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The battle over New York City's minimum wage law for delivery workers reveals critical tensions at the heart of our modern economy—tensions we must confront as technology transforms work.

When delivery workers kept our city fed during the pandemic, they earned just $7.09 per hour without tips, which dropped to a shocking $4.03 after expenses. Their struggle for fair pay culminated in groundbreaking legislation guaranteeing them minimum wage, including payment for "on-call" time spent waiting for orders. But companies like Uber fought back aggressively, claiming the rule would destroy the flexibility that attracts workers to the platform.

Behind this legal battle lies a profound question about worker classification. Are delivery workers truly independent entrepreneurs, as apps claim, or employees deserving of basic protections? Looking closer, we discover these workers lack fundamental entrepreneurial control—they don't set rates, choose customers, or negotiate terms. Instead, they're managed by sophisticated algorithms that track their movements, control work assignments, and discipline them through ratings.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Delivery workers face astonishing danger—a fatality rate five times higher than construction workers. Meanwhile, Uber, which never turned an annual profit until 2023 after losing an estimated $30 billion over seven years, invested $400 million in autonomous vehicle technology. Their CEO's admission that "cars are to us what books were to Amazon" suggests human workers may be merely a transitional step toward a driverless future.

As we navigate this technological transition, we must ask: Can we embrace innovation without sacrificing fair labor practices? The court's decision upholding the minimum wage law demonstrates that collective organizing remains powerful even in our algorithmic age. But the larger question remains—how do we shape a future of work that benefits everyone?