A thread on race, history, wages, and UberLyft’s Prop 22:

After the Nat’l Industrial Recovery Act was passed in 1933, min wage rates & maximum hours had to be established in all industries (both as an anti-inflationary measure & to prevent exploitation). 1/

As Donna Hamilton’s work reveals, not only did these wage codes exclude many Black workers (b/c they were employed in domestic & agricultural industries not covered by NIRA precisely b/c they were occupied by Black workers), but... 2/

Even in industries where wage codes were established, industrialists fought to have wage codes that were different for white workers and Black workers. But Roosevelt issued a temporary blanket code to speed reemployment. This resulted in...3/

Black workers in some industries being replaced by white workers. So, some influential Black leaders (like Robert Moton of Tuskegee) argued IN FAVOR of a differential wage rate by race. He said that this would help Black workers hold jobs b/c companies wld be more likely...4/

To hire them for less and/or not replace them w/white workers. The Joint Committee & the NAACP vehemently opposed wage rates based on race as discriminatory. A differential wage rate was never officially sanctioned and wage rates were instead...5/

Decided by geographic area. Though not racially discriminatory on its face, it amounted to a differential wage rate based on race b/c so many Black workers were in the southeastern states were rates were low...6/

Prop 22 would create a differential wage rate for an industry that is overwhelmingly occupied by people of color and immigrants. It is not discriminatory on its face, but it will have a discriminatory impact. Proponents of Prop 22, similar to Robert Moton in 1934, might...7/

Genuinely believe they are “helping” low income workers keep “jobs.” But the practice will have a racially discriminatory impact. POC & immigrant workers will not have the same protections as other workers. They will have unpredictable wages, no matter how long they work...8/

In this sense Prop 22 does not represent “new” or “innovative” policy as the tech industrialists would have you believe. It invokes an ugly racially discriminatory history, but with the sheen of racial neutrality...9/

If it passes, the provisions of Prop 22 will spread beyond CA & beyond the ride-hailing & food delivery industries. After the last 4 yrs in which the movement for equality has lost so much political ground, we cannot afford to lose this, too. Vote #NoOnProp22 10/END.