Is A Strike By Uber Drivers Justified?

 

If ever a need for worker unification exist, drivers that work with Uber is it. Uber has consistently lied to and exploited their drivers. Uber as a corporation has demonstrated a complete lack of ethics, manipulated government, and Uber’s long term plans may prove harmful to the US and may endanger the US Economy. Is a strike by Uber drivers justified? Yes! But a strike by anyone that cares for the American Worker and the US Economy would seem more appropriate.

Everyone that knows me or of me, pretty much knows that I support any action that causes Uber concern. But as time continues to move forward I see Uber consistently taking more and more from the drivers with absolutely no progress made to stop their abuse and exploitation. People seriously need to look to beyond Uber, to the end result Uber will impact the American Worker. It is entirely possible that the entire land transportation industries will follow suit. What we are looking at is maybe 20 to 50 million people unemployed while a handful of corporations profit from autonomous vehicles. The rich get richer and the rest of us bankrupt our city that surely cannot afford 50 to 100k unemployed added to their welfare roles. You may believe me being extremist in this projection but give it a moments thought. Think back to the housing bubble bust a few years back, that only impacted certain markets and none as severely as this situation would.

What any strike action needs to include is direct demonstration at local Governor, Mayor, and Transportation Authority Offices calling for regulation of UberX in it’s entirety. There is no reason for Uber to be able to disrupt all of these jobs for free. Uber’s bringing autonomous cars on line should require that Uber pay for the car being displaced. What I mean is Uber should be required to pay for Cab Medallions, buy Cab Companies, purchase Limousines and PUC Permits, and pay for the other cars such as us and our investment. Uber’s offer was to make us independent Contractors and small business owners, only to disrupt us. Now, Uber expects us to work for free. If you are driving UberX anywhere except the newest markets or those regulated by a transportation authority, you ARE working for free. Regardless everything you believe, the authors of the Fair Labor Standards Act intended that NOBODY exploit the American Worker and eventually Uber will get caught up in this and it will be fixed. But these are issues that Uber does not care about that the Government HAS to care about. It’s their job to worry about unemployment, employment, and the angry voter. That is where any strike action needs to target for positive result. Regulation of UberX solves all the problems including driver pay and has the most impact upon Uber. Allowing Uber to flood every market without regulation protecting all concerned is ridiculous. Autonomous cars require regulation. Take it to the government, not Uber.

I support enforcement of the strike action. The reason this is necessary is because there is not a single driver working with Uber that has the smarts to help someone with good intent to pay for media publishing and radio spots to advertise a pending strike action. Without enough money to publicize the strike notifying the other drivers of the event, 90% of the drivers still will not know of it being planned. I come from the “old school” when Teamsters used to actually take violent measures to stop “scab” labor from violating their strike activity, but I truly would hate to see anyone hurt. Regardless what action is taken, failure of our fellow drivers to support the strike seriously hinders any favorable result of the strike. It troubles me to think that our fellow drivers would make us resort to violence to stop them from violating the strike, but every car that can accept an Uber ping should be prevented from working during the strike. Drivers that want to drive should be using Lyfts platform to do so, or in the case of a regulated car be working independent from Uber, but not a single Uber car should be allowed to hit the street. Violence should not be necessary because we all know that our fellow drivers once notified will honor the strike. So if you want to prevent the possibility of violence quit being so cheap and give the Abe a few bucks to notify drivers. Even if he f’s off the money, all you have lost is a few bucks. The risk is worth it. If you do not trust Abe to do the right thing with your money there is a donation script running on the Association site. Donate and I will use the money for media ads to get the attention of Uber drivers nation-wide as far as the money takes me, and I will keep a running accounting of the use of the donations posted on the site so you can see where your money spent.

As for Abe, I do not know him. Don’t need to know him. I have no intent to elect him in charge of anything. But, he has taken the effort to do what none of the rest of us has had the heart to do, and done so with Uber shills and the weak of heart ragging on him all the way. He is not my spokesman, I will speak my voice loudly from whatever media is available, and I will speak. I will support the strike because the ball has been started rolling and because I believe Uber’s impact could be far more of a threat than we think, to both the American Worker and the US economy. If done correctly, this strike should do nothing but benefit other activities started in other locals. Why should you support this strike? Because “You Can!”

Folks, DO NOT KID YOURSELF, this strike may be the most important act taken against Uber in effort to achieve any form of future change. DO NOT take this action lightly. Uber is laughing at us and does not believe we have the heart to do what is necessary to make change happen. As for myself, I am willing to risk arrest for this cause because I believe that should we fail we would be letting down an entire nation of American Workers that deserve better than what is to be the result of their future should we not succeed. I also believe what happens during this strike will also impact the future for my children and their children for jobs in America. So please STAND UP and be heard. If you choose not to participate in the strike, please honor the strike by not working the Uber platform for the entirety of the strike to allow those that are willing to participate a chance to make a difference. It is that important.