For more than five years, James Jordan worked full-time for Uber in Los Angeles, California, until early 2022, when he was permanently deactivated from the app, Uber’s equivalent of being fired.
He said he later found that it was disabled due to old customer complaints, but that Uber did not listen to his appeals or offer to provide dash cam footage to refute the allegations.
“In a week, 10 days, I received several complaints. I didn’t know where they were coming from,” said Jordan, who said he completed more than 27,000 rides for Uber and had a 4.95 rating on the app before its permanent deactivation.
Jordan’s is not an isolated case. TO report published by the Asian Law Caucus and Rideshare Drivers United, based on survey responses from 810 rideshare drivers for Uber and Lyft in California, found that two-thirds of drivers have experienced temporary or permanent deactivations of their accounts, with drivers from color and immigrants disproportionately affected. Jordan is black.
Survey responses detailed unfair and non-transparent deactivations, with 30% of drivers saying they received no explanation for the deactivations. The survey detailed incidents of discrimination by customers and customers filing frivolous complaints to get free rides or credits from rideshare companies. The drivers said there was no fair process for drivers to respond or advocate on their own behalf.
Jordan said his problems began when he turned down trips that were miles away from his location and not financially worth it. He also ran into issues with some riders refusing to adhere to Uber’s mandatory mask policy that was still in effect at the time even though state and local mask mandates had been lifted.
“In less than two weeks, five and a half years went down the drain. I requested an appeal, but Uber was not interested in an appeal or my dash cam footage,” Jordan said. “It was traumatic. Anxiety levels, stress levels, and emotions were off the charts. I worked full time, giving it my all, and invested a lot of time and energy in five and a half years.”
Jordan said he filed a claim in small claims court against Uber for his permanent deactivation, but his case was dismissed because all Uber drivers have to sign terms and conditions before they work for the company that state that Uber can deactivate drivers. drivers at any time.
“Uber needs to be regulated,” Jordan added. “Uber is redefining independent hiring to fit its schedule. We need the attorney general’s office to take seriously these violations that I and hundreds of other drivers are experiencing.”
Uber and Lyft drivers in the US are pushing for better wages, working conditions and regulations in the rideshare industry.
In 2020, California passed a ballot initiative, Proposition 22, that allowed app-based businesses to classify their workers as independent contractors. A analysis A National Equity Atlas study of the bill’s impact on rideshare driver earnings found that median net earnings for drivers are now $6.20 per hour, less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The analysis found that drivers would receive almost $11 more per hour if they were classified as employees rather than independent contractors.
Proposition 22 promised limited benefits to gig app workers without classifying them as employees and went into effect in January 2021 after passing as a state ballot initiative. concert companies spent $224 million in support of the initiative.
The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a policy brief criticizing the lack of transparency in the algorithms used by ride-sharing apps.
In Massachusetts, Uber and Lyft drivers gathered outside Uber headquarters in Saugus, Massachusetts, on March 1 in support of union rights through the state’s rideshare driver justice bill (HD2071 and SD1162), which would also allow for reform of the deactivation rights. Uber and Lyft had spent millions of dollars lobbying to bring legislation similar to Proposition 22 to Massachusetts, but the ballot initiative was blocked in court in 2022.
Joelfi Arias, 28, has worked as an Uber and Lyft driver for more than four years. He started driving for ride-sharing services after he had to drop out of college to help his family when his father was deactivated from Uber without explanation and his mother was diagnosed with cancer.
He said he was tempted to work for app-based companies because of their emphasis on flexibility and the lure of working for oneself, but these promises were quickly revealed as mere exaggerations.
“Unfortunately, over the years, I have noticed their huge propaganda trying to hook people into the apps. Basically, you see over the years how they treat you unfairly,” Arias said. “The only way we are going to defend ourselves is by unionizing.”
Uber and Lyft deferred comment on the rally to the industry-backed group Massachusetts Independent Work Coalition, whose spokesman Conor Yunits said in a statement: “Rideshare and delivery drivers have spent the past year making their voices heard loud. And of course: they want to remain independent. .”
But drivers across the country are still taking action. On February 26, Uber and Lyft drivers in New York City continued strike at LaGuardia Airport to protest unfair deactivations and blocking of raises for drivers in the city by rideshare companies, the third strike in the hands of drivers on these issues.
“Since I started driving for Uber in 2014, the company has taken an increasing share of each fare. Sometimes they take 50% of the fare the passenger pays,” said Samassa Tidiane, an Uber driver in New York City. “Everything comes out of the pockets of the drivers. Uber doesn’t pay for our cars, our gas, our insurance, our vehicle maintenance. They even charge us to take our pay out of our Uber accounts, all while the prices of everything are going up and drivers are struggling to feed our families.”
As of February 2023 report published by the UCLA Labor Center found that Uber and Lyft increased average ridership fares by 50% from February 2019 to April 2022, while average driver pay increased just 31% over the same period. The report is based on an analysis of 50 million Uber and Lyft rides in New York City.
And in Chicago, rideshare drivers are pushing for a city ordinance to increase wages, improve security and transparency, and develop appeals processes for deactivations through local government.
A Lyft spokesperson disputed the reports and analysis on rideshare drivers.
“We strongly condemn discrimination of any kind and are committed to preventing it on our platform. This report is flawed to the core with a default conclusion that is not based on facts. Lyft takes passenger and driver safety reports seriously and reviews and investigates them to determine the appropriate course of action. This report does not reflect the actual experiences of most drivers,” the company said in an email. “With record low unemployment and over 1 million traditional job openings vacant in California, drivers would not continue to choose this job if there was any truth to these findings. Drivers continue to drive with Lyft because of the earning potential, independence and flexibility it offers.”
Uber did not provide a comment.
