 | By Jyoti Thottam Deputy Op-Ed Editor |
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In the 1950s, the worst one might have said about a corporation was that it was bland, as dull as gray flannel and encouraged “groupthink” among its nameless drones. |
That has changed over the last few decades, as corporate power has increased to staggering levels. And as companies exert more power over our lives and livelihoods, Americans have developed very personal feelings about them. We have “loyalty” to the brands we like, we become “ambassadors” for the ones we identify with, and reject those we don’t like as a political statement. As Angela Allan explained in a perceptive essay in The Atlantic in 2016, the “evil corporation” is a 21st-century pop culture cliché. |
Uber is perhaps the best example of this phenomenon. It has become an emblem of Silicon Valley excess as it reshapes cities around the world. The company is also at the center of some of the most difficult questions around how the modern economy functions: Is flexible work the future for all industries? Can it ever be good for workers, or is it just a new way for companies to rid themselves of their last remaining obligations to workers? |
Times Opinion has explored many of these questions, including in a recent piece by the editorial board recommending that voters in California reject a November ballot initiative, backed by Uber and others, that would exempt Uber and a host of other app-based work companies from a state law that classifies many gig workers as employees. |
Treating drivers as employees is a threat to Uber’s business model, and the company approached The Times recently with an Op-Ed by its chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, arguing for a new way to handle benefits for gig economy workers. We asked him to engage directly with criticism of the company and to make his case to Times readers, who include both Uber’s best customers and its sharpest critics. Did he succeed? Read here and see for yourself. |
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