Unlike his fellow chief executive officers who rely on contract workers, Postmates’ Bastian Lehmann wants a push for improvement of workforce conditions. As workers’ demands for better pay and reasonable hours increase, the gig economy is under more scrutiny than ever.
… “We need a comprehensive approach that ends this confusion and empowers gig workers without taking away their flexibility or ability to innovate,” Lehmann wrote for CNN Business.
… Instead of attempting to keep contracted workers operating under the current laws, German-born Lehmann wants to partner with lawmakers to provide fair wages and safer conditions. “Gig companies don’t have a long history of working with organized labor, but the way forward depends on us viewing unions as working partners, not sparring partners,” he said.
He also outlined several goals that the gig economy’s big players can set in order to sustain their business models while providing jobs. These objectives include actually listening to workers’ concerns, paying “at least” minimum wage and creating an industry-wide benefits fund that on-demand workers can access. Lastly, Lehmann stressed that regulators need to set unified federal, not just state, laws that cover gig economy workers.