第3144期:California’s initiatives could bring about massive changes

This ad posted to Youtube was part of an unprecedented 200-million-dollar initiative in California by Lyft, Uber and other firms to convince voters that workers who use their apps to find work should be classified as independent contractors, overturning 2019 state legislation that defined them as employees. 发布到油管上的这则广告是来福车、优步等公司在加利福尼亚州发起的一项史无前例的2亿美元倡议活动的一部分，旨在说服选民，让他们认为使用其应用程序找工作的劳动者应被归类为独立承包商，从而推翻2019年该州将他们定义为雇员的立法。 It's a big win for the companies who are no longer required to cover all their drivers for health care and paid time off. 这对公司来说是个巨大的胜利，因为它们不再需要为所有司机提供医疗保险和带薪休假。 The companies see their victory as a vote of confidence in their model of a third way of defining work, app-based gigs, and may inspire similar pushes elsewhere. 这些公司将自己的胜利视为对其定义工作的第三种模式——基于应用程序的零工模式的信任投票，这或许会激励其他地方采取类似的举措。 It's gonna be something that we're going to see affecting more than just California now at this point because other states are looking at a challenge. 现在这将会影响到的不只是加州，因为其他州也正面临挑战。 And that's including Massachusetts, New York and even New Jersey. 包括马萨诸塞州，纽约州甚至新泽西州。 Gerace supported the initiative because he said as an independent contractor, the promise of flexibility works for him. Gerace支持这项倡议，因为他表示，作为一名独立承包商，灵活性的承诺对他而言是可行的。 I'm not full time, I'm part time, so I go on and off when I choose. It's much more convenient for me that way. 我不是全职工作，我是兼职，所以我可以根据自己的选择随时上班或休息。那样对我来说方便多了。 But opponents say the company's victory comes at the expense of workers' rights. 但反对者说，该公司的胜利是以牺牲工人权利为代价的。 This kind of app-based piece work may seem to offer flexibility, but it comes with serious downsides, they say. 他们表示，这种基于应用程序的零工工作看似提供了灵活性，但也存在严重的弊端。 The gig worker stuff in general, I think, is a problem for labor everywhere because it's making people independent contractors. 总的来说，我认为零工经济的问题对各地的劳动力都构成挑战，因为它正在让人们成为独立承包商。 You take away right unemployment, you take away workers comp. Anything that you kind of offer protections under the law you're losing those. 你取消了正当的失业救济，你取消了工伤赔偿。任何在法律层面提供保障的内容，你都在失去它们。 The victory by the app companies like Uber and Lyft may embolden other industries to pursue the third way model for their employees, some labor experts say. 一些劳工专家表示，优步和来福车等应用程序公司的胜利可能会鼓励其他行业为其员工推行第三种模式。 I think that maybe scarier prospect is just this sort of offers an avenue for lots of other types of companies to follow in step. 我认为，或许更令人担忧的前景是，这恰恰为许多其他类型的公司提供了效仿的途径。 And I wonder slash worry about instances where like a Walmart decides to say, "Hey, actually our workers are also independent contractors." 我不禁会想，也会担心出现这样的情况，比如沃尔玛会宣称：“实际上我们的员工也是独立承包商。” As Uber, Lyft and other app companies look beyond California, the future of work, what it means to have a job may be a concept that is changing. 随着优步、来福车及其他应用程序公司放眼加州以外的地区，工作的未来，以及拥有一份工作意味着什么，可能是一个正在变化的概念。