A UBI would not just drive money and income to these people, I realized. It would act as a kind of twenty-first-century union, returning power to workers and radically redefining them as an investment for businesses, not just a cost to them. With a basic income, workers could refuse to take a job with low pay. With a basic income, workers could demand better benefits. With a basic income, companies would have to compete to win workers over. “It’s like making a permanent strike fund for people,” Andy Stern of the SEIU told me. “It makes a shift in the power dynamics. Imagine if you’re a young
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