... isn't the lack of a better offer one of the components necessary to exploit a worker? You can only exploit a worker, without violence, if they are (financially) pressed against the wall and have no better options, right?
Not necessarily, but let's take your example. People often point that the gig companies aren't making any money, and the response to that is often along the lines of "well a business model like this shouldn't exist then".
So given that these companies aren't making money, what if these changes drive them out of existence? If gig workers truly don't have a better offer, well now they have no offers. What do this people do then?
They will do an even shittier job or be without any income.
You want to say "better this job than the worse one then", right? I understand that. But if you view the working conditions of gig workers as exploitive, this can't justify their existence, IMO. Otherwise you get a race to the bottom and can justify any work condition with the exception of the absolute bottom of the barrel.
Whether or not you see the working conditions for gig workers as exploitive is up to you, of course.
This is a fair argument (not one I agree with), but this is much larger than gig workers, and quickly jumps to minimum wage, UBI, etc.
I have views on that, not appropriate for this thread, and I accept if someone wants to make this argument. But again, this is a social critique...nothing specific to the gig economy.
... isn't the lack of a better offer one of the components necessary to exploit a worker? You can only exploit a worker, without violence, if they are (financially) pressed against the wall and have no better options, right?