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Comment by sharemywin | Hacker News Reader

my question is are these platforms(I'm including UBER in this) actually cartels? from a legal perspective? If they don't allow individuals to set pricing.

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how are they stopping individuals from setting pricing. if anything it gives them more power than traditional gig economy apps

I talking about price fixing. we're multiple sellers collude to fix pricing.

Up & Go cleaners earn $25 per hour, more than double what workers typically earned independently, according to Project Manager Sylvia Morse. While apps generally take a cut of 20 percent or more, Up & Go only takes 5 percent, which it then reinvests in the platform.

explain to me how that is bad? Also it is not multiple sellers. Up & go is one entity just like Uber

I was more asking is it illegal?

Horizontal Price Fixing

Horizontal price fixing occurs when companies decide to fix prices or price levels for a good or service at a premium or a discount. For example, several retail companies may fix the sale prices of television sets at a premium thereby earning higher profits.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pricefixing.asp

these are not companies. it is one company comprising of individuals

Well maybe Uber is a bad example because it has many competitors but the selling point of subcontracting business is usually that instead of employees having the option of working for a large variety of employers those employers will now only hire (temporarily) you if you work for a specific subcontracting business. This means the number of potential employers has been reduced from thousands or hundreds to a number you can count on your hand.

This one isn't a Cartel as its like a taxi company but co-owned by workers. But Uber could be considered a cartel because they don't consider the car drivers as workers, so they are effectively setting prices for the market of drivers.

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