Advice

This is Why You Should Support the Uber & Lyft Strike On Wednesday

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On Wednesday May 8th, Lyft and Uber drivers in cities across the US will be turning off their apps in protest as Uber’s IPO approaches. While the current list of cities includes New York, San Francisco, San Diego, LA, Philly, Chicago, DC, Boston and Minneapolis, ALL of us should refrain from using ride share apps that day.

In some of the cities the strike is only from the hours of 7am to 9am. But organizers inlike Boston are calling for a 24 hour strike. San Francisco drivers are logging out from noon till midnight.

As reported by The Verge, the reason for the two hour strike is that “Labor groups organizing the strike are protesting the companies’ payment and labor practices, and they hope to stymie the ride-hail apps during the crucial morning rush hour on the day before Uber is expected to debut on the public markets.” Drivers in UK cities like London, Birmingham, Nottingham, and Glasgow, are also participating in the strike.

As I noted when Lyft went public, it’s pretty fucked up that all these drivers worked their butts, off giving Lyft a $20 billion valuation, and they aren’t gonna see a penny of it. When Uber goes public on Wednesday they will be valued at far more.

As usual, Bernie Sanders nailed it this tweet from a few days ago:

Demands striking drivers are asking for include: livable incomes, increased job security, and a guarantee that 80%-85% of each fare is kept by the driver. In recent years, drivers’ per mile rates have gone down while the percent the company kept of each ride went up.

So please join me in supporting these workers in their struggle to obtain better working conditions and wages. On Wednesday take public transit or walk.

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Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, is a travel writer, poet, TV host, activist, and general shit-stirrer. His website BrokeAssStuart.com is one of the most influential arts & culture sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and his freelance writing has been featured in Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Bold Italic, Geek.com and too many other outlets to remember. His weekly column, Broke-Ass City, appears every other Thursday in the San Francisco Examiner. Stuart’s writing has been translated into four languages. In 2011 Stuart created and hosted the travel show Young, Broke, and Beautiful on IFC and in 2015 he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and got nearly 20k votes.

He's been called "an Underground legend": SF Chronicle, "an SF cult hero":SF Bay Guardian, and "the chief of cheap": Time Out New York.