Gov. Andrew Cuomo | AP Photo Comparing the gig economy to sweatshops, Cuomo vows to end the ‘fraud’

Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears to have undergone a gig economy conversion.

Speaking to fellow elected leaders in Albany during his annual state of the state address, Cuomo compared gig economy corporations to the sweatshops of the early 20th century, and said this year, he will do his utmost to end the “fraud” they are perpetrating on the working class and the New York taxpayer, by classifying workers as freelancers, rather than standard employees.


“A driver is not an independent contractor simply because she drives her own car on the job,” Cuomo said, echoing the years-old rhetoric of worker advocates. “A newspaper carrier is not an independent contractor because they ride their own bicycle. A domestic worker is not an independent contractor because she brings her own broom and mop to the job. It is exploitive, abusive, it’s a scam, it’s a fraud, it must stop and it has to stop here and now.”

Cuomo’s remarks on the hot-button issue represent a marked evolution from his prior stance.

In 2015, as Mayor Bill de Blasio was trying to more tightly regulate companies like Uber in New York City, Cuomo criticized his efforts.

“Uber is one of these great inventions, start-ups, of this new economy,” Cuomo said. ”And it’s taking off like fire through dry grass. And it’s offering a great service for people, and it’s giving people jobs. I don’t think government should be in the business of trying to restrict job growth.”

He even joked that Uber drivers might well be earning more than him. (Cuomo earned $179,000 a year at the time.)

In 2016, the New York State Labor Department temporarily stopped processing Uber drivers’ unemployment insurance claims, telling one former driver that the issue was under “executive review,” as POLITICO reported at the time.

Since then, the gig economy has come to occupy center-stage among pro-labor advocates and elected officials, with critics challenging the corporations’ denial of basic worker rights by classifying them as independent contractors.

California recently passed a law redefining many such workers as employees. New York legislators are contemplating something similar. The law is now caught up in litigation.

Progressives, meanwhile, have gained influence in New York Democratic politics.

On Wednesday, Cuomo shed his old role as a gig economy cheerleader. He instead drew unfavorable comparisons between certain tech companies and the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, whose sweatshop conditions contributed to the deaths of nearly 150 largely immigrant women in a fire in 1911. The fire led to the creation of new labor standards.

“As FDR, Al Smith and Frances Perkins protected workers after the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, we too must protect workers from today’s threat, which is economic exploitation,” said Cuomo.

Bhairavi Desai, who as executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance has tangled with the Cuomo administration, seemed shocked by the governor’s comments, after POLITICO read them to her over the phone.

“It looks like someone has been organized,” she said. “The devil is always in the detail. But it sounds like the governor has [begun] to understand the exploitative nature of the gig economy business model.”

She said the true test of his “awakening” would be in the legislation he ultimately introduces.

“Is it going to uphold the same tenets of employment law that FDR and all the greats established, or is New York going to look to have a watered down law with pumped up rhetoric?” she said.

Asked for comment, spokesperson Jason Kaplan shared a statement from the newly formed and gig economy-backed “Flexible Work for New York” coalition.

“We’re encouraged by Governor Cuomo’s desire to work collaboratively on this important issue and look forward to finding a solution that maintains workers freedom to choose when, where, and for how long they want to work,” the statement said.