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Uber Drivers Demand Higher Pay in Nationwide Protest (cnet.com)
Uber drivers will join forces with fast food, home care and airport workers in a nationwide protest on Tuesday. Their demand: higher pay. From a report on CNET: Calling it the "Day of Disruption," drivers for the ride-hailing company in two dozen cities, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, will march at airports and in shopping areas carrying signs that read, "Your Uber Driver is Arriving Striking." The protest underscores the dilemma Uber faces as it balances the needs of its drivers with its business. Valued at $68 billion, Uber is the highest-valued venture-backed company worldwide. But as it has cut the cost of rides to compete with traditional taxi services, Uber reportedly has experienced trouble turning a profit. Unlike many other workers involved in Tuesday's protests, Uber drivers are not members of a union. In fact, Uber doesn't even classify its drivers as employees. Instead the company considers drivers independent contractors. This classification means the company isn't responsible for many costs, including health insurance, paid sick days, gas, car maintenance and much more. However, Uber still sets drivers' rates and the commission it pays itself, which ranges between 20 percent and 30 percent. "I'd like a fair day's pay for my hard work," Adam Shahim, a 40-year-old driver from Pittsburgh, California, said in a statement. "So I'm joining with the fast-food, airport, home care, child care and higher education workers who are leading the way and showing the country how to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the few at the top."
...a burger flipper doesn't deserve as much as a skilled electrician, but what they do deserve is enough to live on (as anyone working full time does).
No, they deserve only what their work is worth. Nothing more. Ever.
If they don't think that's right, they can go find another job. If they can't go find another job, then their work probably isn't worth as much as they thought.
No, this was common sense thinking for years and only recently (last maybe 5-10 years) are people starting to say EVERY job out there should be a living wage job. No, this is a recent trend...trying to make excuses for people that didn't value an education the first time it was offered to them, and didn't see fit to try to work hard and get a "real job".
I grew up working starting jobs. I worked part time from the age of 16 through High School, college, etc. Back when I was waiting tables and bartending, my co-workers (mostly other students, etc) all talked about some day getting a "real job".
We knew then that these were not career jobs that real adults would/should have going forward in life when starting to live real adult life with families, kids, and trying to buy a home, etc.
No, this rationalization that "all jobs matter" is a recent trend, and the wrong one IMHO.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........