Uber is at war with its Seattle drivers.
The company’s long-standing policy of treating staff as independent contractors means they receive no paid leave, no healthcare, and none of the rights or protections of full employment.
Right now, collective bargaining is their only hope for achieving decent pay and conditions. But Uber has blocked all their efforts to form a union -- even after a Seattle court ordinance declared it legal.
Drivers are in a double bind. Let's turn the tables and force Uber to make make up its mind: either treat drivers like employees, or stand aside and let them unionize.
Uber: if you won’t offer employee status to your drivers, let them unionize. It’s the right thing to do!
Uber is using every trick in the book to stop its drivers forming a Teamsters Union -- going as far as issuing drivers podcasts filled with anti-union propaganda.
After Seattle courts passed a law allowing its drivers the right to unionize, Uber -- which calls its drivers 'partners' -- responded by filing a lawsuit.
With previous incidents of harassment, exploitation and strikebreaking on record, we can now add union busting to the long list of Uber’s crimes.
"Uber also tells us we’re their partners, but they don’t treat us like [it]," Uber driver Fasil Teka said.
By appealing the decision, it’s clear Uber is only thinking about its bottom line. The company is using all of its corporate power to resist fair wages and rights.
But there’s pressure mounting on Uber to do the right thing.
Last year, after it was taken to court by drivers and the GMB Union, Uber lost the right to classify its UK drivers as self-employed. Now this Seattle ruling could set a precedent, and help finally put the brakes on Uber's history of labor abuses.
If we keep piling on the pressure, we can force Uber into a position where it has to make a decision: either make drivers employees, or allow them to unionize.
Uber's at a fork in the road. We can force it to make a decision: full employment or unionization!
More information
Wall Street Journal. 11 March 2017.
The Guardian. 28 October 2016.
The Next Web. 13 March 2017.