Counter-frames and converging narratives: how labor legislation in California framed work as an independent contractor

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 15: Labor Markets and Mobility

Abstract

With a focus on how narratives shape the way groups interpret the world around them, I am interested in how local news organizations framed gig workers in coverage of legislation regulating the employment relationship between gig work companies and gig workers. At the center of the issue was the idealization of gig workers as independent contractors or employees, and whether gig workers deserved the protections that come with employee status, or something different due to the inordinate nature of working when you want, where you want, for as long as you want. Using secondary data comprising (1) YouTube videos of local news segments; (2) newspaper articles from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times; and (3) local ethnic newspaper articles, I employ thematic analysis to understand who were the involved players, what were their narratives, how did group narratives overlap, and how did media representation of group frames shape the way people voted in the ballot initiative (Prop 22). I find that one dominant frame, flexibility is in danger, contrasts with gig worker’s counter-frames that flexibility is already in decline and because of gig worker’s gendered, racialized, and classed social locations, gig work companies are trying to lock in low pay in perpetuity. While many gig worker’s narratives reflected the conflict perspective, some gig workers sided with gig work companies, stressing the importance of driver flexibility to conducting the work. I argue the convergence of narratives between groups, particularly between gig workers and gig work companies, was key to shaping the narratives that drove people to the polls to vote on the ballot initiative (Prop 22).

Author

• Garrett Santee Riley, Texas A&M University-College Station