Marcell Hawkins, who lives with his grandparents, had a call one day from his grandmother who had just fallen down. He logged out of his job as a gig worker for delivery company DoorDash and went to help her.
“Had I been in a different job, I would have been in trouble, written up or gotten fired for pulling my phone out during work,” he said in a series of video interviews with workers.
Produced by gig companies and posted on social media as part of their campaign in California to stave off an existential threat to their business model, the videos are self-serving. But they reveal a truth that is often ignored in the debate on the future of work.