Outraged Uber Drivers Strike

February 2, 2016

By Steven Wishnia

New York, NY — The message arrived on Uber drivers’ smartphones at 8:06 a.m. on Friday, Jan 29: “This is a reminder that starting today there are guaranteed hourly earnings and reduced prices in NYC.”

The taxi-app company was cutting its fares by 15% and lowering the minimum charge from $8 to $7. After Uber takes its cut, the driver’s share of that is often less than $5—and that’s before sales-tax deductions, other fees, and the costs of gasoline, tolls, car payments, and insurance.

Anger grew over the weekend, as drivers passed messages around on social media. On Monday, Feb. 1, they launched a 72-hour strike that shut down Uber service at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, said Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. More than 500 drivers protested outside the company’s New York offices, an unassuming three-story brick building amid the rising glass high-rises of Long Island City.

“They kill the driver. They put the driver on the floor,” said Ismael Sow, a 37-year-old immigrant from Sierra Leone who has been driving for Uber for 15 months. “Uber gives us a $4.89 fare. So how’s the driver going to cover on that?”

To make $1,500 a week, Sow said, he has to work 60 to 65 hours. After gas, tolls, and insurance, he nets about $700. Former yellow-cab driver Sukhjinder Singh, 43, said he works six days a week “minimum,” and the price cut will cost him $50 a shift.

Uber said in a statement that it lowered the fare “to get more people using Uber” because “in New York things tend to be quieter after the holidays.” Over the weekend, it claimed, “drivers have spent 39% less time between trips, which has increased average hourly earnings by 20% compared to two weekends before. This is similar to what happened last time we cut prices.”

“That is not true. It is propaganda,” responded Kwabena Owusu-Ansah, 34, a Ghanaian immigrant from the Bronx who has worked for Uber for two years.

“They said this is going to increase demand, but in rush hour, it’s not possible to take more than two people an hour,” said Felix Delahoz, 35, of New Jersey. “How come we’re giving a good service and getting paid like a slave?”

Uber executive David Plouffe—formerly President Barack Obama’s senior adviser—has said that the vast majority of Uber drivers have another job, she went on.

“Is that true?” she asked the crowd.

“NO!” the drivers roared back.

Plouffe has also said most work only two or three hours a day. “Is that true?” she asked.

“NO!” the drivers roared again.

“I think you’re going to see these actions continued, because people are pretty riled up. What you’re seeing is a drivers’ movement. It’s growing,” Desai told LaborPress. Uber, she added, is “just undercutting the drivers’ ability to make a decent living. It’s a vicious race to the bottom.”