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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."
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So... this means all-day surge pricing for the Uber drivers who don't strike?
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Uber and Air B&B really had turned into something different than their initial business.
These were for people who wanted to do some Parttime work. Rent out their home when they are away. Drive additional people when commuting to work. The the Recession hit, and this became more of a source of income, vs just getting extra spending changes. It didn't help with these companies changing their buisness structure to compete against Hotels and Taxis.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
How can Uber have trouble turning a profit? What expenses do they have? Are they literally wiping their asses with money, or something? I can't imagine how maintaining a few little apps would cost billions of dollars a year.
These ride sharing services were set up to allow people to casually earn a little extra money. They do this by bypassing the cruft that's accumulated around traditional taxi services. So immediately, government, workers, and to some extent even the public wants to re-load all the baggage - destroying what ride-sharing was intended to be. It's not the 30's, in a company town - if they don't like the wages, there are other agencies and other industries.
Next, everyone strikes to have an above-average income.
If you don't like the pay, don't work for them.
Isn't that what a strike is?
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
AC is right - 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)
What does deserving have to do with anything?
I could "work full time" counting blades of grass in the park. I imagine it's time-consuming work, with a lot of job-specific challenges.
What, no one wants me to do that? No one wants to pay me for it? But I deserve enough to live on for working full time!
"Deserving" is irrelevant. Your work gets you what someone else is willing to pay for it.
Burger flipping is at the point in the supply-demand curve that it's not worth what an adult needs to live on.
become a taxi driver.
Exactly. I don't see what is stopping these drivers from just buying a $500,000 taxi medallion.