Uber Drivers Union and Why they should Unionize

uber drivers network

Uber drivers are going Union

• Why the Uber drivers want to Unionize – The reasons the drivers list for their desire to unionize are very similar to most workers who join unions; exploitive practices by employers, including unfair pay, arbitrary firing policies, and in the case of Uber drivers claims of racial discrimination.
Another major concern of Uber drivers everywhere is liability insurance. Currently, Uber requires the drivers to bear the responsibility  and expense) of liability insurance. This is a big deal financially since regular personal  liability does not cover a driver or vehicle being used in a rid-for-hire situation. The cost for commercial liability insurance is typically 3-4 times as much as personal liability insurance, forcing some drivers to choose between quitting Uber or driving around under insured or even not insured at all.
The driver rating system has also come under fire. Uber drivers get rated by their passengers, which is normally not a problem. The thing is, the current system does not allow drivers to challenge bad reviews, such as negative reviews from drunk passengers who file inaccurate, and undeserved, negative reviews. It has also been said that unscrupulous drivers will sabotage other drivers’ ratings by having bogus negative reviews submitted either by themselves or by people they hire to ride in and negatively review other drivers’ performance.
By unionizing, the drivers hope to be able to address, and correct, many of these issues.

• The Teamsters Union is lending a hand – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is one of the largest, most powerful , and well known unions in the world. With their immense resources and vast experience, they will be a formidable adversary for Uber to do battle with.  A recent demonstration by over 500 Uber drivers  in front of the Santa Monica CA Uber offices made headlines throughout California and throughout the rest of the country as well.

• Ubers response to the drivers efforts to Unionize – Uber claims that the drivers are not employees but rather are software licensees, and thus do not constitute a legal bargaining unit and so are not eligible for membership in the Teamsters, or any, union. This sleazy tactic has been used before by slave driving, selfish companies who don’t seem to care about the happiness or welfare of their drivers or employees.
 An Uber spokesperson recently told a reporter from VentureBeat that “If an Uber driver wants to make a change they can talk to us directly- they don’t need a bogus organization like this to do that”.   It is exactly this kind of arrogant, selfish attitude which is rapidly eroding the public image Uber presents and causing drivers to unite and unionize. Exploitation of this type has been attempted, and declared illegal many times in the history of labor relations in the United States. It often happens that rival companies in the same trade will emerge with a business model more favorable to the workers and drive companies like Uber out of business entirely. If that should happen to Uber it will be exactly what they deserve for so blatantly and greedily disregarding the rights of the very drivers who have put them in the position to be valued at billions of dollars. The day of the capitalistic robber barons has long passed, and it is high time that invasive parasites like the people running Uber are made to conform to the law of the land just like every other business in America is required to do.  California Lawsuits – A number of lawsuits currently pending in the California legal system will help to determine the future of the drivers’  union status, and the future of Uber  itself; California Assembly Bill 2293, for instance, addresses the liability insurance issue and is being steadfastly opposed by Uber. With an estimated value exceeding 18 Billion dollars, Uber can and does retain powerful legal guns to oppose these court challenges. Only time will tell who will prevail- justice and fairness or money and clout. Hopefully Uber will be forced to adopt practices that are both legal and ethical and begin treating their drivers more fairly in the future. This would include addressing issues such as job security, liability insurance, false promises made to recruit new drivers and all of the other topics which have garnered Uber negative headlines all across the nation.

Conclusion – With the powerful Teamsters union on their side, and the spate of legal challenges cropping up in California and elsewhere across the nation, many feel  that it is only a matter of time until the drivers prevail against Uber and get accepted as a union organization.  Historically the courts in California and in other states as well have sided on the side of the employee (A district court in Frankfurt Germany even went as far as to ban Uber from operating anywhere in Germany for infringing on the operation of legit, legal cabs. After nearly a month an appellate court eventually lifted the ban due to a legal technicality). If this prediction of redemption for the drivers and unions becomes a reality, it will undoubtedly change the playing field, and force Uber to play fairly or get out of the ride for hire business altogether. There is little doubt that Lyft drivers are soon to follow with lawsuits and unionization attempts of their own if the Uber drivers prevail in their attempt to be treated fairly. I for one cannot wait for this day of reckoning to come!

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Jacksonville to lead Florida in dealing with Uber's corporate terrorism?

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Jacksonville City Council Wants Uber and Lyft to Pony Up 

In a move that many citizens and city council members feel is long overdue, the Jacksonville city council is planning to introduce legislation that will require ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft to go through the same permit application process as do other local transportation providers such as taxi’s and limousine services. Currently the ride-share outfits are sidestepping the permit process, claiming they are software services and as such they are not subject to the same rules and regulations as conventional  taxi cab companies. The taxi companies, and many in local government, claim that the result of this quasi-legal practice is an unfair trade advantage for the ride–share organizations because they do not have to pay the significant fees required to obtain and maintain the permits. Another issues often associated with Uber and other similar companies is that they are not currently required to perform the same level of background screening that the traditional transportation providers are subject to when applying for the permit. Proponents of the new legislation  claim that this results in both an unfair business advantage for the ride-share companies but also poses a significant public safety risk because the drivers for the ride-share companies often have been found to be employing felons; burglars, rapists, child molesters and even murderers have been alleged to be in the employ of Uber. 

Jacksonville City Councilman Stephen Joost recently announced that he plans to introduce new legislation that would give the city the power to impound unregulated vehicles using the Uber or Lyft software apps. The proposed new regulations would also allow the city to seize the vehicles of repeat offenders. Joost said the more stringent  sanctions  are what is necessary to motivate the drivers of ride-share cars to follow city laws.

These companies, with “ride share” models that allow people to arrange and pay for transportation with their smart phones, have come under increasing scrutiny  in recent months for employing drivers who have not been screened for criminal backgrounds and also not permitted or regulated by the city of Jacksonville..

City Council members and citizens alike say the unregulated vehicles pose a safety risk. They’ve also accused Uber of going back on an assurance made last year to not bring its unregulated driving service to Jacksonville. There are currently well over 100 Uber drivers operating in the Jacksonville area, some sources claim as many as 500.

Lyft and Uber spokespeople insist that they provide a popular and innovative service to a willing market among the residents of Jacksonville. They say their services may differ somewhat from  traditional taxi operations but they insist that their new model can be implemented in a manner that takes all necessary safety precautions and screens and insures their drivers.

In a recent email, Taylor Bennett, an official Uber spokesperson was quoted as saying “If the council’s true concern were safety, then it would embrace Uber for being the safest ride on the road. Instead, this proposal is nothing but an attempt to stifle free market competition on behalf of special interests, which have over time increasingly failed to innovate and meet consumer demand.”

Uber  first appeared on the scene in Jacksonville in 2013, and began allowing travelers to arrange high-end rides with local transportation companies through a cell phone app and arrange for  payment with a credit card kept on file in a database maintained by Uber.

In an effort to be fair to both sides of the ride-sharing issues, the city of Jacksonville  changed its vehicle-for-hire regulations to accommodate the high end lxury ride-sharing service, which the company calls UberBlack. In return for this concession, Uber promised the city it wouldn’t introduce its lower-cost uberX service to Jacksonville. As it has done in cities across the nation, and around the world , Uber has reneged on it’s promise and thumbed it’s nose at local government.

As with UberBlack, passengers can order uberX rides through their phones and do not need to pay with cash. But the drivers typically own their vehicles and they tend to be part-time drivers who pick up passengers to earn extra money..

Local police conducted an undercover operation during an august Jaguars and issued civil citations to both uberX and Lyft drivers. A judge is expected issue a ruling on those cases next week. The city also issues citations to the companies each time a driver receives a violation. Each violation can result in a fine of  up to $500.

Both Uber and Lyft pay their drivers’ fines, companies consider the fines as a cost of doing business and this  concerns  councilmen Joost and Lumb because the policy of these companies is accepting illegal behavior as part of their operating model.

Joost said his legislation would provide increased  motivation for prospective Uber and Lyft drivers to get permits if they knew their vehicles could be impounded and the could be charged with criminal violation of misdemeanor, if they didn’t. start to comply with local laws

It is becoming increasingly clear that local governments around the country are beginning to see through Ubers “tell them what they want to hear”  policy of making promises they never intend to keep, and to routinely breaking civil ordinances and pay the resulting penalties as a normal part of doing businesses.

The Strange Tales of London Cab Drivers

picture by i.telegraph.co.uk

Taxi Tales: London Cabbie Confess All

For most cab drivers, their only responsibility is safely maneuvering their way throughout the city, drop off passengers, and get paid. Occasionally, the cab driver looks in the rearview mirror hoping to get a glimpse of the person he or she decided to give a ride. It is in that moment they realize they are not doctors or lawyers; they are street priests and their cab is the confessional. Along the narrow streets of London, taxis stop to scoop up tourists, women, executives, and young students trying to find their way home. The driver asks ‘where to?’ and zips along the streets of London fast enough to drop off their passenger and slow enough to run up the meter. They often look at the reflections of their customers in the mirror and shake their head in amazement at the oddity of others.

Experiences

The interesting thing about people is that regardless of how peculiar they may be there is someone shortly after them that were even more peculiar. A woman asking her cab driver to stop at a convenience store in order for her to purchase another pair of stockings to hide an affair from her husband, for a cab driver like Terry, may be a reasonable request. It is the moment when Terry glanced at her in the rearview mirror and saw she had her new stockings scrunched in her hands and putting them, on that may have seemed to be a little much. In the life of a cabbie, the next passenger after a woman like her is probably more fascinating. For example, the account of the anonymous driver who watched as a much older gentleman and two young women began a rendezvous in the back of his cab. John, a London cab driver whose last name is unknown, once noticed something strange on the floor of his backseat. When he pulled over, he realized that the last passenger did not leave a briefcase, bag of money, purse, or phone. Instead, the passenger left a living snake and according to his account, it was the same length of his taxi and he had to drive to the police station and requested that they removed it.

Seasoned Drivers

As in any profession, there are the more seasoned drivers. The ones who are in tune with their city and have a laundry list of streets to avoid. For example, London’s popular Clampham High Street turns into fraternity town on the weekends according to cabbie John Kennedy. By his account, the worst season is the summer because it is the time of the year when he is driving around an intoxicated passenger with the windows rolled down and the mixture of alcohol and vomit permeating his cab.
Regardless of the city, country, or continent taxi drivers will often encounter bizarre people and attention grabbing conversations. For them, it is not the odd people that are odd, but the people considered normal and sane by societal standards that may cause their driver to lift their eyebrow and shake their head.