>There is no reason to think that this is never advantageous for the employee, and the workers who don't find those terms advantageous remain free to work for any other employer.
Your use of "never" is a red-herring. You have to quantify what it means. If 100% of uber drivers prefer higher pay over flexibility, what would be your argument? In other words, your argument completely hinges on a significant chunk of employees feeling like they are not being exploited. Without data, it won't stand on its own.
>There is value in that, or why is anybody doing it rather than working at Walmart or Starbucks where that isn't available?
Because those jobs are soul crushing, if you've ever worked at one of those. Just because Uber is offering "better" working conditions doesn't mean the drivers are happy about the pay. Also, if your standard of ethics is "whatever the employee voluntarily accepts" then why have a minimum wage at all?
One of the strongest appeals to me of a sustenance level of UBI is that we could then abolish the destructive minimum wage laws that shut some people out of the workforce, preventing them from the pride that is inherent in a solid effort at a job and bettering their lives on their own.
Right now, if you can only create $7/hr of economic value, no employer can legally employ you for a regular job in a way that's profitable for them.
>Right now, if you can only create $7/hr of economic value, no employer can legally employ you for a regular job in a way that's profitable for them.
Sure, but its just a shifting of costs. Either the employer pays them the extra $ or the government taxes everyone and makes up the difference. It comes out of the economy in either case.
I think UBI is a great idea, but so is minimum wage, and so is welfare, etc, etc. They're are all great ideas intended to help people in tough conditions.
Your use of "never" is a red-herring. You have to quantify what it means. If 100% of uber drivers prefer higher pay over flexibility, what would be your argument? In other words, your argument completely hinges on a significant chunk of employees feeling like they are not being exploited. Without data, it won't stand on its own.
>There is value in that, or why is anybody doing it rather than working at Walmart or Starbucks where that isn't available?
Because those jobs are soul crushing, if you've ever worked at one of those. Just because Uber is offering "better" working conditions doesn't mean the drivers are happy about the pay. Also, if your standard of ethics is "whatever the employee voluntarily accepts" then why have a minimum wage at all?