This Week: Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash Fighting AB5

This week in rideshare news – Uber, Lyft and DoorDash have pledged to spend $30 million each (total of $90 million) to boycott the AB5 bill that would classify their drivers as employees.

Hey guys, what’s up? It’s Cecily, and welcome back, it’s This Week In Rideshare News.

Uber/Lyft spend big to avoid paying drivers better

Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash appear to be spending the big bucks to avoid paying their drivers.

Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash are donating $30 million to fund a ballot initiative to oppose AB5.

$30 million, each.

A vote on the bill is expected before the legislative session ends in mid-September. For those who don’t know, rideshare companies send an email to drivers urging them to contact their elected officials in opposition of AB5, promising around $21 per hour.

Nope. That’s not it.

No. $21 while you’re on your way picking up a passenger or while passenger’s in your car.

Doesn’t take an hour to get to the rider. Probably not going to take an hour to get from here right down the street either.

It’s not $21 an hour.

Now, there are benefits, but those benefits weren’t disclosed.

In addition, Uber, Lyft and DoorDash what to employ sectorial bargaining.

For those who don’t know, sectorial collective bargaining is an aim of trade unions and labor unions to reach a collective agreement that covers all workers in the sector of the economy.

In this case, it will allow drivers across the ride hailing industry to band together for negotiations. Now, that doesn’t sound bad to me, but, this is something I feel like we should have started when drivers started to complain. It seems to be more of a bandaid to a larger problem.

Both Uber and Lyft have stated, if Assembly Bill 5 becomes law that they will litigate this case as they have litigated every single case brought against them.

If you’re interested in finding out more about this, the link is in the description.

Want to make $8,000 a month driving for Uber? Well, this guy does.

Oh wait.

Mustafa makes $8,000 a month driving for Uber in San Francisco. And guess what? He says it’s not enough.

I know a lot of rideshare drivers, and driving here in California, I know for a fact that the Bay Area drivers get paid way more than we do. I’m actually very jealous of you guys. And I don’t feel so bad for you. But, reading this article, I’ve changed my mind.

Mustafa says that the $8,000 a month that he makes is necessary, and when he first started he only had to drive 20 to 30 hours a week to make that money. Currently, Mustafa drives 70 to 80 hours a week to make this amount of money. He is a proponent of AB5 and he believes that this bill will help establish a living wage that he and other drivers can benefit from.

Again, this is not a pro AB5, against AB5 channel, and I am leaving my personal feelings out of this particular video. I just wanted to share with you that people from all over the country are having trouble making ends meet doing this job. Maybe sometimes we romanticize what the folks in LA or the Bay Area make and how they’re making this work, and the reality is, is that people are struggling in general. It’s a tough economy.

You got to change it up. You got to change it up. You got to figure out ways to make things work. I thought that was interesting. I literally had, in my mind, that all the Bay Area drivers were living in high off the hog and had no problems, no issues, and simply, that’s not the case, at all.

If you’re curious about his interview and what he has to say, the link is in the description.

Names/Trade Secrets

Drivers lists are one of Uber’s closely guarded trade secrets, but not why you think.

In 2014, there was a letter that was released regarding the list of drivers that work for Uber, and they stated that the reason that they did not want to release drivers names was because of this. Uber’s competitors could use the list to poach drivers from the Uber platform, thereby undermining one of Uber’s key competitive advantages. A letter that echoed that same argument, saying the disclosure of driver names could lead to an aggressive targeting of them and cause the company competitive harm.

Both companies regard those lists at being trade secrets and do not want them to be released because they do not want you to abandon your platform.

On the other side of that, some people feel that releasing driver’s names and giving them an opportunity for companies to compete for their business, or compete for their service rather, could help increase their wages and benefits. By introducing competition for your service you could be put in a position where somebody will vie for your service and pay you more and give you more benefits.

The companies also claim that concerns over privacy, and that sort of thing, could be an issue as well, which I … hey, I don’t want everyone knowing that I drive for Uber. Y’all know because I tell you. But, other than that, I don’t want a state agency or something to have me on a list.

But what I don’t understand, if your business model depends largely on drivers, why driver satisfaction and competition for that service, for your service, is not at the forefront. That’s the part that alludes me.

University of Utah Economist Marshall Steinbaum says this. “The company’s relationship with drivers gets at exactly the question at the heart of the platform or the business model, which is how to exercise maximum control at the same time as being minimally responsible. Preventing the release of workers names holds down their wages and also makes it harder for labor groups to try to organize them,” he said. “The company’s success so far on the issue reflects their regulatory disputes with government. What the platforms want is not a free market. What they want is market power.”

I invite you to read this article, it’s very interesting. It’s one of those things that kind of flew under the radar, but it definitely speaks to this whole AB5 issue. It speaks to the issue of what … I think it definitely speaks to the heart of the issue that many drivers are feeling, centered around AB5, better pay, benefits, and that sort of thing. And yeah, that link is in the description.

Last but not least, we’ve got, what would you do? What would you do in this case? Why do Pax think it’s okay to have open alcohol in a vehicle? I had to wait for a group of people to dump their alcohol before I left with them. They argued with me and told me that other drivers let them drink in their vehicles.

Shame on you other drivers.

I told them I wasn’t leaving until there was no alcohol left.

That means I get to drink it? Anyway.

Or I was going to cancel the ride. They dumped it, but I was pissed thinking that there were drivers out there that let them do it. Has anyone else in here had a similar issue? What do you do when things like this happen?

I’ve got one for you.

I’ve had a situation where people have got in my car with the beers thinking that it’s going to be a party on wheels. I was like, “You can’t get in my car with that sir,” and waited patiently for him to do something about it. He put it out on the curb. But it was a mild situation. It was quick and I think I was honest so fast that he didn’t know what to do. I’m sure that there’s some situations, especially with folks who are already kind of lit, or drunk, for those who don’t know what lit means.

If you’re rolling up and you see the beer or the alcohol in hand, I feel like you should just keep rolling. I’ve definitely seen people, I was like, you know what, I am not going to stop.

If I can see it coming, I’m not engaging.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

That is it for this week. Thank you so much for watching.

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If you’re curious about who I am and what I do, my name is Cecily. I am a rideshare driver.

My name is Cecily and I have a channel called Drive Girl Drive. You can hit me up on YouTube, subscribe there. And if you want to contact me directly, the best place to do that is on Facebook. I respond to most of the queries, as long as you guys are talking about rideshare. We are not going to talk about my lipstick or who did my hair. That’s not a conversation I want to engage in. I don’t know. It’s not a beauty channel. That’s why. Anyway.

See you guys later. Take care. One love. Peace out. Bye.