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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUber and Lyft Have a Powerful New Enemy in Washington: Elizabeth Warren
http://fortune.com/2016/05/20/uber-lyft-elizabeth-warren/?iid=leftrailby Ian Mount - MAY 20, 2016, 7:47 AM EDT
Nine out of every 10 Americans may have no idea what the “gig economy” is, but Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren certainly does. And she doesn’t like it one bit.
In a speech Thursday at the annual conference of the New America think tank in Washington, D.C., Warren slammed ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft for undermining the economic safety net of worker protections built over the last century.
The senator noted that everything from minimum wage and workplace safety laws to the 40-hour workweek, the right to unionize, and antitrust regulations created a system in which, between 1935 and 1980, the bottom 90% of Americans by wealth got 70% of all income growth.
~ snip ~
“While their businesses provide workers with great flexibility, companies like Lyft and Uber have often resisted the efforts of those same workers to access a greater share of the wealth generated from their work,” she said. “Their business model is, in part, dependent on extremely low wages for drivers.”
~ snip ~
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Exilednight
(9,359 posts)New regulations going into effect. I hope they quit threatening and just leave.
trumad
(41,692 posts)Waited for a fucking cab for 45 minutes the other night. Would have taken 5 minutes in an Uber.
Plus---Ubers are half the cost of rip off cabs. I've talked to many Uber drivers and they all love the money they are making.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)In a few areas, a few hard working hustlers can make good money during certain times of day.
But for the most part, many drivers quit within weeks or months, or they drive at most a few hours as side cash.
On the bright side, Travis is starting to warn people that it is a desperation gig, not a full time job.
TampaAnimusVortex
(785 posts)If people want to drive, let em.
If people want to ride, let em.
Fricken fascist busybodies injecting themselves into other people's choices.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I pretend safety and worker regulations are fascist too.
As it takes no rational thought to make the allegation, requires zero evidence to support the allegation, and a dramatic lack of education to believe the allegation, I can completely understand your choice for making the allegation.
(I'd also pretend that anyone who disagree with my unsupported allegation are authoritarians, sheeple, third-wayers, communists, and a host of of trendy, t-shirt-worthy epithets of evil)
TampaAnimusVortex
(785 posts)You think you know better than the individuals involved about what's best for them? How wise you must be to be able to dictate all those variables for the common folk. Were lucky to have your guiding light to shine the way for us mortals.
I can't imagine why anyone would consider you an authoritarian... How bizarre.
Exilednight
(9,359 posts)philosslayer
(3,076 posts)You seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Do people have the right to make informed decisions?
TampaAnimusVortex
(785 posts)They personally may find a cheaper fare a better solution for themselves on a tight budget and cant afford to pay higher transportation costs... but if you know better about their situation than they do, sure... go ahead and make the choice for them. I mean hey, who are they but grown adults with their own minds.
Stellar
(5,644 posts)and I've come to recognized that a lot of people that call a cab in some urban areas can't get a cab. So Uber is now a big help to them. And possibly will help non-violent inmates to get a job.
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)She probably has no clue how shitty taxi service is in most places in the US.
There is good reason people prefer to use Uber and Lyft. Better Damn Service!
Of course, Elizabeth never has to call and wait for a taxi that may or may not show up, and if it does it's a crappy car with a driver that has a bad attitude.
trumad
(41,692 posts)I travel quite a bit and Uber is absolutely fantastic. Do they need to work on their workers rights etc...of course.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Last edited Fri May 27, 2016, 11:07 AM - Edit history (1)
Their goal is to not just to completely get rid of the taxi industry (which is still important to a lot of people who are not tech freaks like most of us here), but to put MILLIONS of people out of work while a few rich investors stuff their pockets with cash.
Uber is the kind of company that will encourage you to break the law by picking up at airports such as Atlanta, Detroit, Newark, Philadelphia, and penalizing and deactivating you if you don't.
Sure, they will pay for the ticket and the impound... but you still have a hit on your record (in some cases, a misdemeanor criminal charge).
Technologically, they are a great idea. Customers love them (except for the creepy drivers, the long route drivers, and the occasional kidnapper, murder, or rapist). But they are destroying lives.
If you are brave enough to take off your rose colored glasses to find out what rideshare drivers really think and are going through:
http://uberpeople.net
trumad
(41,692 posts)I love how people diss Uber but say nothing about Taxi's.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Most taxi companies suck. I know, I've been in the biz since 2007. Been with a company running newer, cleaner cars since 2008.
Finding good drivers, and getting them to stay for more than a few weeks is very difficult. It is dangerous and stressful. Some passengers have unrealistic expectations. Some passengers are very rude, even violent.
Maintaining a fleet of cars is expensive. You have commercial insurance which costs several thousand dollars a year. And a full time car puts on 50,000 to 80,000 miles a year, so you have tires and brakes and about 15 oil changes a year. Plus some cars will get wrecked, and some cars will have mechanical failures.
Sometimes you have far more cars than fares. And sometimes, it is the opposite. Rarely does your fleet availability match up with demand.
Uber figured out a way to offload expenses that are normally borne by fleet owners directly on the drivers themselves. And then THEY set a rate that is too low to provide a decent living if you want to keep your car safe and functional.
And to top it off, they deactivate or time out good drivers who have made substantial investments in time and money just because they don't want to do illegal airport pickups or drive 20 minutes through traffic for a fare that will net them about $3-$4.
Uber's concept is awesome. But their treatment of drivers is horrible.
philosslayer
(3,076 posts)"Yes, they treat their workers horribly, but gosh its just so easy and convenient for me!!"
True societal change starts with individual actions. Not waiting for someone else to fix the problem.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)But they are exactly the kind of liberals Thomas Frank rails against. And the kind the Democratic Party has been infected with for the last 30 years. Or maybe longer even.
U4ikLefty
(4,012 posts)WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)
33 of 50 aldermen have co-sponsored the ordinance to regulate Rahm Emanuel's family racket.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/ride-hailing-vs-taxi-showdown-starts-with-a-pep-rally/
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)If cabs did not suck so much there would be no Uber.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)Take your Uber. No one gives a fuck what you people do. You think we do, but we don't. You're happy supporting race-to-the-bottom economics and these Ayn Rand, tax dodging, white privileged brats who don't give a fuck about their drivers -- they just need 10s of thousands to exploit since driver realize Uber is a scam and quit within months -- you like to save your $2 to support Libertaian economics, you're a disgrace. Do you know who Ald Moore is and anything about his ward? Obviously, not, because it make your post look even more ignorant and idiotic.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Imo, you are a very foolish person. Can we agree at least that people who have no idea who their friends and enemies are, or do and attack their friends anyway, are doomed to defeat?
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)Uber is run by Ayn Rand's shit spawn. Follow the trail of lawsuits or listen to ignorant friends. Your choice. A fool's choice.
ProfessorGAC
(65,060 posts)As you call them. Double A has been here a long time and i know by reading lots of posts, that your description couldn't be much further from the truth.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,060 posts)No Uber, no Lyft, and HIGHLY limited cab service. So, i've got no dog in the hunt.
And, you did a whiplash inducing turn when you went from accusing a DUer of being a supporter of Rand brats to now focusing on the brats who run the company.
Do you not see the difference between making a point and attacking a DUer?
Last: I do know who AA is. I do know you're utterly in error. Empirically and irrevocably wrong. You might want to reconsider the chippiness. Coming to a forum and encouraging people to block or ignore you accomplishes exactly what again?
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)council was that NYC doesn't have rideshare. Start naming industries that set up business in municipalities illegally, bully, buy and threaten cities that won't let them define the rules. You're done. The count was zero. Uber operated outside the law and now the game is coming to a close across the country. This is the height of billionaire, brat white male privilege. You people who think cities don't want Uber are freaked out by their propaganda, much like Clinton supporters every time the media begins a story with, "Bernie Sanders..." They all start flighing their feces. Uber's got its supporters trained like feces tossing chimps, as well. And if that came across as a non sequitur to your comment, it might have been, because I didn't bother reading what you wrote. I've started several Uber threads here and dealt with every ass-clown comment. None are original.
ProfessorGAC
(65,060 posts)Never have. Uber is never going to operate in my little town on the fringes of Chicagoland. So, i've got no reason to support them. They're a non-entity to me.
So, you're trying to convince me to change an opinion i don't have.
I was defending a fellow poster, not Uber. Since you admit you don't actually read the other folks' posts, i should not be surprised.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)And I unfortunately know Arena a little. Truth be told, Arena is by far not the worst alderman in the city, he tries to take care of his constituency. But he is self-interested here. Same as Beale.
I have lived in crappy neighborhoods with shit service. Were it not for the cab companies having their garages nearby plus the giant mosque nearby I would have no cab services where I live. As would 75% of the city.
Let me tell you a story. I got married at Garfield Park Conservatory. Great place, shit neighborhood. I did not feel like shelling out of a limo to sit there for six hours during the reception so I arranged for a taxi service to pick my bride and I at a certain hour. Guess who never showed? Guess who repeatedly lied to me about cabs being on the way? Guess who had no recourse?
Yeah, fuck the taxi business.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)If you listen to Uber, you believe a bunch of bratty, pouty, lying piece of shit. I'm happy for you! But if you think this ordinance is going to take your Uber from you, you've been taken for a $2 ride, no tip. 
Take a bow.
Like Beale and Arena and Austin said, if you want to leave, that's your decision, but we want you to stay.
Such fucking drama.
And you'll blame the city council for taking your Uber away. These guys aren't good business partners.
UberPeople. Tell Uber to grow the fuck up and play by the rules. Sorry, Libertarians, but there are rules.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)They are run by libertarian assholes. I can't believe how many so-called progressives back these horrible companies just because it is convenient. Convenience and expediency is how we lost millions of good paying jobs, by letting corporations decide, instead of standing up for workers.
1939
(1,683 posts)When doing things the right way becomes too difficult, people will do things the non-approved way. The cab companies could eliminate them very easily. They just have to plant a size twelve in ass of their drivers and get them to clean up their act and clean up their cars. So long as they have a protected monopoly, they are not going to do that.
The2ndWheel
(7,947 posts)The person that sharpened the first stick to hunt with was all about convenience. Hell, the first person to pick up the unsharpened stick, or a rock, to hunt with was all about convenience.
The Luddites didn't win, and 1950's American economics aren't going to win either. Who knows exactly how the future will go, but human beings wanting convenience and expediency isn't going to change. Unless you mean wanting things even faster and even cheaper. Again, what that's going to mean, well that's one of the central questions of our day and age.
kcr
(15,317 posts)But the corporations that provide that can be regulated and that won't affect convenience and expediency in the least. If you think so, you've been fooled, and all so workers can be exploited.
philosslayer
(3,076 posts)Its amazing the larger price we pay for short term "convenience". "Convenience" has cost untold jobs, and slowly eroded our standard of living.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)Disgraceful 
callous taoboy
(4,585 posts)Look what happened in Austin. They spent massively to try to drum up a recall election for the city council member who was behind the fingerprinting requirement. I'm all for recalling crooked politicians, but this was all about their bottom line. They can go play marbles in the highway.
47of74
(18,470 posts)I thought of this when I saw the title...
There is a great disturbance in The Force. We have a new enemy...Elizabeth Warren. She could destroy us.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Also wanted to add, don't know the situation in other places, but in Oakland, the cabs being in short supply was caused by one family owned company basically hoarding the medallions. They were rich enough to own most of them, but too cheap to put them all into vehicles.
Most of car-hire issues are not caused by the cabbies.
clarice
(5,504 posts)I can't believe that this is even an issue. People signed up for Uber knowing full well what
to expect. This sort of campaign will simply eliminate jobs that many people rely on for
extra income. Leave it alone. IMHO
Skittles
(153,164 posts)people will always try to make money - they'll sign up for all KINDS of crap - that does not mean they do not deserve protection
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Uber LIES TO THEM!!!
But anyone who tries to point out the complete story, the risks and expenses, is the pariah. Not the Randian asshole making fat bank while drivers are losing what little they do have because some frat boy assholes think they are the wrong color, or speak with the wrong accent, and 1 star them while making bogus complaints.
clarice
(5,504 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)I stand by my statement. Most people do not know how difficult it is, how expensive it is.
I ALMOST became an Uber driver myself. But when they started nosediving the rates, I knew from experience that over the long term, it was a bad idea from the driver's perspective. THIRTY CENTS A MILE in Detroit for a while, about 85 cents a mile many other places. That's only loaded miles, which are about 30% to 50% of actual miles driven. From that, you have gasoline and car expenses, as well as Uber's cut. And when some jackass complains about you, they will even take that away. Possibly even deactivate you on the word of a turd.
Driving is OK for a few prime hours a week. But demand is not constant. And fares are rarely at convenient places.
Uber does not tell you that. Only us "broad brushers" will.
clarice
(5,504 posts)irks me when some people (not you) get involved in an issue and have no idea of the repercussions to the actual WORKING people
who share NONE of these idealistic concerns, and are just trying to make ends meet.
newblewtoo
(667 posts)friend years back who had run a personal limo business for longer than I care to remember. The stories he would tell. Not an easy way to make a living, he did weddings, proms, airport runs, funerals, the whole gambit before the Uber world even existed. Literally drove himself and his cars to death. I was amazed that he carried a gun and was licensed to carry in Massachusetts as well as the rest of New England states. Yikes. He took credit cards with an old school plate machine before he updated to cell technology.
He paid a fortune in insurance and had special 'hired car' plates and chauffeur licenses. He said it was almost as bad if not worse than when he was a long haul truck driver.
When Uber came here it destroyed a long standing taxi medallion system, pretty much deregulating the industry. Not saying that was entirely a bad thing in and of itself, but, the old system did insure the cabs received periodic safety checks. Unfortunately it was a monopoly up to that point with newcomers frozen out. I guess it can cut both ways.
kcr
(15,317 posts)I'm so glad we have her fighting for workers. Kick and rec.
clarice
(5,504 posts)It's okay to exploit them why?
clarice
(5,504 posts)how THEY feel about this.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Have you been to any yet?
http://uberpeople.net
clarice
(5,504 posts)Egnever
(21,506 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Yes, old school taxi and limo drivers are on there. Uber drivers and passengers are on there. Mainstream and major alternative media reporters are there.
[hr]
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/newbie-drivers-meet-embittered-veterans-on-the-uberpeople-forum?trk_source=recommended
UBER EARTH
Newbie Drivers Meet Embittered Veterans on the UberPeople Forum
WRITTEN BY ROISIN KIBERD - May 27, 2016 // 11:10 AM EST
The forum is UberPeople, the internet’s largest community for Uber drivers. The site was founded in April 2014, five years after Uber itself appeared, and it has grown to over 51,300 members and one million posts.
~ snip ~
UberPeople unites an increasingly fractured community. While Uber users are active on other social media—there are Facebook groups for most cities where Uber is active, walkie talkie app Zello, blogs like The Rideshare Guy, YouTubers, and Meetup groups around the world—UberPeople is by far the most prominent and wide-reaching online community for drivers. It provides an outlet for workers engaged in what can be at once a highly social and extremely lonely working experience.
The site was founded by an anonymous driver for Uber and Lyft who wanted to share their experiences, and who works on the forum to this day alongside a team of ten moderators with whom I spoke over email. “There are all types of interests on the site,” they said of UberPeople’s users. “New, current and ex-TNC drivers, traditional cab drivers and chauffeurs, fleet owners, those who have been in the transportation business a long time and those are just interested in this new economy. We welcome any opinion.”
~ snip ~
Members crowdsource advice for morally dubious situations: What’s the best thing to do when your passenger is blackout drunk and demands that you take them to where they left their car? Would you turn down a woman in labour? Should drivers carry a stun gun, or pepper spray, or something more lethal? What do you do when a group of male passengers aggressively propositions a female driver?
~ snip ~
[hr]
It is ironic that you are criticizing the validity of opinions of a message forum...on a message forum. Particularly THIS forum!
frankieallen
(583 posts)Regulation, uber drivers are workers too. most do this for a little extra money, let's leave them alone.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)Then they are completely on the hook for everything. And Uber takes no responsibility for what happens, though they should be on the hook as their employer.
This move towards a "gig" economy sucks and the fact the so-called progressives also support sucks too.
It is not progressive to be in favor of lack of regulation of important industries, like transportation.
These workers, like so many contractors everywhere, are being exploited and used for profit.
clarice
(5,504 posts)
tenderfoot
(8,437 posts)eom
clarice
(5,504 posts)philosslayer
(3,076 posts)They do it because they have to. They are being exploited out of their desperation.
TampaAnimusVortex
(785 posts)Nice work. People make choices because they think its going to be better for them, but you decide you want to overrule them because you can make choices for them better than they can themselves. Brilliant way to protect people on to the unemployment rolls.
Throd
(7,208 posts)TampaAnimusVortex
(785 posts)to come save them from themselves. I vote for the name "Super friends justice force" and they can carry their "Power leashes" to guide those non-thinking poor towards the "correct" solutions.
So elitist... Ugh.
clarice
(5,504 posts)clarice
(5,504 posts)in our infinite wisdom, we should close their place of employment... for their own good of course.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)The concept is great. They just need to follow the same rules that everyone else is under.
If they don't want to be regulated, their competitors should not be regulated and placed at a competitive disadvantage.
clarice
(5,504 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)
clarice
(5,504 posts)decided to make it a political issue.
clarice
(5,504 posts)Skittles
(153,164 posts)clarice
(5,504 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)
Kingofalldems
(38,458 posts)Employers should be given a set of rules and abide by them Every single employer.
BTW, Democrats are for worker's rights.
clarice
(5,504 posts)U4ikLefty
(4,012 posts)these are regulations.
The_Casual_Observer
(27,742 posts)Reasons. Getting somebody to do this on the cheap, even though it's convienient for the user is basically shitty in the long run.
GoneOffShore
(17,340 posts)bigwillq
(72,790 posts)Great decision on my part.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Your Uber driver did NOT make enough money on your fare alone.
Desperate people are driving around, miles and miles and hours and hours, trying to stay ultimately alert and safe and polite. Sure, some of them are part-timers - just a hobby, just a few extra hours. So when are they sleeping? But who needs sleep when some drunken' fucken' asshole needs a ride and somebody to dump on. Literally. As in you are off for the rest of the night, scrubbing and Febrezing(TM?) your back seat for hours.
Uber should compensate their drivers better, but in the meantime, if you really DO care about workers and public safety, PLEASE tip your driver.
(Note to current and future Uber Drivers: ALWAYS have a clean-up kit handy. Minimum full roll of paper towels, plastic bags, upholstery shampoo, scrub brush, sponge, Febreze, Ozium air freshner. Sawdust and baking soda are highly recommended. Even if you never end up with a puker, a pee-er, or a pooper, you will have some fragrant folks in your back seat)