SB Nation: (Halos Heaven) Vox Media to Cut 200 Freelancers, Citing California Gig-Worker Law

[wopphil]

@Chuckster70Chuckster70, or anyone else in the know...

Does someone like Rev pay his contributors for content?  Or do they provide content simply because they like writing and like having their names published?

[Jeremiah]

28 minutes ago, Tank said:

so who benefits from this new law, and how?

Ideally people who do gig-type work, ride-share drivers,  writers who work for content mills. It’s supposed to require those employers to reclassify their workers as employees, thereby giving those workers protections such as minimum wage, sick days, and insurance eligibility.

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/18/762108954/california-governor-signs-law-protecting-gig-economy-workers

[T.G.]

but it looks/sounds like people are losing their jobs instead.

[Jeremiah]

5 minutes ago, True Grich said:

but it looks/sounds like people are losing their jobs instead.

Correct, but I think that’s independent of AB5, at least the NYT article Chuck linked said that Vox’s layoffs are largely part of a business strategy put into place long before AB5. Their first SBNation layoffs took place in February of ‘18. They and other media companies have been doing this for years now. AB5 just gives them a convenient scapegoat.

[Buttercup]

This law affected my work. I freelance write for several publications and have had to cut back how many articles I write for them. I would write a weekly column but now that puts me over the limit of full time employment status. These are small family publications that barely squeak by and could never afford the extra costs of having multiple full-time employees. 

[UndertheHalo]

SB nation is dog shit and their model for “employment” is dog shit.   I’m sorry that some people are losing income but this stuff will take over everything and it’s right to check it.  Im not sorry for the law or at least the spirit of it.  It’s unfortunate that this is the way it is.  There are casualties that suck. 

Edited December 18, 2019 by UndertheHalo

[Taylor]

My organization works with several long-term contractors. None of them are being laid off because of this law. Instead, they'll receive a company email and some employment benefits. 

[John Taylor]

2 hours ago, Buttercup said:

This law affected my work. I freelance write for several publications and have had to cut back how many articles I write for them. I would write a weekly column but now that puts me over the limit of full time employment status. These are small family publications that barely squeak by and could never afford the extra costs of having multiple full-time employees. 

Sorry to hear about this, I wish there could be exemptions for situations like this, but of course the red tape that you (and they) would have to go through would probably not be worth it.

[gotbeer]

5 hours ago, ettin said:

Wait, WTF? 

All I got for the Primer Series was an open-mouth kiss with tongue from @tdawg87!!! WTF CHUCK!!!!

Yeah, about that.  Chuck needs to see you in his office.  We need the Primer Series to just be a single Primer for legal reasons.  But you still get the open mouth kiss with tongue from tdawg.

[ettin]

33 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Yeah, about that.  Chuck needs to see you in his office.  We need the Primer Series to just be a single Primer for legal reasons.  But you still get the open mouth kiss with tongue from tdawg.

I get to keep the Angels red stapler, right?

[Jeremiah]

22 minutes ago, ettin said:

I get to keep the Angels red stapler, right?

As long as it isn’t a Swingline. Also, we’re going to need you to use the new cover sheets with your.Primer Series.

[ten ocho recon scout]

6 hours ago, Tank said:

so who benefits from this new law, and how?

 

[Chuck]

6 hours ago, wopphil said:

@Chuckster70Chuckster70, or anyone else in the know...

Does someone like Rev pay his contributors for content?  Or do they provide content simply because they like writing and like having their names published?

I believe they used to, but I don't think it was much after he left or got ousted, or fired I'm not sure what went down. I don't have any ill will toward him anymore. We made amends years ago after he apologized. He even offered a nice heartfelt sympathy letter when he found out my grandson Kason had open heart surgery. He too had TGA when he was a kid back in the 60's. I guess he was one of the first 20 to have had that surgery to switch around the arteries around the heart. 

I feel bad for the writers over there that made some pocket change for doing what they loved. 

@Jay, nobody here is on payroll but I try once a year to send something nice in the way of $$ or gift cards. Some years were better than others. With my new advertisement & premium model there's hope in the future to be able to do a little more if things work out. So far so good. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

7 hours ago, Taylor said:

I wonder if @EnglishCop gets paid.

 

I was trying to figure out what language that was written in.

[Chuck]

12 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

One of 10 reasons I always leaned toward keeping AW independent.  Partnerships are fine, but I never wanted the brand and community I built to be under someone else's rule.

 

I'll add to this.

You can be sure that if I ever bow out of ownership of this website for whatever reason I will make sure it goes to tenured AW supporter and Angels fan here. 

[UndertheHalo]

Good opportunity for us to all express gratitude to @Chuckster70 for what he makes happen here at AW.  The whole AW team as well of course. 

Edited December 19, 2019 by UndertheHalo

[tdawg87]

You're welcome.

[Chuck]

https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/You-would-not-be-compensated-New-California-14910688.php

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

Good opportunity for us to all express gratitude to @Chuckster70 for what he makes happen here at AW.  The whole AW team as well of course. 

[wopphil]

9 hours ago, Tank said:

so who benefits from this new law, and how?

Sacramento politicians. They want people to be jobless so that those people are dependent on the government. 

[wopphil]

By the way, for those people who think truck drivers are victimized by their independent contractor classification, many of them make in excess of a 100k per year. 

[UndertheHalo]

Many is a pretty strong exaggeration I’d say.  Average trucker makes like $21 dollars an hour.
 

 https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/mobile/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers.htm

[arch stanton]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

Many is a pretty strong exaggeration I’d say.  Average trucker makes like $21 dollars an hour.
 

 https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/mobile/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers.htm

I’d imagine that the independent truckers are on the higher side of that. Problem is that their entire industry is about to go the way of the video store rewind technician 

[Docwaukee]

5 hours ago, Jeremiah said:

As long as it isn’t a Swingline. Also, we’re going to need you to use the new cover sheets with your.Primer Series.

and he can play his music at a reasonable level.  

[Jeremiah]

SBNation's "offer" for writers to work for free is just a continuation of a trend that has been building for some time now. Again, the law is a convenient scapegoat. The people who took over Sports Illustrated (TheMaven) have made similar offers,  though they tell their fansite managers to find the free labor. It all comes down to these companies deciding they just don't want to pay for labor. There's a reference to other SB Nation shenanigans here too.

https://deadspin.com/inside-themavens-plan-to-turn-sports-illustrated-into-a-1838756286

 

"In conversations with Deadspin, several sources who were pitched jobs running Maven team sites under Sports Illustrated branding described a bleak scenario. They said they were told they would earn between $25,000 and $30,000 per year, with vague opportunities to make extra money by hitting “traffic bonuses.” They would be expected to post three “news videos” per day to their site—they were to wear Maven polo shirts in these videos—as well as hundreds of posts per month. The message was clear: Quantity over quality. Prospective Maven “partners” were told by company execs that if they had trouble creating enough content, they should go to the nearest college and find eager young students who would write for free. These Maven partners would also be required to register themselves as an LLC, presumably so TheMaven would avoid any SB Nation–like legal liability for misclassifying workers as independent contractors instead of employees. Multiple sportswriters, all of whom spoke to Deadspin about their experiences with TheMaven on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, compared the company’s executives to “snake oil salesmen.”"