With help from Teamsters, LA Uber drivers try to organize
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That generally seems to be a critical part of their business strategy...
The fact that drivers have tracked feedback, pre-negotiated prices, and a dispatch system that isn't overwhelmed by surges effectively negates the market failures that the regulations were originally designed to fix. I suspect that the regulations were a net value-add for most of their existence, but now that the smartphone age has enabled a market solution it's time to reevaluate the necessity of the regulations.
uber probably wouldn't exist if this were the case. the cost overhead of hiring someone would mean drivers would have less freedom - no moonlighting for lyft or sidecare - and rates would be higher.
isn't it better to look at ways of changing the employer/employee dynamic instead of insisting that everything work that way?
God forbid Uber try to maintain a high quality service!
Given the vulnerability, I expect it won't be too long until we see one, unless drivers' concerns are addressed.
You could say with Uber's war chest they could wait out a strike, but again, it flies in the face of their long held core value prop - always on. It will create massive surge conditions.
If I was Uber, I'd eat the difference between surge price and normal fare and starve the union out.
Let's not think about the children right now, let's think about the drivers instead. When you are between jobs it might easily be you behind the wheel. Think very carefully which of the two dogs in the fight you should support.
After all, if the drivers go to their competitors, then they'll just unionize there too. And once the situation has stabilized, Uber can just undercut their unionized competitors and put them out of business.
Step one is employees forming a union. Step two is negotiating a labor contract. If an employer says no to a labor contract and fires everyone, the employees are back at square one.
Back in the day if a union tried to fire everyone and rehire, the union would physically assault scab workers and their families. Hence the close ties between unions and organized crime. (EDIT: I added this part to point out unions do not have any leverage anymore to work with, sorry if you misunderstood it as implying unions still regularly employ violence)
>> Uber drivers are independent contractors,
>> so they can't form a union, which is why
>> they're trying to form an association
Why is that?
(Edited to clarify. Yes I acknowledge employers can be evil too, I assumed that was obvious.)
Organized cribs involvement started during McCarthyism in particular (red scares more generally). When socialists (with a rank and file power perspective) were driven out, the vacuum left was filled by mobsters (in some cases).
Is there a name for the logical fallacy where one knowingly misrepresents true statements to suggests things that aren't true? (ie that only unions used violence or had criminal ties).
It really, really fools people.
Low level violence is frequently applied by strike workers today. I once worked (white color job) for a shipping company and we had one strike every couple of years, sometimes more than one in a year (stevedore and sailors were both unionized so there would be two separate negotiations, each of which inevitably ended in a week or two week strike).
Try driving through a picket line of stevedores and see what happens to your car. Actually don't, you will regret it. If they think you are a scab, you will be punched.
If a hardcore unionist calls you a scab, be scared. Its the worst insult they know, and its backed by extreme hatred.
As far as organized crime violence goes, I have no experience with that. I always assumed that was Sopranos fiction.
Unionism has done good things, but I don't believe it has a place in a high tech industry. What Uber needs is solid competition so that drivers can simply defect to a competitor.
Uber is not in the tech industry, they're in the taxi industry, driving cars. This us/them elitism is the scourge of the tech industry. Just pray you don't become as expendable as the drivers are.
Since when was driving a car a high tech industry? Every industry uses high tech, but that doesn't mean they should be subjected to Silicon Valley's poor labor practices.
Striking drivers don't need to shut down Uber to cause major problems. If a significant fraction of the drivers withhold their labor, then Uber won't be able to meet all of the demand for rides. Prices will go up, which will be great for scabs. But higher prices and less reliable service will discourage customers, which hurts both Uber's brand and bottom line.