Uber was a pioneer in seamlessly connecting passengers and drivers through an app. Now a union-led group meant to represent its drivers is also taking an unorthodox approach — as well as Uber’s money.þþThe group, the Independent Drivers Guild, was formed roughly one year ago as part of an agreement for the New York City area between Uber and a regional branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Guild officials say the unusual deal was simply the most practical way to improve the lot of drivers, whom the union has a proud history of organizing.þþ“The drivers need help, and they need help now,” said James Conigliaro Jr., the founder of the guild and a senior Machinists official.þþAnd the guild, which says it represents about 50,000 ride-hail drivers in the New York City area, has produced concrete victories. It took the lead in persuading the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission to propose a rule that would require a tipping option on Uber’s passenger app, potentially increasing drivers’ income by hundreds of million of dollars.þþBut the group’s relationship with Uber has also inspired considerable suspicion among labor leaders, activists and experts.þþ“The way Uber operates, it makes me very distrustful,” said Janice Fine, a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University and a former labor organizer, alluding to the company’s sometimes cutthroat posture toward rivals and regulators.þþThe guild has even attacked Lyft, Uber’s top competitor, using questionable tactics.þþOn May 1, the guild sent an email to members urging them to help create an afternoon work stoppage at Lyft. In the email, Ryan Price, the guild’s executive director, instructed members to order rides on Lyft so they could urge its drivers to join a stoppage. If the driver was “a scab” and refused, the email said, the member should cancel the ride.þþMr. Price, who previously did advocacy and organizing work for a nonprofit group and a union, acknowledged in the email that the tactic violated Lyft’s terms of service, but said the company’s refusal to negotiate with workers justified the action. Besides, he added, “nothing has ever been won without taking a risk.”þþThe effort recalled tactics Uber itself deployed against rivals in 2014 when some of its employees would order and then cancel rides from another ride-hailing service, frustrating drivers and creating shortages for passengers. (Uber admitted using the tactic in one case, but stopped short of an admission when it came to Lyft, which said it had documented thousands of instances in which this occurred.)þþþ
Source: NY Times
