The Side of Ridesharing You Don't See

The Side of Ridesharing You Don’t See

The hour-long Latino USA episode, “Gig Workers vs Big Tech”, hosted by Julia Rocha, sheds light on the efforts of rideshare drivers who were trying to protect their rights. This episode contains plenty of information regarding the drivers and the fight that they put up in order to be treated fairly in their field. Alvaro Bolainez, the guest speaker, recounts the experience- explaining the amount of backlash that drivers received when trying to pass AB5 which, if passed, would guarantee “...protections like a minimum wage, sick leave, paid time off, and workers compensation” (Latino 40:56-41:01). I really liked hearing Alvaro explain what the situation was like from the workers’ perspective. I respect the efforts that they all put in just to receive basic workers rights. I didn’t enjoy discovering the truth about how rideshare companies manipulated the public by trying to make it seem like they were working to provide a better experience for their workers when, in reality, their proposition would cheat the drivers out of certain protections.

Ridesharing apps allow people to get rides to and from destinations

The article “Be Your Own Boss?: Long-Term Labor Trends and the Rise of Uber” by Timothee J. Minchin comes from the Australasian Journal of American Studies. It presents information regarding rideshare company Uber’s effects on the workforce. I chose this article because, although it doesn’t mention the way Latinos are specifically affected by the way they run their business, it comments on how their drivers as a whole are affected by the weaknesses in their business model. Drivers everywhere were being exploited and forced to endure unjust treatment from Uber. These multimillion dollar companies were more than able to provide their drivers with protections, but they refused to. Minchin expands on this idea, writing that much of Uber’s value and success “derived from an operating model that shifted risk onto drivers… Uber drivers had to bear the cost of their work” (Minchin, 51). Drivers must pay for basics such as gas and car maintenance, as well as anything else that is necessary for success in the business.

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Rideshare companies, Uber and Lyft

Luckily for Alvaro and drivers like him, the California state legislature passed AB5 on September 28th, 2019. This solidified basic protections for Uber and Lyft drivers and it seemed like a step in the right direction. However, these companies were working behind the scenes, hiding their schemes under a facade of improvement. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, “COVID-19 exposed drivers’ problems to a broader audience, yet it also highlighted their limited power” (Minchin, 70). There was less support for drivers from the companies that they were sustaining, which created a less stable way of life for them. During the fight to pass AB5, “Two of the most prominent opponents of AB5 were… Uber and Lyft. They argued they were a tech platform for digital marketplaces and not primarily an employer of drivers” (Latino 42:00-42:20). In 2020, Proposition 22  was passed and it was back to square one for these workers. They are still keeping the fight alive and seeking rights on a federal level. Technology has made great advancements in our modern lives, yet as a society, we allow big corporations to exploit these achievements and take advantage of their workers.

 

Minchin, Timothee J. “Be Your Own Boss?: Long-Term Labor Trends and the Rise of Uber.” Australasian Journal of American Studies., 2020. JSTOR.

Rocha, Julia et al. “Gig Workers vs Big Tech.” Capital Public Radio, https://www.capradio.org/news/latino-usa/. Accessed 6 April 2022.

“What is Prop 22 | California Drivers | Vote YES on Prop 22 | Rideshare | Benefits | Lyft.” YouTube, 8 October 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7QJLgdQaf4. Accessed 6 April 2022.