
The network Uber drivers built - pastalex
https://www.fastcompany.com/40501439/the-network-uber-drivers-built
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Robotbeat
This is good. Say what you like about unions (and yeah, there are some
problems), but generally employees need to be able to work together like this
or they're at an even more massive disadvantage compared to employers. The gig
economy is likely to be highly extractive from workers unless the workers
wisen up like this.

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dsfyu404ed
>massive disadvantage compared to employers

In cases where labor is less like a commodity and/or when the employee,
customer and employer lines are blurry (as is the case with city and town
employees but less so with say, the IRS) there is less benefit to
unionization.

I do think that unions would be a net positive for most gig-economy workers
though.

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natecavanaugh
> He’s a forum administrator, one of many across the globe who put in
> countless hours managing unofficial online communities where drivers who
> work for Uber, Lyft, and other ride-hail services share advice and warnings,
> answer questions, and provide a rare sense of camaraderie.

I remembering reading a foreword to Animal Farm, saying how Orwell was able to
predict the dystopian aspects of technology, but wasn't able to see how
technology could bring about social change for the good (like the shortwave
being used to communicate across borders and into dictatorships).

I think this type of statement shows just how much we miss this currently when
we bemoan every tech dark side.

The same decentralized tech aspect of Uber that helped change the ride service
industry, can also help the drivers fight being exploited.

My theory, very weakly held, is that many in our industry are naturally
pessimistic (I know I am) and it helps us see all of the ways that things can
go wrong and help us prevent them. But I think we're also missing out on a lot
of opportunities that would help use the same tech to counter the outcomes.

It's like fire. We can burn the world, hurt each other, and tear down society.
But we can use it to warm the world, help each other and build society. Both
are kind of inevitable.

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ameister14
Was the video to the right unpausable for anyone else? Any time I scrolled it
would start again - ended up removing the containing div but it's odd video
control behavior

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kiliantics
What's to stop this network of drivers from building a new version of uber
that they collectively own, along with engineers and other worker-owners that
could manage the tech side? The point of ridesharing companies is to find
drivers for people that want them. Now the drivers all know each other through
this network and just need to figure out how to tell customers where they are.
They could make a lot more for themselves if they didn't have to give a large
chunk of the ride fares to highly paid management and investors.

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Elessar
Demand (ie. Customers) is easily one of the hardest parts of business. You're
suggesting that supply is the cornerstone of a market, but thanks to the
Internet, owning supply is nowhere near as important as owning the customers.

See: Facebook, Google, Amazon.

