Uber

Outside Uber HQ, Drivers Demand A Cut Of The Riches

May 12, 2019 Patrick Howell O'Neill, Gizmodo.com Resist! Class Struggle, Lyft, Uber, Workers

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Just days ahead of Silicon Valley’s most hyped mega-IPO, a group of a several hundred Uber drivers gathered in front of the company’s San Francisco headquarters and took over the street in a protest demanding fair pay, benefits, and greater transparency from the rideshare giant. Friday is set to be the biggest day in Uber’s history: The company is going public and listing on the New York Stock Exchange in one of the biggest IPOs in American history. It’s by far the biggest IPO this year—a year full of Silicon Valley companies hitting the stock market.

The Uber IPO: Billions For Investors, Increased Exploitation For Workers

May 11, 2019 By Shannon Jones, WSWS.org Educate! Class Struggle, Lyft, Strikes, Uber, Workers

The valuation of ride share company Uber hit $82.4 billion after an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its stock on Thursday, one of the largest IPOs in the US since Facebook. The sale further enriched investors while raising some $8 billion for the company. Major investment houses, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, underwrote the IPO. Other wealthy investors stood to gain huge sums, with some Goldman Sachs clients pocketing $1 billion. The stake of Uber founder Garret Camp is now worth $3.7 billion, while cofounder Travis Kalanick owns $5.3 billion in Uber stock.

On May 8, Uber Workers Are Planning A Nationwide Strike

May 7, 2019 Staff, Boingboing.net Resist! Labor, Lyft, Strikes, Uber, Workers

Shona from Gig Workers Rising clarifies: "Gig Workers Rising isn't organizing the national day of action. Drivers in each of the 6 cities taking action are coordinating the day of action together. Drivers in LA with Rideshare Drivers United Los Angeles called a strike and asked other cities to take action on the same day. Gig Workers Rising supports and educates drivers who are organizing across the state. We are not organizing drivers."

Thousands Of Uber Drivers Are Striking In Los Angeles

March 27, 2019 By Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox.com Resist! Class Struggle, Los Angeles, Strikes, Uber, Workers

Uber and Lyft drivers in Los Angeles are refusing to pick up customers today — part of a one-day strike to protest Uber’s recent decision to slash pay rates for drivers in the area. Last week, Uber slashed its per-mile pay by 25 percent in Los Angeles County and parts of Orange County. That means drivers will earn 60 cents per mile instead of 80 cents. That decision has pushed drivers, who were already struggling to make ends meet, over the edge. Hundreds of drivers swarmed the streets, chanting and picketing outside Uber’s office in suburban LA.

McDonald’s, UberEats And Wetherspoon Workers Strike Over Pay

October 5, 2018 Staff, Bbc.com Resist! McDonald's, Uber

UberEats riders and a small number of workers from JD Wetherspoon, McDonald's and TGI Fridays have been staging walkouts in a pay dispute. Protests were being held in several UK cities, along with a rally in London. The industrial action was organised in tandem with strikes by fast-food workers on four continents. UberEats, JD Wetherspoon, TGI Friday's and McDonald's have all defended their record on pay. The rally in London's Leicester Square was addressed by TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady and shadow chancellor John McDonnell. Mr McDonnell said: "Our message to exploitative employers is that we are coming for you."

Meet The Militant Taxi Drivers Union That Just Defeated Uber And Lyft

August 20, 2018 Chris Brooks, Inthesetimes.com Resist! Class Struggle, Uber, Unions, Workers Rights and Jobs

On August 14, the scrappy but militant 21,000 member union representing taxi and for-hire vehicle drivers in New York City won a landmark legislative victory establishing the country’s first cap on ride-sharing company vehicles and essentially forcing them to pay their drivers a minimum wage. This fight pitted the Taxi Workers Alliance against corporate giants Uber and Lyft, which together employ more lobbyists than Amazon, Walmart and Microsoft combined. Uber alone spent $1 million between January and June of this year trying to put the brakes on the Taxi Workers Alliance’s efforts. There is little wonder why. New York City is Uber’s largest U.S. market and the number of Uber and Lyft vehicles on the streets have exploded in recent years, from 25,000 in 2015 to 80,000 in 2018.

‘The Gig Economy’ Is The New Term For Serfdom

March 28, 2018 By Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com Educate! Class Struggle, Economics, Labor, Uber

A 65-year-old New York City cab driver from Queens, Nicanor Ochisor, hanged himself in his garage March 16, saying in a note he left behind that the ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft had made it impossible for him to make a living. It was the fourth suicide by a cab driver in New York in the last four months, including one Feb. 5 in which livery driver Douglas Schifter, 61, killed himself with a shotgun outside City Hall. “Due to the huge numbers of cars available with desperate drivers trying to feed their families,” wrote Schifter, “they squeeze rates to below operating costs and force professionals like me out of business. They count their money and we are driven down into the streets we drive becoming homeless and hungry. I will not be a slave working for chump change. I would rather be dead.” He said he had been working 100 to 120 hours a week for the past 14 years.

The Work Lives Of Uber Drivers: Worse Than You Think

August 19, 2017 Katie Wells, Kafui Attoh, and Declan Cullen, www.workingclassstudies.wordpress.com Educate! New Economy, Uber, Workers, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Katie Wells, Kafui Attoh, and Declan Cullen for Working Class Perspectives - To be an Uber driver is to work when you want. Or so Uber likes to say in recruitment materials, advertisements, and sponsored research papers: “Be your own boss.” “Earn money on your schedule.” “With Uber, you’re in charge.” The language of freedom, flexibility, and autonomy abounds, and can seem like a win for workers. But the reality of our research shows something very different. The price of flexibility in the gig economy is substantial. Last year we conducted 40 in-person interviews and online surveys with Uber drivers in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Our project—which creates one of the first independent, qualitative datasets about the rideshare industry—found that the economic realities of precarious work are a far cry from the rosy promises of the gig economy. In exchange for flexible schedules, Uber retains near total control over what really matters for drivers, namely the compensation and costs of work. Aman bought a Lincoln Town Car in 2012 after he been approved to drive for Uber Black, the brand-new private car service. As an Ethiopian immigrant in Washington, D.C., he had supported himself by driving a taxi so he already had the chauffeur license that was then required. In 5 or 6 hours of driving, he earned what would have taken him 8 hours in a taxi.

Workers Strike Back From Boston To Chicago

November 29, 2016 Fight for Fifteen, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Minimum Wage, Strike, Uber, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Fight for Fifteen. NATIONWIDE – Strikes by baggage handlers and cabin cleaners at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Uber drivers in two-dozen cities, hospital workers in Pittsburgh and McDonald’s and other fast-food cooks and cashiers from coast to coast, combined with mass civil disobedience by working Americans across the service economy, will headline a nationwide Fight for $15 day of disruption Tuesday. In addition to the strikes demanding $15 and union rights, the workers will wage their most disruptive protests yet to show they will not back down in the face of newly-elected politicians and newly-empowered corporate special interests who threaten an extremist agenda to move the country to the right. The protests, at 20 major airports, which serve 2 million passengers a day, and outside McDonald’s restaurants from Durham to Denver, will underscore that any efforts to block wage increases, gut workers’ rights or healthcare, deport immigrants, or support racism or racist policies, will be met with unrelenting opposition by workers in the Fight for $15.

Fight For $15 Plans National Strikes As Uber Drivers Join

November 29, 2016 Nadia Prupis, www.commondreams.org Resist! Fight for 15, Strikes, Uber

By Nadia Prupis for Common Dreams - A nationwide day of action and disruption is set to take place on Tuesday, as workers from around the country and across industries are set to take part in strikes to show their refusal to back down in the face of an incoming rightwing political agenda. The actions, organized by the Fight for $15 collective, will see airport baggage handlers, Uber drivers, fast-food cooks, cashiers, hospital workers, and others strike to disrupt the U.S. service economy.

Thousands Of Taxi Drivers In U.S. And U.K. Protest Uber

February 12, 2016 Gwyn Topham and Staff, www.theguardian.com, www.6abc.com Resist! Protests, Uber, United Kingdom (UK), Workers Rights and Jobs

By Gwyn Topham for The Guardian and Staff of 6 ABC News - Taxi drivers brought central London to a standstill to highlight the threats to their trade from Uber and changing regulation. Organisers said about 8,000 drivers took part in the protest on Wednesday afternoon, as traditional black cabs blocked lanes the length of Whitehall and halted much traffic around Westminster and the West End. Black-cab drivers have been incensed by the actions of Transport for London (TfL) in licensing Uber, blurring the lines between traditional taxis and private hire.

Anti-Uber Protests Around The World

October 1, 2015 Staff, www.telegraph.co.uk Resist! Uber

Staff for the Telegraph - Taxi drivers from around the world have been protesting Uber which they see as unfair and unregulated competion. London's transport chiefs announced plans on Wednesday to tighten control on private hire vehicles (PHV), a move that could hit app-based ride-hailing firms such as Uber. Drivers of the city's famous black cabs have argued Uber bypasses local licensing and safety laws and amounts to unfair competition. They have staged a number of high-profile protests, including go-slow demonstrations that have brought traffic in the centre of London to a standstill.

Cab Drivers Gridlock Europe In Protest At ‘Unregulated’ Taxi App

June 12, 2014 Alexandra Topping, Ashifa Kassam, www.theguardian.com Resist! Protest, Regulation, Uber

Several major European cities ground to a halt on Wednesday as licensed taxi drivers took to the streets in mass protests against the smartphone taxi app Uber. Demonstrations in London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Milan and Rome caused travel chaos and long tailbacks, as taxi drivers protested against the app, which they argue is unregulated and threatens their livelihood. In London, Trafalgar Square and Whitehall were jammed from the start of the planned "go slow" at 2pm, as thousands of black cabs gathered honking their horns, bringing total gridlock to the centre of the capital, while supporters waved banners and started occasionally chanting: "Boris, out!" A spokeswoman for Uber, the US start-up which links minicab drivers to passengers via a GPS-based smartphone app, said the protests had boosted new users in London by 850%, as people tried to cope with the gridlock. But the company, based in San Francisco and backed by Google and Goldman Sachs, came under increasing pressure to be more transparent about its tax set-up. Taxi associations claim Uber routes its payments through headquarters in the Netherlands to minimise its corporation tax payments in France, the UK and Germany – in a similar manner to Apple and Starbucks, which have found themselves in the firing line for the practice.

Demonstrations Block Roads From London To Berlin

June 11, 2014 Amy Thomson, www.bloomberg.com Resist! Europe, Protest, Uber

Uber Technologies Inc., the car-sharing service that’s rankling cabbies across the U.S., is fighting its biggest protest from European drivers who say the smartphone application threatens their livelihoods. Traffic snarled in cities from London to Madrid and Berlin to Paris as strikes and gatherings by more than 30,000 taxi and limo drivers blocked tourist centers and shopping districts. They are asking regulators to apply tougher rules on San Francisco-based Uber, whose software allows customers to order a ride from drivers who don’t need licenses that can cost 200,000 euros ($270,000) apiece. While similar demonstrations this year have led to smashed windshields and traffic chaos in Paris, a united front in Europe highlights the challenges for Uber’s expansion after a funding round that values the company at $17 billion, almost five times the figure in an earlier round. Out of some 128 cities it serves, 20 are in Europe, including Manchester, Lyon and Zurich. “European cities have tended to regulate taxi drivers much more than the U.S.,” said Charles Lichfield, an analyst at Eurasia Group in London. “I do think the protests have a better chance of succeeding.” In London, thousands of black cabs and private hire cars descended on the tourist hubs of Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square, blocking some of the city’s busiest streets. Scooter and motorbike riders studying for the cab-driver exam joined in, honking their horns as the police tried to regulate traffic.

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