Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > A Clash of Conveniences: Uber's 'Deactivation' of Drivers
________________________________________
A Clash of Conveniences: Uber's 'Deactivation' of Drivers
By Seth Sandronsky [1] / Capital and Main [2]
October 15, 2015
Traveling to and from Israel to take care of his cancer-stricken dad caused
Ari Gottlieb to leave a full-time job in sales. As a result, the 37-year-old
Los Angeles resident sought "on-demand" employment as an Uber ride-share
driver in March 2013. Gottlieb told Capital & Main [2] by phone that he
provided nearly 3,000 rides to Uber customers before the company permanently
"deactivated" (e.g., fired) him in August 2014.
Deactivation severs drivers' connection to Uber's app-based platform.
Without that digital access to passengers, drivers are unable to earn
income.
"The company contended that I was canceling customer requests for rides,"
Gottlieb said. "It was true, but I didn't have a choice, due to traffic,
where I was and the location of the request. I hoped that the customers got
a closer driver. Spending 30 minutes driving for a one or two-mile Uber
customer trip didn't make sense."
Gottlieb labored as an independent contractor, not an Uber employee.
Therefore he, like other Uber drivers, not the company, bore the costs of
vehicle fueling and maintenance.
Gottlieb is part of a class-action lawsuit [3] in California against Uber
that seeks to compensate drivers statewide for customer tips they did not
get (Uber tells riders it is not necessary to tip [4] its drivers), plus
reimbursement for vehicle expenses. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San
Francisco is overseeing the case that alleges Uber broke the law by failing
to provide its drivers needed benefits.
The business model of Uber, which is valued at $51 billion and employs a
driver workforce of an estimated 160,000 independent contractors [5] in the
U.S., is the subject of a new book by Steven Hill, Raw Deal: How the "Uber
Economy" and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers [6]. A senior
fellow at the New America Foundation, he puts the economics and politics of
Gottlieb's predicament into a broader context.
"As congestion increases due to more and more Ubers on the road, we are
hearing about more Uber drivers canceling short trips where it's clear they
will lose money fighting the traffic in places like L.A., San Francisco and
New York," Hill said in an email.
"We are reaching a point of a 'clash of conveniences' - sure, it's nice to
have an Uber car show up in a matter of minutes to pick you up, but the only
way to make that happen is by flooding the streets with Uber cars."
Both Gottlieb and Uber agree that the company said nothing to Gottlieb for
three weeks after the emailed deactivation note.
Company investigations into driver deactivations can delay communication,
Kayla Whaling, an Uber spokeswoman, said in a phone interview. According to
Gottlieb, he eventually had a 25-minute phone conversation with an L.A. Uber
manager, who said his ride-to-cancellation ratio was the reason for the
permanent deactivation.
"Gottlieb failed to follow the terms and conditions of use of Uber's mobile
app platform," said Whaling. "He did that repeatedly."
Uber does deactivate drivers for other reasons, such as expired vehicular
documents, e.g., insurance and passenger complaints. When asked for
year-over-year data on deactivated Uber drivers, Whaling said the company
does not keep such records.
"Driver deactivation is a small part of Uber," said Gottlieb. "Far larger
than that is the company's exploitation of its labor force."
Seth Sandronsky is a journalist in Sacramento. Email him at:
sethsandronsky@xxxxxxxxx [7].
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [8]
[9]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/labor/clash-conveniences-ubers-deactivation-drivers
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/seth-sandronsky
[2] http://capitalandmain.com/
[3] http://uberlawsuit.com/
[4] https://help.uber.com/h/1be144ab-609a-43c5-82b5-b9c7de5ec073
[5]
https://s3.amazonaws.com/uber-static/comms/PDF/Uber_Driver-Partners_Hall_Kre
uger_2015.pdf
[6] http://us.macmillan.com/rawdeal/stevenhill
[7] mailto:sethsandronsky@xxxxxxxxx
[8] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on A Clash of Conveniences:
Uber's 'Deactivation' of Drivers
[9] http://www.alternet.org/
[10] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > A Clash of Conveniences: Uber's 'Deactivation' of Drivers
A Clash of Conveniences: Uber's 'Deactivation' of Drivers
By Seth Sandronsky [1] / Capital and Main [2]
October 15, 2015
Traveling to and from Israel to take care of his cancer-stricken dad caused
Ari Gottlieb to leave a full-time job in sales. As a result, the 37-year-old
Los Angeles resident sought "on-demand" employment as an Uber ride-share
driver in March 2013. Gottlieb told Capital & Main [2] by phone that he
provided nearly 3,000 rides to Uber customers before the company permanently
"deactivated" (e.g., fired) him in August 2014.
Deactivation severs drivers' connection to Uber's app-based platform.
Without that digital access to passengers, drivers are unable to earn
income.
"The company contended that I was canceling customer requests for rides,"
Gottlieb said. "It was true, but I didn't have a choice, due to traffic,
where I was and the location of the request. I hoped that the customers got
a closer driver. Spending 30 minutes driving for a one or two-mile Uber
customer trip didn't make sense."
Gottlieb labored as an independent contractor, not an Uber employee.
Therefore he, like other Uber drivers, not the company, bore the costs of
vehicle fueling and maintenance.
Gottlieb is part of a class-action lawsuit [3] in California against Uber
that seeks to compensate drivers statewide for customer tips they did not
get (Uber tells riders it is not necessary to tip [4] its drivers), plus
reimbursement for vehicle expenses. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San
Francisco is overseeing the case that alleges Uber broke the law by failing
to provide its drivers needed benefits.
The business model of Uber, which is valued at $51 billion and employs a
driver workforce of an estimated 160,000 independent contractors [5] in the
U.S., is the subject of a new book by Steven Hill, Raw Deal: How the "Uber
Economy" and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers [6]. A senior
fellow at the New America Foundation, he puts the economics and politics of
Gottlieb's predicament into a broader context.
"As congestion increases due to more and more Ubers on the road, we are
hearing about more Uber drivers canceling short trips where it's clear they
will lose money fighting the traffic in places like L.A., San Francisco and
New York," Hill said in an email.
"We are reaching a point of a 'clash of conveniences' - sure, it's nice to
have an Uber car show up in a matter of minutes to pick you up, but the only
way to make that happen is by flooding the streets with Uber cars."
Both Gottlieb and Uber agree that the company said nothing to Gottlieb for
three weeks after the emailed deactivation note.
Company investigations into driver deactivations can delay communication,
Kayla Whaling, an Uber spokeswoman, said in a phone interview. According to
Gottlieb, he eventually had a 25-minute phone conversation with an L.A. Uber
manager, who said his ride-to-cancellation ratio was the reason for the
permanent deactivation.
"Gottlieb failed to follow the terms and conditions of use of Uber's mobile
app platform," said Whaling. "He did that repeatedly."
Uber does deactivate drivers for other reasons, such as expired vehicular
documents, e.g., insurance and passenger complaints. When asked for
year-over-year data on deactivated Uber drivers, Whaling said the company
does not keep such records.
"Driver deactivation is a small part of Uber," said Gottlieb. "Far larger
than that is the company's exploitation of its labor force."
Seth Sandronsky is a journalist in Sacramento. Email him at:
sethsandronsky@xxxxxxxxx [7].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [8]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[9]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/labor/clash-conveniences-ubers-deactivation-drivers
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/seth-sandronsky
[2] http://capitalandmain.com/
[3] http://uberlawsuit.com/
[4] https://help.uber.com/h/1be144ab-609a-43c5-82b5-b9c7de5ec073
[5]
https://s3.amazonaws.com/uber-static/comms/PDF/Uber_Driver-Partners_Hall_Kre
uger_2015.pdf
[6] http://us.macmillan.com/rawdeal/stevenhill
[7] mailto:sethsandronsky@xxxxxxxxx
[8] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on A Clash of Conveniences:
Uber's 'Deactivation' of Drivers
[9] http://www.alternet.org/
[10] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B