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Uber Takes Heat for ‘Hypocritical’ Fake-Woke Billboard

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The latest performative corporate wokeness charade comes from the gig economy exploitation robber-barons at Uber, who put some version of this billboard in Oakland and 12 other U.S. cities, claiming, “If you tolerate racism, delete Uber.” That’s odd, considering that Uber gladly tolerates their own racist algorithm that charges higher rates for rides in non-white neighborhoods.

That’s why drivers of color and labor activists are protesting Wednesday at a “‘If You Support Racial Justice, Vote No on Prop 22’ rally, on Wednesday, September 9 at 11 a.m., right beneath that very goddamned tone-deaf billboard seen above, at 2430 Broadway in Oakland.

“On Wednesday, September 9, rideshare drivers from Gig Workers Rising and We Drive Progress are calling out Uber for their hypocritical billboard reading,” labor organizers Gig Workers Rising said in a statement. “Drivers will also condemn Uber for simultaneously spending tens of millions on Proposition 22 (gig companies including Uber plan to spend a whopping $181m on the Prop 22 campaign), their racist ballot measure that would relegate drivers into a permanent underclass of workers without basic rights and protections. 78% of gig workers in San Francisco are people of color.

“Uber and Lyft drivers will denounce the incongruence between Uber’s anti-racist public statements and the horrendous working conditions that the companies’ majority nonwhite drivers experience. Drivers will also speak about why they’re voting no on Proposition 22, which would allow these companies to continue to deny drivers their legally-entitled benefits.”

Prop, 22 is Uber and Lyft’s App-Based Drivers as Contractors Initiative that tech companies are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into. According to the California Labor Federation, “Prop 22 is a carve out in law that allows Uber and app companies to deny their drivers rights and protections like paid sick leave, workers compensation or unemployment benefits,” and “exempts these multi-billion-dollar gig corporations from contributing to safety net programs we all need like Social Security, Medicare and Unemployment Insurance.”

Even if you can’t make it to Wednesday’s action, do be sure to vote No on Prop. 22 on November 3.

 

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Joe Kukura- Millionaire in Training

Joe Kukura- Millionaire in Training

Joe Kukura is a two-bit marketing writer who excels at the homoerotic double-entendre. He is training to run a full marathon completely drunk and high, and his work has appeared in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal on days when their editors made particularly curious decisions.