Senior reporter & researcher, Claire Kelloway, guest features on a podcast to discuss California’s Proposition 22 ballot initiative and Big Tech at large.

Claire Kelloway and Errol Schweizer of Checkout Radio dig into the many different facets of Prop 22, the gig economy and antitrust, Amazon, and the overall automation of retail and distribution’s impact on workers.

Here is background on Prop 22 in California and below are timestamps of their interview:

1:00 - Prop 22 in California - tell us about it.

5:45 - The disinformation campaign around Prop 22

8:45 - Fair Labor Standards Act as it relates to Prop 22.

11:30 - The Gig Economy, Prop 22, and the implications for the workforce outside of California that we should be thinking about.

14:30 - Healthcare provision in Prop 22.

18:00 - What kind of organizing are you seeing amongst gig economy workers to reverse Prop 22?

22:30 - Anti-trust as a tool to manage gig companies.

27:00 - Amazon. On market dominance, how they do it, and how that’s problematic.

29:30 - How has Amazon kept people across political parties more or less placated?

33:30 - The vertical and horizontal integration of Amazon, and how that gives it an unfair advantage.

38:30 - Amazon and labor issues.

42:00 - Automation in retail and distribution. What types of technology are we seeing?

52:45 - How will other big retailers react to the technology and automation distributions from Amazon?

56:00 - The darker side of Amazon’s operational innovations.

1:00 - Reading recommendations!

• Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino

• The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business, Christopher Leonard

• Food and Power, Claire Kelloway