Hundreds of Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash drivers and supply employees went on strike throughout the US on Wednesday, Feb. 14. The drivers are looking for truthful wages, security protections, and extra job safety from ridesharing and supply apps.
In case you’re having a tough time hailing an Uber or Lyft this Valentine’s Day, it may be as a result of your drivers are picketing on the airport. Justice for App Staff posted photographs of Uber and Lyft drivers placing in Chicago, New Jersey, Texas on Wednesday. App employees in London additionally participated within the Valentine’s Day strike, in line with posts on X.
“Uber, Lyft, and supply drivers are TIRED of being mistreated by the app corporations,” stated Justice for App Staff, a nationwide coalition with over 130,000 members, in a blog post. “Throughout the nation, in Austin, Chicago, Hartford, Miami, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rhode Island, and Tampa, we’re not taking rides to or from any airport on February 14.”
Rachel Gumpert, govt vp of Justice For App Staff, calls the ride-sharing app trade “an under-regulated Wild West, with no protections, poverty wages, and no oversight.”
“This Valentine’s Day, app employees are placing to rework our trade into one during which we are able to work with dignity and the place we are able to earn sufficient to supply for ourselves and our households,” she stated.
Rideshare Drivers United (RDU), one other driver-led group in Los Angeles with over 5,000 members, will flip off their apps altogether on Valentine’s Day. RDU says in a blog post that important pay decreases over the winter are a major cause for this present day of motion. Right now, Gizmodo was unable to verify the pay decreases in query.
Rideshare drivers confronted an 8% decline in gross earnings per hour in 2023, in line with an impartial evaluation known as “The State of Gig Driver Pay” from Gridwise. The corporate estimates that the common rideshare driver was incomes $20 per hour, after bills, again in September 2023. Notably, that is very completely different from Uber’s information, which claims its drivers receive over $33 an hour earlier than bills, up practically $10 from 2018. Lyft instructed Gizmodo its drivers earned over $23 an hour after bills final yr.
No matter a driver’s wages could also be, RDU and Justice for App Staff are placing as a result of they really feel they’re not being compensated sufficient. RDU drivers known as this winter season “the worst earnings they’ve ever skilled” in a statement.
“I can’t keep in mind having a tougher time getting cash on the apps,” says RDU driver Eduardo Romero. “I’m having to work ten hour days to make the identical quantity I used to be in a position to do in six, and even then I’m nonetheless not making sufficient.”
The driving force-led organizations hope to ship a message to the app corporations this Valentine’s Day. RDU says drivers “gained’t cease combating till we’ve gained the truthful pay and dignity all of us deserve.” The group says comparable strikes will happen in San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, and different cities.
Uber and Lyft simply settled a wage theft investigation by agreeing to pay out $328 million to New York Drivers in November. Lawyer Common Letitia James stated these corporations have “systematically cheated their drivers out of tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars}” whereas they work lengthy hours in difficult situations. The settlement allowed Uber and Lyft to not admit fault, nonetheless.
“All these occasions have not often had any affect on journeys, costs, or driver availability, and we count on the identical tomorrow,” stated Uber in a press release to Gizmodo. “That’s as a result of the overwhelming majority of drivers are happy.”
Nonetheless, Uber Eats driver and labor organizer Josh Woods instructed Bloomberg that rideshare corporations not too long ago dampened the results of a New York minimal wage rule they fought onerous to attain. Uber and DoorDash not too long ago made it more difficult to tip delivery drivers in New York Metropolis, in line with Bloomberg.
New York handed a new wage law that was supposed to learn employees, however Uber and Lyft stated they’d need to move the prices onto shoppers. As a compromise, Uber and DoorDash reportedly made their tipping choices much less accessible.
“We’re consistently working to enhance the driving force expertise,” stated Lyft in a press release to Gizmodo. “Simply this month we launched a collection of latest presents and commitments aimed toward rising driver pay and transparency.”
Justice for App Staff will maintain rallies at airports across the nation between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. RDU will host a picket line on the Los Angeles Uber Greenlight Hub at midday PT.
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