In the vast wheat fields of Kansas in 1892, a farmer stood before his peers at a Farmers’ Alliance meeting. “We plow, we plant, we harvest,” he declared, “yet others set our prices and take our profits.” Today, more than a century later, a rideshare driver in San Francisco opens her earnings app and sighs at the algorithm-determined rates that barely cover her expenses. Though separated by 130 years, both workers face the same fundamental struggle: they are price-takers, not price-makers.

This historical echo is no coincidence. Buildup Cooperative’s Pay Us Right movement represents the digital-age resurrection of principles that animated the 19th-century Populist movement. Both movements emerged when technological revolutions transformed work while leaving workers behind. Both responded to economic systems where essential workers produce value but lack corresponding economic power.

Price-Takers in Different Centuries

The Populist movement of the 1890s emerged when American farmers found themselves caught in a severe economic crisis. Despite feeding the nation, they were unable to control the prices of their crops or the rates charged by railroads to ship them. Banks set predatory interest rates on loans for equipment and land. Commodity speculators in distant cities manipulated markets. The farmer—despite owning land and producing essential goods—was reduced to a price-taker in a system designed by and for industrial and financial interests.

Today’s gig workers face a strikingly similar predicament. Rideshare drivers, delivery couriers, freelancers, and other platform workers provide essential services but have no say in setting their compensation. Digital platforms unilaterally determine rates, algorithms assign work, and workers bear the costs (such as vehicle maintenance, insurance, and equipment) without corresponding compensation. Like the farmers before them, they own their tools but lack economic security or bargaining power.

“The parallels are unmistakable,” says economic historian Dr. Sarah Jaffe. “In both eras, we see workers who are technically independent but functionally controlled by larger economic forces they can’t influence. The Populists called it ‘wage slavery in disguise.’ Today’s gig workers might call it ‘flexibility without power.'”

Becoming Price-Makers: The Core Mission of Pay Us Right

At the heart of Pay Us Right’s mission is a simple but revolutionary idea: gig workers must transition from price-takers to price-makers. This doesn’t mean individual workers negotiating rates—a practical impossibility against trillion-dollar platforms—but rather collective action to establish fair compensation standards based on real economic needs.

“We’re not asking for charity,” explains Marcus Rivera, a Pay Us Right organizer and former rideshare driver. “We’re demanding the power to ensure our compensation reflects the true value we create and the actual costs we bear. That’s what it means to be a price-maker.”

Pay Us Right’s approach to achieving this transition includes:

1. Data as Power: Just as Populist farmers created cooperative information networks to combat price manipulation, Pay Us Right collects and analyzes compensation data across platforms and regions. This transparency helps combat the information asymmetry that platforms often exploit.
2. Cooperative Organization: The Populists built cooperative purchasing and marketing associations to bypass exploitative middlemen. Similarly, Pay Us Right pools resources through $35 annual worker contributions to build collective power and create alternative economic structures.
3. Fair Pay Algorithm: While the Populists advocated for monetary reform to ensure fair value for agricultural products, Pay Us Right has developed a fair pay algorithm based on regional cost-of-living data. This establishes objective standards for what constitutes fair compensation.
4. Regulatory Advocacy: The Populists pushed for railroad regulation and antitrust enforcement. Pay Us Right similarly advocates for regulatory frameworks that address platform power and ensure workers receive fair compensation.

The Technological Revolution Then and Now

Both movements emerged during periods of technological upheaval that transformed the nature of work. For the Populists, industrialization, railroads, and telegraphs created national markets that undermined local economic autonomy. For Pay Us Right, digital platforms, smartphones, and algorithms have created the “gig economy,” fragmenting traditional employment and enabling on-demand labor without traditional workplace protections.

“Technology itself isn’t the enemy,” notes Dr. Veena Dubal, a labor law professor who studies the gig economy. “The problem is when technological power concentrates economic control in ways that leave workers vulnerable. The Populists didn’t oppose railroads—they opposed railroad monopolies. Similarly, Pay Us Right doesn’t oppose digital platforms—they oppose exploitative business models.”

Cooperative Power as the Solution

Both movements recognize that atomized individuals cannot effectively challenge systemic economic power. The Populists built a network of local alliances that eventually coalesced into a national movement. Pay Us Right similarly emphasizes building worker power through collective organization, data sharing, and mutual support.

“The Populists understood that farmers needed to stand together to have any hope against the railroads and banks,” explains labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein. “Today’s gig workers face even more dispersed working conditions—they often never even meet their colleagues. That makes digital organizing even more crucial.”

Pay Us Right’s cooperative structure enables workers to pool resources, share information, and build collective power despite their physical isolation. The $35 annual contribution—modest for an individual but powerful when multiplied across thousands—funds research, advocacy, and organizing efforts that individual workers could never sustain on their own.

From Protest to Power

The Populist movement ultimately transformed American politics, despite the People’s Party itself being short-lived. Its ideas were incorporated into Progressive Era reforms that fundamentally changed the relationship between government, corporations, and workers. Similarly, Pay Us Right aims not only to protest unfair conditions but also to reshape the gig economy fundamentally.

“We’re building for the long term,” says Rivera. “This isn’t just about getting a few more dollars per ride or delivery. It’s about establishing the principle that those who do the work deserve a voice in setting its value. It’s about transforming gig workers from price-takers to price-makers.”

This transformation requires more than just higher rates—it requires structural changes in how compensation is determined. Pay Us Right advocates for:

• Transparency in how rates are calculated
• Worker representation in platform governance
• Regulatory frameworks that ensure fair compensation
• Recognition of the full costs borne by workers

The Road Ahead

The Populist movement faced fierce opposition from entrenched economic interests that benefited from farmers’ lack of power. Similarly, Pay Us Right confronts resistance from platforms whose business models depend on maintaining workers as price-takers rather than price-makers.

Yet history suggests that economic democracy movements, even when they face setbacks, ultimately reshape the economic landscape. The Populists’ demands for railroad regulation, antitrust enforcement, and financial reform eventually became mainstream policy. Their vision of economic democracy influenced generations of reformers.

Pay Us Right stands in this tradition, updating the struggle for economic democracy for the digital age. By transforming gig workers from price-takers to price-makers, the movement aims to ensure that technological progress translates into financial security and dignity for all workers—not just profits for platform owners.

As one Pay Us Right member put it: “The Populists carried pitchforks. We carry smartphones. But we’re fighting the same battle—the right to a fair share of the value we create.”

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This article is part of a series examining the historical roots of contemporary labor movements. For more information about Pay Us Right and Buildup Cooperative, visit www.payusright.com and www.buildupcooperative.com.