And So It Begins: Uber On Strike! Sheesh….
Why would an entrepreneurial upstart like UBER suddenly go on strike? Wasn’t the point of the indie cabby company to avoid all the bureaucracy of expensive larger corporate run cab companies? More user friendly, more worker friendly? Well so much for that. So why are they on strike?
Mashable: A group of Uber drivers that are fed up with the company’s policies are preparing to organize a strike that will start Friday and last over the weekend.
UBER Freedom is calling for strikes in a variety of major U.S. cities including Houston, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. The main Facebook event page for the strike currently has more than 1,200 confirmations. Uber had around 162,000 drivers in the U.S., according to a study from December. Uber says that 1 million people around the world have provided Uber rides.
It is not immediately clear how many drivers plan to strike.Someone posting on the UBER Freedom Facebook account also posted a picture saying that they were on the way to the company’s headquarters.
The role that drivers play in Uber’s business has been a subject of controversy, particularly as the company has grown quickly in the past two years. Uber allows drivers to work whenever they want, bringing up the app when they are willing and able to take fares.
That informal arrangement had led Uber to treat its drivers like independent contractors, alleviating the need to provide any benefits such as healthcare. California recently called this relationship into question with a ruling that called Uber drivers employees.
Uber has been the subject of a variety of protests around the world, but most of those events have been held by taxi drivers hoping to block the company from operating in their cities.
Paris taxi drivers have put up a particularly aggressive fight. In June, drivers blocked car access to major roads and airports, burned tires and flipped cars. Australian drivers have also been organizing to block Uber.
A striking taxi driver held a placard which read, “Stop Uber, Stop listening,” referring to a report about the U.S. spying on French leaders, during a demonstration in Paris on Thursday.
Uber’s own drivers have shown increasing unrest. In October 2014, Uber drivers staged a “Global Day of Protest” with about 50 people showing up at the company’s San Francisco office.
An Uber spokesperson released a statement to Mashable in response to an inquiry about the strike: “We always welcome feedback from driver-partners. Each week, tens of thousands of drivers across the U.S. begin using the Uber app to make money on their own time, to reach their own goals. Drivers say they value the flexibility and the chance to be their own boss, and choose Uber over other options because it fits around their life and works for them.”
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