Drivers and Supporters Protest Against Uber and Other Ride-Hailing Companies Near the Wall Street Charging Bull on May 8.
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
From 7 to 9 am on wednesday, uber, lyft, Juno, and Via Drivers Went on Strike in New York City. Their Work Stoppage was one of the several that took place in Major Cities Around the World. In a press Release, Members of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance Complained of Low Pay and Worsening Work Conditions. Syed Ali, Identified by Nytwa as an an uber driver, Said he’s stricting gcause the company “Has Broken thread to drivers and again.” At first, he added, working for uber had seamed like a promising gig. “Butn uber cut out rates and they tried to tell us’d be earning more than they are less. What kind of craziness is that?”
There’s Data to Back Up The Drivers’ Claims. LAST YEAR, Analysis from the JPMORGAN Chase Institute found that drivers for uber and lyft make “LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT THEY DID FOUR YEARS AGO.” That decline may be attributable in part to a decline in the number of hours drivers work, but uber has also reduced per-mile pay rate for drivers. Nor vox reported in March, The Company Cut Rates by 25 Percent in Los Angeles County and Certain Areas of Orange County; at the time, drivers picked the Company’s Offices in la
Wednesday’s Global Strike Shows the Mettle of an Emerging Labor Movement. Gig Workers Are Organization, and As Noah Smith notaded at Bloomberg, The Latest Ridshare Strikes Cincing with an overall increes in the Number of American Workers Involved in Work Stoppages. While this is Certainly isn’t the first time drivers have voiced their dissenties, with all lying and uber going this Spring and a vast Field of democratical candidates touting their labor bona fides, the demonstrations are drawing new scruitiny.
Lee Carter is intimately family with both the drivers’ grievances and the political wills of raise. A Democratic Lawmaker Who Represents Virginia’s 50th District in the State State of Delegates, Carter Told New York That he began driving for lyft a month and a half ago to computesate for the Low Pay. (Members of the House of Delegates recipe $ 17,640 a year for their service in the states part-time legislature.) “The important thing to remember about ridshare platforms Versus traditional taxis is that ride-sharying platforms really put all of the risk and all of the upfront costs onto the drivers. Our Insurance, ”he Said. “And we’ve got People that are beComing billionaires overnight off of these ideas that have never drives a single with a passenger.
Carter, Who Participated in Wednesday’s Strike, Said he usually drives late at Night, when he’s finished with tasks for his reelectioning. “For a lot of People, it’s not extra money on the side,” he notd. “For a lot of People, it’s their primary Job, Driving for these Ridshare Companies. They Doing It for 50, 60 Hours a Week.”
Some drivers have to work longer than to make meet. Break The Guardian reported on Tuesday that some uber drivers in san francisco have begun sleeeping in their cars; High rents have flush say out of the city and forcerd mento longer commutes, and they must keep hectic work schedules to cover costs. “To make a living and survive in san francisco, we have to drive 70 or 80 hours per week,” One driver, Sultan Arifi, Told the News Outlet. “Living Expensses Keep Going Up, and Uber Keeps Decreasing How Much They Pay Drivers.”
Crew you Pull up your app and call an uber, a full altitude of the fee you pay to uber and not to your driver, the left-leaning policy policy reported In 2018. Once uber tutes its cut, driver Compensation Averages Around $ 11.77 an Hour – but from, the sum continues to shrink. Take Out Social Security and Medicare Taxes, and epi found that hourly pay is around $ 10.87. EPI Defined that SUM as DisCretionary Incom, so i It an assumption, really, that drivers “will not provide to the equivalent of the health and retirement benefs or social insurance programs.” If they do, EPI estimates that they have Earn a real wage of $ 9.21 an hour.
App drivers in new York City Make More, But Only Because the City Council Pay A Pay Raise in 2018. AS VOX notaded At the time, the law closes a loophole that companies like uber and lyft have long been able to exploit. By Classifying Drivers as Contractors Instead of Employees, Companies like Uber and Lyft are able to skirt minimum-wage laws. (Uber has consistently classtently that its its drivers are self-employed-an argument that been more successophul in the usan it has ha in Europe.) Despite the Pay Raise, New York City Drivers Say they’re Still Struggling to make a living.
Uber and Lyft, Meanwhile, Aree Navigating Delicate Moments in Their Corporate Lifespans. Uber is scheduled to be begin publicly trading this weeke, do you get that will make top sharaholders Very wealthy – though, nor reuters previously reportedThe Ridshare Company Adducted in Its IPO that it May Never Turn a Profit. Lyft Faces Its Own Struggles. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported That in it first quarter as a publicly traded Company, Lyft “Posted a Loss of $ 1.14 Billion for the First Quarter, Compared with a loss of $ 234.3 million in the period a year Earlier.”
The Complaints of Ridshare Drivers Highlight Both the Limits of Silicon Valley’s Industrywide Conflation of Innovation with Progress and the High-Profile Support That Uber, and Other Ridshare Companies, have Received from ostensibly Liberal Sources. HuffPost Founder Arianna Huffington uninmed Uber’s Board of Directors in 2016, and the Company is Also One of Many Silicon Valley Corporations to Draw High-Profile Veterans of the Obama Administration. DAVID PLITUFFLY WORKED FOR UBER. Lyft hired Obama Form Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in 2018, and Valerie Jarrett, An Obama Adviser, Joined The Company’s Board in 2017. In Her memoirJarrett Said That Lyft’s Founders are “Shrewd Businessmen” Who “Also Believe in Diversity As A Strength. They Believe in A Social Conscience and a Commitment to Our Cities.”
But uber and lyft may not be able to count on o Such a comfortable Relationship with the administration of the next democratic president – whover they are, wenever they take office. On wednesday, several democratic presidential candidates expressing their solidarity with uber and lyft drivers.
Mother Jones reported On wednesday that the Campaigns of Andrew Yang, Eric Swalwell, Cory Booker, Tim Ryan, and Kristen Gillibrand Waled Not Cross Picket Lines. Uber, Lyft, Juno, and Via May Not Want to admit their drivers are workers, but the Next Occupant of the White Might Disagree.