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from the employee-rules-for-contractor-pay dept.
Uber remains unprofitable at the same time its drivers work 80-hour weeks for less than minimum wage and without health care packages. They must also cover vehicle costs including fuel, maintenance, and insurance.
The ride-hailing company Uber has made its long-awaited debut as a publicly traded stock, but investor demand for the May 10 initial public offering (IPO) fell short of the company's hopes. Part of the reason is a lingering question about its workforce: Does the still-unprofitable firm deliver low-cost rides for passengers at the expense of decent treatment for drivers, and could the resulting discontent undermine Uber's business model?
The issue over whether Uber drivers are employees (entitled to company benefits such as sick pay and retirement) or contractors (entitled to nothing) has been at the center of the labor controversy since the company launched a decade ago. It is still largely unresolved.
Earlier on SN:
New Research Confirms That Ride-Hailing Companies Are Causing a Ton of Traffic Congestion (2019)
Uber and Lyft Drivers to go on Strike (2019)
Uber Posts $1 Billion Loss in Quarter as Growth in Bookings Slows (2018)
and quite a few more...
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 22 2019, @03:03PM (1 child)
Have you ever been on public bus transportation? Enough bus rides and you'll know exactly why she didn't take the bus. It might only take one ride, depending on your location.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Wednesday May 22 2019, @10:15PM
I've taken plenty of public transportation rides and I don't have a problem with the transportation itself. The buses all have wheels that go round and round, and mostly don't crash. Some of the most convenient buses I've taken were overseas on dirty chicken buses. Comfy? No. But the price was right and they'd drop you off wherever you asked them to.
What could be fixed is the last mile problem.
- Buses in the states don't stop for you unless you are at a bus stop sign. Why not pick up the person walking to the bus stop even if they aren't there yet? Insurance. Liability.
- Your bus may drive right past where you need to be dropped off, but they wont stop for you even if you were the only one to get off at that next stop. They'll make you walk a mile back. Why? Insurance, liability and route times...but who cares about route times if no one rides the bus?
- Bus stops that make no sense. I've seen many bus routes tailored to a driver, and not the riders. Want to ride the bus? Stand in a ditch, and cross a state highway because it looks great on a map. Plus, the union demands this so the drivers aren't fired for missing route times with an empty bus.
- No Benches to sit at to wait for the bus. My city doesn't put them in because they claim homeless people will sleep at them. Seems like a separate issue to me.
- Rarely in the US do I see anyone willing to help someone on or off a bus. They'll sit there, complain the bus is slow while watching the 90lb driver try to muscle 200lbs of person and gear onto the bus all by themselves. Why? I'm told insurance and liability.