Treat workers as employees? Uber, Lyft and others are scrambling for a compromise

Faced with a looming threat to their way of doing business, Uber, Lyft and other major on-demand companies are trying something they’ve historically been reluctant to do: seeking compromise. Anxious to preserve the freelance work arrangements upon which they’ve built their vast workforces, these companies have been pushing for a grand bargain that will satisfy labor groups’ demands and stave off a California bill that could force them to treat workers in the state as employees — an outcome that would damage their hopes of long-term profitability.