Bitter Uber drivers may not have a union but they do have the internet
Mar 2, 2017, 6:56 AM
Last month, Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, was traveling in an Uber, as you’d expect him to do. He was using the high-end Uber Black service – where the drivers are licensed chauffeurs, driving black luxury sedans.
And as the ride ends, the CEO decides to chat — about his new policy to limit the number of Uber Black sedans as a way of helping drivers earn more.
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He expected a thank you. What he got was a scolding.
“I lost $97,000 because of you,” the driver said. “I’m bankrupt because of you.”
It turns out this driver made much more before Uber upset the whole taxi industry.
“You changed the whole business,” he said. “You dropped the prices …”
The CEO tells him to look in the mirror.
“You know what, some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own s***,” Kalanick responded. “They blame everything in their life on somebody else. Good luck.”
This video has exploded just as Uber is being boycotted over how it treats women, and would seem to be further evidence – as one article put it – that Uber is a company with an “a*****e” problem. I don’t know Mr. Kalanick – he could be a you-know-what – but this clip doesn’t shock me. It’s pretty much the story of a lot of new jobs today. Nothing’s guaranteed. Your pay can change, your hours can change, you have no union, and so your choice is to shut up, or quit.
Or, put your billionaire boss on the internet — where the same technology that has undercut this man’s income at least gives him a worldwide platform to complain about it.
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