Re: “Seattle council might make U-turn on supply drivers’ pay as charges enhance” [April 26, Local News]:
Simply three years in the past, then-candidate Sara Nelson ran for Metropolis Council promising to revive accountable and considerate governance to Seattle. She billed herself as a “pragmatic progressive.”
That, it’s now clear, was empty rhetoric. Council President Nelson’s present effort to intestine the PayUp gig employee minimum-wage ordinance is an ideal real-life instance of exactly the caricature of rushed, irresponsible management that Nelson railed towards throughout her marketing campaign.
Gig firms are selecting to institute a punitive charge on Seattle prospects in a cynical try to bully town into rolling again bare-minimum labor requirements. However moderately than making use of fundamental skepticism to unverified “inner” firm knowledge, Nelson has taken up rushed, regressive laws written by and for those self same firms — a mere 4 months into PayUp’s lifetime.
A accountable chief would prioritize an actual legislative course of, guarantee a considerate public debate and search significant enter from a variety of stakeholders, together with drivers and labor teams. That’s the vetting course of the unique PayUp laws went by. It’s how accountable governance is meant to work.
As an alternative, we get this anti-worker sham of a course of. A minimum of now we all know how Nelson plans to control.
Jeffrey Gustaveson, Seattle
