
Uber is treating its drivers as sweated labour, says report - haliou
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/09/uber-drivers-report-sweated-labour-minimum-wage
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superninja234
If you find yourself making less than minimum wage, then get a job making
minimum wage. They aren't that hard to find.

While that still leaves the problem of not being paid nearly enough at least
you get breaks, predictable pay, and the ability to slack off a bit without
directly losing money.

I find it hard to feel sorry for people who latch on to a losing strategy and
never look at other options.

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taxicabjesus
> “Minicab drivers throughout the UK have been exploited by operators for
> years but Uber’s entry to the market has accelerated a race to the bottom.”

My fellow taxicab drivers found it easy to complain about the company I drove
for, but I thought they tried to be as fair as possible. For example, on my
fourth day of driving the dispatching system went down for a good part of the
day. I was given a credit for that day's lease, so I did pretty well.

The independent contractor model was adopted by the taxi industry because
_initiative_ is what makes the difference between making money and not. If the
company paid drivers minimum wage, there'd be no incentive to work the system
to make as many trips as possible.

I think limousine companies, and those blue airport shuttle vans, are able to
pay their drivers hourly because they have scheduled pickups, and the driver
can be rated on making it to his/her pickups on time / etc.

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vivekd
Maybe that's odd in the States but here in Canada most jobs that an individual
can get without a degree or experience would fit into the category of sweated
labour. Many people are working multiple jobs to get by because a single
income simply isn't enough. The uber drivers are not being forced to drive for
uber, they are driving out of their own free will, given this, I don't know
how reasonable for someone else to step in and take away what is likely a
means to supplement income for a lot of these people until they can find
something better.

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mikestew
_Many people are working multiple jobs to get by because a single income
simply isn 't enough. The uber drivers are not being forced to drive for uber_

I see a contradiction in those two statements, and a direct relation to the
article. "Not being forced to drive for Uber" seems to ignore a lot, starting
with why the drivers took the job in the first place (which your own comment
even stated).

~~~
vivekd
Yes they are forced to take the job by circumstance, I meant they aren't
forced to take the job by uber or some other entity. But if they are forced to
take the job by circumstance, I imagine depriving them of that job would leave
them in dire circumstances. I doubt uber could stay competitive if they paid
higher wages, as I understand it that company is bleeding money:

>[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-25/uber-
lose...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-25/uber-loses-at-
least-1-2-billion-in-first-half-of-2016)

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Eridrus
The issue with driver compensation almost always depends significantly on the
costs employees are incurring to drive these trips.

In particular those drivers that buy or lease a car just to drive for Uber
seem to struggle. The money seems fine if you already have a car.

I realise that Uber does a bunch of things to undermine this such as
encouraging drivers to lease cars and having stringent requirements on the
type of car they are driving, but maybe we should be complaining more about
that than the revenue they get from Uber.

