The issue of labor rules for gig workers continues to heat up around the globe, even as California’s embattled Proposition 22 (which grants app-focused rideshare and delivery companies exemptions from classifying drivers as employees) awaits possible further legal proceedings with Uber vowing to appeal a ruling that the law is unconstitutional.
South of the U.S.-Mexico border, Labor Minister Luisa Maria Alcalde signaled that Mexico is also grappling with how to best wrap its arms around its own growing gig economy while attempting to put rules into place for workers. At this point, no specifics on the plan exist, but her words draw attention to the coming “clearer plan” that Alcalde promises regarding Mexico’s desire to regulate gig worker conditions. This focus follows up on the nation’s recent labor-outsourcing ban, and Alcalde does make mention of social-security access and rules about pay for wait time between rides. Until a plan firms up, all eyes will await further word.
Alcalde also acknowledged that early results from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (T-MEC) signed by President Trump — and specifically, the decision by GM plant workers to reject a collective bargaining agreement against a powerful union that stood accused of corruption — functioned as a “test case” of the worker rights portions of the new trade deal that replaces NAFTA. In doing so, Alcalde warned that this case could be interpreted as a “red flag,” given that labor-violation reports against the plant couldn’t stack up against overcome workers’ resistance to the union in question.
