex Wood, an assistant professor in economic sociology at the University of Cambridge, said: 'Platforms use dynamic pricing to manage supply and demand, but these systems are highly opaque. It's impossible for workers to know how much they will earn, causing insecurity and anxiety in a population where many already earn below the minimum wage.' A Deliveroo spokesperson said: 'Our rider pay model is designed for flexibility and transparency. All riders have access to information on how orders are offered and how fees are calculated on our website. Riders have the freedom to determine when, where and whether they will work and earnings are measured based on factors such as the time riders spend on each order.' An Uber spokesman said: 'We do not recognise the figures in this report. We're focused on offering people a safe, affordable and easy option to get where they need to go and are proud that thousands of drivers continue to make the positive choice to work on Uber as passenger demand and trips continue to grow.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Hundreds arrested in 'week-long crackdown' on asylum seekers working for delivery companies
Hundreds of arrests have been made across the UK as part of a "week-long crackdown" on asylum seekers taking jobs for delivery firms. A total of 1,780 people were stopped and spoken to over suspected illegal working activity between 20 and 27 July. Some 280 were arrested as a result - in areas including Hillingdon in northwest London, Dumfries in Scotland, and Birmingham. Some 89 of those have been detained pending removal from the country and 53 are now having their asylum support reviewed, which the government said could result in their support being suspended or withdrawn. The Home Office described the operation as a "nationwide intensification week" targeting illegal working hotspots, with a focus on the gig economy, where work is assigned on a short-term or job-by-job basis, and people working as food delivery riders. Immigration enforcement teams will receive £5m from the £100m in funding already announced for border security, aimed at increasing visits by officers in these areas over the coming months. Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have said they will ramp up facial verification and fraud checks over the coming months to prevent people working as riders without permission. Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said: "Illegal working undermines our border security and we're cracking down hard on it. "That's why we have intensified our enforcement activity right across the UK to crack down on those who think they can evade immigration and employment laws in the UK. " Meanwhile, 51 businesses including car washes and restaurants were issued with penalty notices that could see them handed hefty fines if they are found to have hired people without the right to work in the UK. Eddy Montgomery, enforcement director at the Home Office, said officers were taking action "around the clock" against "those who think they can get away with working illegally". Read more from Sky News: Asylum seekers in the UK are normally barred from work while their claim is being processed, though permission can be applied for after a year of waiting. Officials had indicated there would be an increase in work to target areas of suspected activity, as ministers hope to tackle the "pull factors" attracting migrants to the UK. It comes after the government announced it would share information about asylum hotel locations with food delivery firms in a bid to disrupt such hotspots. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the Conservatives wanted to strip asylum seekers of their status and deport them, if they work illegally, and claimed "this story has only happened" because he "exposed what Labour refused to see". He described one hotel housing asylum seekers as a "black-market, courier hub in plain sight", referring to food delivery riders he had seen allegedly operating out of the site without permission. "Labour are now boasting about arrests, but we know they are too scared to actually deport anyone," Mr Philp continued. "People breaking the law are still being put up in hotels and handed benefits. "It's a racket and Labour are letting it run."
Sky News
4 days ago
- Sky News
Hundreds arrested in 'week-long crackdown' on asylum seekers working for delivery companies
Hundreds of arrests have been made across the UK as part of a "week-long crackdown" on asylum seekers taking jobs for delivery firms. A total of 1,780 people were stopped and spoken to over suspected illegal working activity between 20 and 27 July. Some 280 were arrested as a result - in areas including Hillingdon in northwest London, Dumfries in Scotland, and Birmingham. Some 89 of those have been detained pending removal from the country and 53 are now having their asylum support reviewed, which the government said could result in their support being suspended or withdrawn. 9:13 The Home Office described the operation as a "nationwide intensification week" targeting illegal working hotspots, with a focus on the gig economy, where work is assigned on a short-term or job-by-job basis, and people working as food delivery riders. Immigration enforcement teams will receive £5m from the £100m in funding already announced for border security, aimed at increasing visits by officers in these areas over the coming months. Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have said they will ramp up facial verification and fraud checks over the coming months to prevent people working as riders without permission. Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said: "Illegal working undermines our border security and we're cracking down hard on it. "That's why we have intensified our enforcement activity right across the UK to crack down on those who think they can evade immigration and employment laws in the UK. " 1:04 Meanwhile, 51 businesses including car washes and restaurants were issued with penalty notices that could see them handed hefty fines if they are found to have hired people without the right to work in the UK. Eddy Montgomery, enforcement director at the Home Office, said officers were taking action "around the clock" against "those who think they can get away with working illegally". Asylum seekers in the UK are normally barred from work while their claim is being processed, though permission can be applied for after a year of waiting. Officials had indicated there would be an increase in work to target areas of suspected activity, as ministers hope to tackle the "pull factors" attracting migrants to the UK. It comes after the government announced it would share information about asylum hotel locations with food delivery firms in a bid to disrupt such hotspots. 8:26 Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the Conservatives wanted to strip asylum seekers of their status and deport them, if they work illegally, and claimed "this story has only happened" because he "exposed what Labour refused to see". He described one hotel housing asylum seekers as a "black-market, courier hub in plain sight", referring to food delivery riders he had seen allegedly operating out of the site without permission. "Labour are now boasting about arrests, but we know they are too scared to actually deport anyone," Mr Philp continued. "People breaking the law are still being put up in hotels and handed benefits.
