Hillary, Dems, Have An Uber Problem

The burgeoning “on-demand” economy is creating a dilemma for Hillary Clinton and other Democrats who are generally aligned with labor but also have garnered support from Silicon Valley and don’t want to find themselves in opposition to entrepreneurial tech companies, including the on-demand startups. The problem is that the Department of Labor and some state agencies are looking to crack down on misclassification of workers as contractors, and a number of lawsuits, various labor supporters and unions, as well as a ruling from the California Labor Commissioner’s Office (which said Uber workers are employees, not contractors), are suggesting that the on-demand startups are among the offenders. The Hill looks at how Clinton and some other Democrats are trying to finesse the issue. According to one estimate, Uber is the most valuable U.S. based startup company, with a value of $41.2 billion, and Airbnb is number two.