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The Center for American Progress reports:
Uber's business model is on the rocks [September 1] after [Federal Judge Edward Chen] granted class-action status to a lawsuit targeting the company's treatment of drivers as independent contractors.
[...] There are 160,000 drivers who will be party to the current lawsuit alleging that drivers are full employees of Uber with full labor law protections, rather than independent contractors. Any person who drove for Uber in California since mid-August 2009 and is not subject to a binding arbitration clause in her contract with the company will be considered part of the case.
[...] A jury trial will still determine whether Uber drivers meet the legal definition of employees--in which case the company would owe massive amounts of back pay to all eligible drivers--or not. And Chen did not give the drivers everything they wanted. The judge rejected class status for drivers' claims involving Uber policy around reimbursing expenses like gas, tolls, and the cost involved in a canceled fare.
[...] The cost of paying back wages and payroll taxes for the entire class, while certainly smaller than the $50 billion that the company is currently worth according to investors, would be vast.
takyon: Also at MarketWatch. In Seattle, City Council members have announced a bill that could allow Uber, Lyft, and other for-hire drivers to unionize.
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday September 02 2015, @05:47PM
Cabs are expensive, but a lot of that has to do with the drivers needing to make an actually living at it.
Ah but do they?
I toyed with the idea of hacking the system a bit and being a driver myself and IF there is enough traffic, uber has very little way to tell if I'm "double dipping" so I could go to the ultra-mega-super-market that rules this city, fill my cart with food, and while waiting the checkout lane check uber for anyone else buying food at ultra-mega-mart with me, and then I'd drive them home and drive myself home. I mean, I'm driving home anyway, right?
I almost never fly but if I was in the airport anyway I'd pick up a fare if one were available. The local combined amtrak/commuter rail/bus station is 3 blocks from work but the airport of course is 25 miles from home.
I can't make a living doing uber, but I could maybe "drive for free" or reduced rate at least. My ability to do that would price out the people trying to drive for a living.
Imagine how a pizza driver could theoretically clean up... Of course riders are going to complain his car smells of pepperoni but getting paid for two jobs at the same time is pretty sweet.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday September 02 2015, @07:21PM
Isn't that their claimed business model? Or at least it used to be, sharing the cost of driving to somewhere you were going anyway.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday September 02 2015, @07:43PM
I actually looked and I'm guessing thats lyft. Or another competitor. Uber is the wanna be taxi driver one of the crowd.
They (all?) seem to distance themselves from from the old college travel rideshare board mentality.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday September 03 2015, @10:31PM
I could be mixing them up with Lyft. Or Maybe they pushed the rideshare angle a bit more here in Oz.
If they claimed to be unlicenced taxis here, they would get shut down pretty damn fast.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.