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Two More Executives Are Leaving Uber, Drivers May Unionize (nytimes.com)

First the resignations. "The beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber," the company's former president told Recode on Sunday, announcing his resignation. "The departures add to the executive exodus from Uber this year," writes The New York Times. An anonymous reader quotes their report. Brian McClendon, vice president of maps and business platform at Uber, also plans to leave at the end of the month... Raffi Krikorian, a well-regarded director in Uber's self-driving division, left the company last week, while Gary Marcus, who joined Uber in December after Uber acquired his company, left this month. Uber also asked for the resignation of Amit Singhal, a top engineer who failed to disclose a sexual harassment claim against him at his previous employer, Google, before joining Uber. And Ed Baker, another senior executive, left this month as well.
Jones left Uber after less than six months, though McClendon's departure is said to be more amicable. "Mr. McClendon, in a statement, said he was returning to his hometown, Lawrence, Kansas, after 30 years away. 'This fall's election and the current fiscal crisis in Kansas is driving me to more fully participate in our democracy -- and I want to do that in the place I call home."

In other news, the Teamsters labor union plans to start organizing Uber's drivers into a union, after a Washington judge rejected Uber's attempt to overturn a right-to-unionize ordinance passed by the city of Seattle.

4 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Union City Blue by monkeyzoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Karma is a bitch, eh?
    How shitty must this corporate culture be for all these people with great positions at an innovative, cutting edge, and super fast growing company to leave?
    These departures apparently validate all the coverage about what a soul-less, morally bankrupt company it is.

  2. Re:The end? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Uber got through because the Taxi and Limo companies got greedy and so did their employees. Unions and bribery and tax revenue created an artificial market. Now capitalism created a solution that should have been fixed.

  3. Re:Failure is always an option by geekpowa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I do own a company. It is a small operation but I have a couple of fulltime staff and all the trimmings. In prior roles I led teams of dozens of engineers. It is possible to operate ethically and profitably. One perk is fierce client and staff loyalty.

  4. Re: Failure is always an option by dunkelfalke · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I used to work for a smallish German company where the CEO always said that if anyone is to join a union he would close the shop and reopen in Switzerland. He also ignored many laws and regulations and the wages sucked. 5 years after I was fired half of the employees was new. Now I am working at a company of the same size, automatically belong to a professional association, earn almost twice as much even though there are no bonuses, the CEO follows all laws and regulations and even does charity work. Many of my colleagues have been at the company for 20 years. Guess where I like it better?

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap