With News that Uber was allegedly trying to cash in on New York City's taxi driver strike following Donald Trump's immigration ban by turning off surge prices, many liberals are switching to rival company Lyft. However, the best way to support progressive politics is to use neither one.
Surge pricing has been turned off at #JFK Airport. This may result in longer wait times. Please be patient.
— Uber NYC (@Uber_NYC) January 29, 2017
Both Uber and Lyft have anti-worker polices
Some liberals say that Uber is trying to profit off the strike. Some who are more inclined to conspiracy theories say that they are working with President Trump to break the strike.
Uber has denied this and said that they don't support ban. You know what else both ride-sharing companies are against? Unions. Don't let the fact that for 30 seconds. Lyft became a liberal darling under the hastag #DeleteUber on Twitter fool you, the company hates unions. They both opposed laws in Seattle that would require drivers to be unionized. Uber went as far as to buy an ad during a Seahawks game
They also have no worker protections and no workers compensation. The way things work, is that if a driver gets hurt, they're on their own. If a driver wants to put up some protective screens (like in conventional cabs) he has to pay for it out of pocket. This can become a problem since many Uber drivers market themselves as a ride home from parties for people who are intoxicated.
Several people have gotten injured this way. Additionally, they don't do much to protect customers either. There are mountains of stories of Uber and Lyft drivers committing sexual assault on their customers. The reverse is also true.
Furthermore, both Uber and Lyft classify their employees as "independent contractors." This means that other conventional employee protections don't apply to them.
It also protects them from liability in case a rogue driver or passenger breaks the law.
Disability discrimination rampant
The other major problem with both Uber and Lyft have a major problem with Disability discrimination. They are currently fighting lawsuits in Chicago and several other major cities to say that the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't apply to them.
They say they have services for disabled riders but most of them are severely understaffed. Many of them lack cars.
Perhaps its biggest problem, from the Progressive standpoint, is that both Uber and Lyft are being used, happily I might add, as a reason to dismantle mass transit. The reasoning, such as it is, is that with the ride-sharing services, we don't need government funded mass transit. While it hasn't taken off quite yet, it's clear that it's in the arsenal of those who want to dismantle all public services. This would be a mistake since there is currently no "free market" solution to the quandary of how to provide transportation to the disabled who can't drive.
So the best thing those who are resisting the government dismantling agenda is to actually use public transit.
