Tech workers across pay scales, job types, geographies, and companies have joined together in unprecedented shows of solidarity.
If Uber and Lyft had treated workers as employees, the two TNCs would have paid $413 million into the state’s Unemployment Insurance Fund between 2014 and 2019.
Drivers from 27 different countries launched the International Alliance of App Based Transport Workers (IAATW); a rare case where workers who fall outside the scope of traditional labor law and union structures have been able to come together.
But while the Uber apps may be wonderful, the “uber” exploitation of workers is unacceptable!
One group who won’t benefit much from Uber’s IPO: its drivers, who numbered 3.9 million at the end of last year. They are likely to see their pay worsen as the company strives to become more profitable while facing public shareholder pressure.
Recent filings suggest that the gig economy giants are hoping to get ahead of a wave of enforcement actions and new legislation that could force these companies to finally and formally classify full-time workers as employees.
Transportation experts see Uber and Lyft as the future. But rural communities still don’t use them.
Only 19 percent of Americans in rural areas use ride-hailing apps.
The so-called gig-economy is celebrated, maligned, fetishized, and qualified by analysts. Whether it is called the collaborative, platform, crowd-sourcing, or sharing-economy, the rise of peer-to-peer exchanges does raise important questions for workers. Do emerging ‘sharing-economy’ platforms such as Uber and Airbnb mark a significant shift in production and distribution systems? Are they emancipatory or exploitive?
So who will be most harmed by less public transit service? Well, everyone who breathes dirtier air or sits in clogged traffic as transit use declines will be hurt, but transit-dependent low-income communities of color will suffer most. And city leaders can’t just ask these riders to replace their usual bus routes by downloading a ride-hailing app.
The removal of a single toxic CEO, like the condemning of a single home in the wake of a chemical leak, won’t make the region livable.
Spread the word