Uber drivers are 21st century sharecropers or slaves?

 

Picture by QZ.com

Uber’s car leasing program turns its drivers into modern-day sharecroppers

Behind the shiny veneer of Uber’s venture capital–backed technological innovation lies a time-tested business model: labor exploitation. Uber’s latest scheme is a new spin on the age-old practice of sharecropping. Struggling to find enough drivers willing to put miles on their own cars, Uber recently began offering subprime auto loans to would-be drivers, conveniently extracting payments directly from their paychecks, or (because Uber insists its drivers aren’t its employees) their “Uber earnings.” Since last July, Uber and its wholly owned subsidiary, Xchange Leasing, have partnered with auto dealerships, advertised to drivers, and even repossessed cars from drivers who lag in their payments.

Uber isn’t the only company to resurrect sharecropping in modern industries. Lyft is working with investor General Motors to rent cars to its drivers. Until 2008, FedEx purchased custom-made trucks and sold or leased them to potential drivers. Janitorial companies have gotten into legal hot water for requiring their cleaners to buy franchises and charging them additional fees for clients.

These are just a few of the companies that insist their low-wage workers are independent business people. Here’s the rub: independent business people make capital investments in their businesses. But these workers lack the heavy capital needed to start a business and can’t afford to pay upfront. So the company conveniently arranges for them to buy or lease equipment, often through an exploitative deal. These ......

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This article was brought to your attention by Legal Taxi Drivers Association of St Petersburg, FL
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What I hate about UBER Idiots?

Their lack of understanding and unwillingness to research social issues related to Uber,
 association of their own stupidity and ignorance with "PROGRESS",
Constantly miscategorizing Uber as a Godsend instead ROBBER BARONS,
refusal to understand dynamics surrounding UBER expantion and how Uber treats their drivers, communities, competition, customers, and local laws...........

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"You-hate-uber-then-you-hate-america

.by (head in the butt) Lewis Krell / huffingtonpost

Portland, Ore., is a charming place with plenty of green trees, street names that inspired Simpson's characters, and people who still claim that drafting Greg Oden over Kevin Durant was the right move. Business took me to Portland last week, and despite all the wonderful things about the city, there is one major flaw: Portland hates progress. More specifically, Portland hates the taxi app Uber. The municipal government has caved to the taxi unions, and Uber is not allowed to operate in the city at all.
I looked down on these poor Portlanders, and I pitied how they lived quaint lives in a land that time seemed to have forgotten. These people still call dispatchers or, even worse, stand on street corners attempting in vain to hail cabs that they pray will happen to drive by and rescue them. Their own government has forsaken the population and forced them to live in a city filled with inconvenience rather than its much, much more popular counterpart, convenience. I couldn't wait to get back to Seattle, where I currently reside, so I could re-enter a world that embraces innovation and the disruption of broken, legacy systems. Surely, I thought to myself, Seattle would never make a mistake of that magnitude.
Last Monday Seattle made a mistake of this exact magnitude. My worst fears came true when the city council of Seattle passed a resolution that drastically reduces the number of Uber drivers who are allowed on the road at any given time. Living for a few days through the traditional taxi-cab system of Portland made me realize two things, the first being that I really, really love Uber, and the second being that I could not stay silent as these cities stifle innovation and ingenuity in a country that is supposed to admire and promote these attributes.
Companies and industries fail when they stagnate from an innovation perspective, and when they stop listening to, and caring about, the end consumer. At its best, capitalism solves a problem by disrupting an old and broken system and creating in its place something new and useful and better. The taxi system is the very definition of an old and broken system. Instead of continuing to rant like a lunatic who sounds like he must have worked as a speechwriter for the Romney campaign, let's go into some analysis of the best- and worst-case scenarios for an intoxicated person needing a ride home on a cold, winter night.
Best-case scenario using the current taxi cartel: Call a taxi. Wait on hold for 10 to 20 minutes. Finally talk to a human being. This human being hates you. This human being hangs up on you before you place an order. Call again. Wait on hold for 20 to 30 minutes. Finally talk to a human being again. This human really hates you. Eventually order a cab. You are........."

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Uber Drivers are going on Strike

Uber Drivers are Going on Strike

picture by media.cmgdigital.com

"UberX drivers turn in company phones, effectively going on strike

by Graham Johnson

SEATTLE — 
More than a hundred Seattle UberX drivers turned in their company cellphones on Wednesday, effectively going on strike because of a pay dispute with the company.
Drivers are upset about Uber's 20 percent fare cut earlier this month and say it is making it more difficult for them to earn a living.
Because they are independent contractors, Uber drivers cannot unionize. But they have formed the Seattle Ride-Share Drivers Association to collectively pressure the company.
City Councilmember Kshama Sawant spoke at a meeting in support of the drivers Wednesday.
The attorney representing the association told KIRO 7 Uber drivers are paid 80 percent of the fare, and when the company reduced the price, drivers have been forced to work longer hours for the same pay.
The company told KIRO 7 it has more than 1,000 in the Seattle area........"

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