Uber Drivers Protest In San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Hundreds of Uber drivers, upset because they say their wages have significantly diminished in recent years, rallied outside the ride-hailing app's headquarters in downtown San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.

The drivers were participating in a national strike being held by Uber drivers across several U.S. cities that's set to last through early Thursday morning.

As Uber prepares to go public on Friday with an initial public offering valued at $100 billion, the drivers say their pay has been cut significantly and they've been left with earnings below the minimum wage after expenses.

Additionally, the drivers say because they're contract workers, they're denied basic worker benefits like vacation time, healthcare and retirement contributions.

Stephen Phillips, 70, has been driving for Uber for more than four years and said that he's now earning less than half of what he used to make in 2015.

"We were paid very fairly and could actually make a decent salary. It was worth having your own car and burning the gas and everything. But now it's literally not worth being out there," he said.
"I love doing this work, but nobody is going to be able to do it at what they're paying," he said. "They want more and more passengers... They've all but eliminated the bonuses (for drivers) as they've been cutting the fares. So they don't want to raise prices."

He added, "If they keep losing drivers, they're going to start losing passengers because the service will become unreliable. They've got to strike a balance."

Rebecca Stack Martinez said she started driving for Uber while she was a student a year and a half ago. Late last year, she said she got a letter from Uber informing her that while her per minute driver rate was being raised, her mileage rate was being decreased.The letter assured her though that her earnings would remain the same, she said, but they didn't.

"They continuously cut our rates and we live here in the most expensive city, San Francisco, in the U.S. ... and yet they expect us to survive?" she said. "Enough is enough."

Supervisor Gordon Mar showed up to support the drivers."These drivers are providing a really important service not just to Uber but to our city and communities by helping people to get where they need to go so they should be compensated fairly," he said. "All the wealth that they've been getting from the venture capital funding and now through the IPO, it's just going to the pockets of the executives and their investors so they should share the wealth with the drivers and also the city, which incubated their success."

At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors' meeting Mar introduced a measure being called the IPO Tax, which if approved, could be put on the November ballot.

"It really would just restore a 1.5 percent tax on stock compensation income and this tax actually existed prior to 2012, when the city started cutting tax breaks to grow the tech sector here. So we're just restoring it and closing a loophole that was created specifically for the tech companies," he said.

"If the seven tech companies, like Uber, do go public, the tax revenue would be used to support efforts to reduce inequality in San Francisco and really to support everyone else; the middle class and working class."

In a statement via email, Uber officials said they've implemented several programs like a one-time cash driver appreciation award and others that offer more earning opportunities.

"Drivers are at the heart of our service -- we can't succeed without them - and thousands of people come into work at Uber everyday focused on how to make their experience better, on and off the road. Whether it's more consistent earnings, stronger insurance protections or fully funded four-year degrees for drivers or their families, we'll continue working to improve the experience for and with drivers."

— Bay City News

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