An Open Letter to Uber: We Need to Do Right By Our Drivers
Signed by an employee of Uber
--
The authenticity of the following anonymous op-ed has been verified by Medium’s editorial staff.
I am an Uber employee and I support the drivers’ strikes.
The strikes called on Monday by Rideshare Drivers United (RDU) in Southern California and Gig Workers Rising in San Francisco are a sign of the deep frustration many ride-share drivers feel — and which, amid ongoing conversations with colleagues, it is clear many internal Uber employees share — about the treatment of those workers that provide the services at the core of our business.
As an employee at the world’s leading ride-share company, I see firsthand not only the often meager earnings of our drivers, but also the exploitative labor practices imposed on a systemically disempowered workforce. I, therefore, stand with the striking drivers in calling for the implementation of RDU’s Drivers’ Bill of Rights. While ride-share executives continue to receive vast remuneration packages, and internal employees look forward to an IPO windfall at both Uber and Lyft, my sympathetic colleagues and I will not remain silent as drivers are squeezed in order to shore up initial offerings to investors.
Our drivers are the backbone of the platform. Without them — as these courageous strikes have demonstrated — our business would come to a standstill. For this reason, we will not stand by as those that work at the heart of our business are attacked and exploited. We demand that all of our drivers are fairly remunerated, that they gain greater transparency about how their earnings are calculated, that they are guaranteed greater protections, and that their collective voice is heard in the boardroom.
As tech workers, we share more in common with the drivers that support the platform than the company executives that spend millions ensuring that ride-share companies, and others in the so-called gig economy, can continue to bend the law and exploit workers. We, therefore, reject the two-tiered division of labor that denies drivers the basic workers’ rights afforded to internal employees and call for the full implementation of the Dynamex decision in California.
We call on all tech workers to support the actions of ride-share drivers in their mission for fair pay, dignity, and respect and we demand the immediate reversal of the pay cut imposed on drivers in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
