There are similar applications for different markets of course. But Uber has the international brand recognition. Worth investigating what app works best before you go somewhere.
Since the story here is not about if Uber is better/worse for passengers but if Uber is a good/bad employer, it sounds like that's what you're saying.
If the choice to have good service + no exploitation arise, I'll take that one, and it's coming thanks to Uber bursting the taxi monopoly, but in the meanwhile no regrets, taxis had it coming.
Wake up, decide it's a good day to be exploited.
Kiss your wife goodbye as you enter your car "bye honey! On my way to being exploited by Uber!"
Drive away and open your exploitation app. Accept a ride, go to the person: "who's the person that's going to participate in my exploitation together with Uber today? Oh, there he is!". Drive him to the place he needs to be, drive away.
"Ok, do I want to be exploited some more today?"
Decide to be exploited on a few more rides and return home.
Now being serious, if you're an Uber driver and let's say that in the short term that's your best option, why would it be better for him to have this option striped from him? Why do you think anyone else should make that call except him?
There are multiple avenues available, the least of which is to pass sweeping legislation to force corporations into compliance with basic human decency standards.
Apparently, lots of drivers seem to think it's not such a bad deal. I sure am not going to shed any crocodile tears for the lost business for the taxi drivers that have had the privilege to rip me off in the past. Happened a little too often for me to do that.
There's a lot of sentiment around jobs, job security (which is an illusion), and people paying into social insurances. I'd say that's all fine and something to sort out by different countries. Meanwhile, it seems plenty of people make decent money driving around as Uber drivers and this is not really Uber's problem to sort out. The gig economy certainly challenges some established values. But fundamentally, there seem to be plenty of people willing to take those gigs. That's why that works.
Either way, that doesn't invalidate the value proposition of offering passengers a fair price for a ride before they enter the car. Whether it's Uber or somebody else offering that deal, it sure beats haggling with some shady characters in the middle of the night about a ride from A to B. Been there done that & no thanks. Not going back to that. Uber sure looks like magic when you use it in situations like that. Wnip out phone, ride shows up, and teleports you home. Great value. Anything less is a rip off deal, frankly. I've probably paid too much for that service on some occasions but I like it none the less.
Instead of going all socialist on Uber, maybe hold your local politicians accountable to be more competent. This is happening on their watch after all. There seem to be lots of people that have issues with Uber but not a lot of them seem to be able to do anything about that legally. Why is that? What's blocking that after all these years of scrutiny, court cases, lobbying, rule changes, etc.? If Uber is doing something illegal here, by all means drag them into court and fix it. But if not, maybe change the legal situation to normalize what they and other business do? Apparently, the problem is that Uber is still around after years of legal proceedings in many countries. Maybe, that's because they aren't actually doing that much wrong at all and are providing a decent service to customers via an army of drivers willing to earn some money that way?