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October 4, 2020 10:57 pm
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/XX9Zs3cVPPc/techs-new-gig-worker-underclass-customer-service-reps-who-have-to-pay-to-talk-to-you
Tech's New Gig Worker Underclass: Customer Service Reps Who Have to Pay to Talk to You
The Pulitzer prize-winning news nonprofit Propublica looks at Arise Virtual Solutions, part of the secretive world of work-at-home customer service companies that help large corporations shed costs at the expense of workers. And thanks to the pandemic, "business is booming."Arise lines up customer service agents who work from home. It then sells this network of agents to blue-chip corporations. Arise and most of its corporate clients consider preserving the secrecy of this arrangement to be vital... Arise's workers not only don't work for its clients, they also don't officially work for Arise. Like Uber drivers or TaskRabbit gofers, they are independent contractors. To get gigs, they first absorb substantial expense, paying for their own equipment and training, and then have fees deducted from every paycheck for the "use" of Arise's "platform." Arise has faced, and lost, legal challenges alleging that its arrangements with agents violate federal labor law and cheat workers of what they are rightfully owed. One judge called the arrangement an "elaborate construct" created by Arise to get around labor law. Nevertheless Arise has been able to avoid altering its model in any significant way, aided in part by a 5-4 ruling from the Supreme Court... With American roots going back to the 1990s, Arise's list of corporate clients, past and present, includes not only Airbnb, Comcast, Instacart and Disney, but also Amazon, Apple and AT&T. There's also Barnes & Noble, eBay, Intuit, Home Depot, Staples, Princess Cruises, Peloton, Signet Jewelers, Virgin Atlantic and Walgreens... Many agents find that the pay, after the cost of training and fees to Arise, dips well below minimum wage. Ironically, the historic Marxist song of the international workers movement began with the lyric, "Arise ye workers from your slumbers. Arise ye prisoners of want...."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/XX9Zs3cVPPc/techs-new-gig-worker-underclass-customer-service-reps-who-have-to-pay-to-talk-to-you
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