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I think there's a pro-Uber case to be made here. Uber suspended surge pricing at a time when many people were trying to get to the protest at the airport, and w

by rashkov 10y ago

I think there's a pro-Uber case to be made here. Uber suspended surge pricing at a time when many people were trying to get to the protest at the airport, and while the airtrain was shut down which is what connects the subway system to the airport. Furthermore Uber offered to compensate its drivers who are affected by the ban, if they get stuck outside of the country. Edit: Maybe Uber mis-stepped by honoring requests for rides FROM the airport, but given the above I don't think they're doing this to grab money. It's actually a little sad to see the knee-jerk response by people lashing out at a company that is trying to help, in this instance.

EthanHeilman 10y ago
The taxi strike was part of the protest at the airport. Offering reduced pricing was a way to hurt the taxi workers who were losing money to show solitary with the protest. If Uber was trying to help, they should have said so.
- rashkov 10y ago
  edit: Re-reading this, and I realize I missed your point. You're absolutely right -- they did not say "we are cutting surge pricing in support of the protest". This was my original post for posterity: "They did say so. This was their tweet: 'Our CEO's reaction to immigration order: "We'll compensate drivers impacted by the ban pro bono for next 3 months." http://ubr.to/standingup'" http://ubr.to/standingup'"
  - pikzen 10y ago
    They're helping their own workers. While a good thing, the rest of ther message is complete PR and sending ubers to JFK undermines the strikes, because it's such an easy way for them to make a profit.
    - nerfhammer 10y ago
      Turning off surge pricing sends fewer Ubers to JFK! They make less money, not more with surge pricing off! Makes no sense!
      - rashkov 10y ago
        Someone else in this thread pointed out that the headlines would be really bad for Uber if they said something like "Uber surges 500% while breaking airport taxi strike". It seems like they were trying to cover themselves, while not outright joining the strike, as if to triangulate towards the center.
        nerfhammer 10y ago
        If you mean the third option was to disable all service from JFK? Though I don't think the regular taxi companies or Lyft did that either.
        EthanHeilman 10y ago
        That is exactly what the Taxi strike did. >"NO PICKUPS @ JFK Airport 6 PM to 7 PM today," the union wrote in a subsequent tweet that was retweeted over 10,000 times. "Drivers stand in solidarity with thousands protesting inhumane & unconstitutional #MuslimBan." https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-scene-at-jfk-as-taxi-drivers-strike-following-trumps-immigration-ban/ar-AAmmsH8 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-scene-at-jfk-as-taxi-d... The objection is not that Uber didn't join the strike but that Uber reduced their prices to undermine the strike and get new customers.
        nerfhammer 10y ago
        > That is exactly what the Taxi strike did. No it's not. The union encouraging != the taxi companies somehow forcing it. The union and the taxi companies are not the same thing. > Uber reduced their prices to undermine the strike Uber reducing prices to normal levels means fewer drivers anyway! Fewer rides! This makes no sense! Why would Uber even bother with some Machiavellian scheme to get a hundred or two extra rides? Makes no sense!
- nerfhammer 10y ago
  Offering normal pricing means drivers get paid less, reduces opportunity cost of joining in strike. Or, drivers who participate in strike get paid $0 either way so it doesn't affect them. Uber drivers who don't participate in strike will get sent to JFK less often because of lack of extra incentive due to surge pricing.
stephancoral 10y ago
Everything uber does is about money and they aren't afraid to flout the law / custom and "disrupt". They swooped in during a strike. They are scabs. They are obviously doing it to grab money. Their CEO is buddy buddy with Trump.
- rashkov 10y ago
  How much money can they make during a 1 hour strike? Lowering their prices seems like the opposite of making money to me
  - stephancoral 10y ago
    A one hour strike at one of the busiest airports on the East Coast with NO taxis available? Probably a lot. The point is you hold a strike to STOP work, not work for less money. That's called scabbing and is the opposite of solidarity.
    - icebraining 10y ago
      Should the company decide on behalf of the workers whether they must join a strike? Shouldn't Uber drivers be the ones to make that decision?
      - sundaeofshock 10y ago
        Drivers are only allowed to turn down a limited number of rides before they are no longer allowed to be uber drivers for the day.
        icebraining 10y ago
        It was an one hour strike. Surely they could have driven far from the airport (to avoid getting tagged by the algorithm) for that time.
        loeg 10y ago
        Can't they just turn off the app for an hour?
awolf 10y ago
Travis Kalanick, Uber's CEO, made public statements indicating that Uber must work with the Trump administration. Four days later Uber stepped up as scrubs while the rest of the New York's taxi service protested Trump's deplorable racist actions. It's hard to pretend this is a coincidence.
- rashkov 10y ago
  I'm not denying that, and I feel weird defending Uber at all, but then you'd also need to account for why they offered to compensate their drivers affected by this travel ban, and why would they lower their surge pricing. I'm okay with saying that they're trying to play both sides of this.
  - alphonsegaston 10y ago
    Which in the context of a strike, isn't possible. The purpose of these kind of labor actions is to force a clarification about with whom one holds solidarity, in this case refugees and immigrants. Breaking the strike is breaking the strike. They did not hold with refugees and immigrants, even after the taxi drivers explicitly asked them to do so. Everything else is just trying to mitigate damage to the point where people forget/engage in apologetics to obfuscate the choice they made.
    - Neliquat 10y ago
      With us or against us is some bullshit logic. This is not a binary issue.
  - emilsedgh 10y ago
    Get some free PR by condemning the EO while actually offering support to Trump administration by removing pressure by nullifying the strike. Now that's being a hypocrite on a grand grand scale.
    - dllthomas 10y ago
      Turning off surge reduces supply. That's not "nullifying the strike" - quite the opposite. It's weaker than it could have been, but it's also exactly what Lyft did.
pduszak 10y ago
"A strikebreaker (sometimes derogatorily called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike."
- rashkov 10y ago
  Things were moving so fast at the time, I guess I had my doubts that Uber was even aware of the strike, but I suppose that may be naive and that the taxi association probably contacted Uber about this. I'm definitely coming around to the idea that Uber is simply playing both sides of this, and that it gives them too much credit to assume good intentions of them removing surge pricing.
  - loeg 10y ago
    They lowered prices in response to the strike. They were aware it was going on. If they had left surge pricing in effect that could be argued to be ignorance of the strike, but they didn't.
tn13 10y ago
> Uber suspended surge pricing at a time when many people were trying to get to the protest at the airport That means less people could travel to airport for protests. Suspending surge pricing reduces availability of cabs. You understand that right ?
CodeWriter23 10y ago
The whole Uber paying drivers stuck outside the country came after the perhaps well-intended surge pricing debacle. To me, that move is textbook Crisis Management. And having driven for Uber, their SOP is to never do anything that favors drivers. They don't even think of drivers, who pay to use their network, as customers.

by rashkov 10y ago

EthanHeilman 10y ago

The taxi strike was part of the protest at the airport. Offering reduced pricing was a way to hurt the taxi workers who were losing money to show solitary with the protest. If Uber was trying to help, they should have said so.

rashkov 10y ago
edit: Re-reading this, and I realize I missed your point. You're absolutely right -- they did not say "we are cutting surge pricing in support of the protest". This was my original post for posterity: "They did say so. This was their tweet: 'Our CEO's reaction to immigration order: "We'll compensate drivers impacted by the ban pro bono for next 3 months." http://ubr.to/standingup'" http://ubr.to/standingup'"
- pikzen 10y ago
  They're helping their own workers. While a good thing, the rest of ther message is complete PR and sending ubers to JFK undermines the strikes, because it's such an easy way for them to make a profit.
  - nerfhammer 10y ago
    Turning off surge pricing sends fewer Ubers to JFK! They make less money, not more with surge pricing off! Makes no sense!
    - rashkov 10y ago
      Someone else in this thread pointed out that the headlines would be really bad for Uber if they said something like "Uber surges 500% while breaking airport taxi strike". It seems like they were trying to cover themselves, while not outright joining the strike, as if to triangulate towards the center.
      - nerfhammer 10y ago
        If you mean the third option was to disable all service from JFK? Though I don't think the regular taxi companies or Lyft did that either.
        EthanHeilman 10y ago
        That is exactly what the Taxi strike did. >"NO PICKUPS @ JFK Airport 6 PM to 7 PM today," the union wrote in a subsequent tweet that was retweeted over 10,000 times. "Drivers stand in solidarity with thousands protesting inhumane & unconstitutional #MuslimBan." https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-scene-at-jfk-as-taxi-drivers-strike-following-trumps-immigration-ban/ar-AAmmsH8 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-scene-at-jfk-as-taxi-d... The objection is not that Uber didn't join the strike but that Uber reduced their prices to undermine the strike and get new customers.
        nerfhammer 10y ago
        > That is exactly what the Taxi strike did. No it's not. The union encouraging != the taxi companies somehow forcing it. The union and the taxi companies are not the same thing. > Uber reduced their prices to undermine the strike Uber reducing prices to normal levels means fewer drivers anyway! Fewer rides! This makes no sense! Why would Uber even bother with some Machiavellian scheme to get a hundred or two extra rides? Makes no sense!
nerfhammer 10y ago
Offering normal pricing means drivers get paid less, reduces opportunity cost of joining in strike. Or, drivers who participate in strike get paid $0 either way so it doesn't affect them. Uber drivers who don't participate in strike will get sent to JFK less often because of lack of extra incentive due to surge pricing.

stephancoral 10y ago

Everything uber does is about money and they aren't afraid to flout the law / custom and "disrupt". They swooped in during a strike. They are scabs. They are obviously doing it to grab money. Their CEO is buddy buddy with Trump.

rashkov 10y ago
How much money can they make during a 1 hour strike? Lowering their prices seems like the opposite of making money to me
- stephancoral 10y ago
  A one hour strike at one of the busiest airports on the East Coast with NO taxis available? Probably a lot. The point is you hold a strike to STOP work, not work for less money. That's called scabbing and is the opposite of solidarity.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    Should the company decide on behalf of the workers whether they must join a strike? Shouldn't Uber drivers be the ones to make that decision?
    - sundaeofshock 10y ago
      Drivers are only allowed to turn down a limited number of rides before they are no longer allowed to be uber drivers for the day.
      - icebraining 10y ago
        It was an one hour strike. Surely they could have driven far from the airport (to avoid getting tagged by the algorithm) for that time.
      - loeg 10y ago
        Can't they just turn off the app for an hour?

awolf 10y ago

Travis Kalanick, Uber's CEO, made public statements indicating that Uber must work with the Trump administration. Four days later Uber stepped up as scrubs while the rest of the New York's taxi service protested Trump's deplorable racist actions. It's hard to pretend this is a coincidence.

rashkov 10y ago
I'm not denying that, and I feel weird defending Uber at all, but then you'd also need to account for why they offered to compensate their drivers affected by this travel ban, and why would they lower their surge pricing. I'm okay with saying that they're trying to play both sides of this.
- alphonsegaston 10y ago
  Which in the context of a strike, isn't possible. The purpose of these kind of labor actions is to force a clarification about with whom one holds solidarity, in this case refugees and immigrants. Breaking the strike is breaking the strike. They did not hold with refugees and immigrants, even after the taxi drivers explicitly asked them to do so. Everything else is just trying to mitigate damage to the point where people forget/engage in apologetics to obfuscate the choice they made.
  - Neliquat 10y ago
    With us or against us is some bullshit logic. This is not a binary issue.
- emilsedgh 10y ago
  Get some free PR by condemning the EO while actually offering support to Trump administration by removing pressure by nullifying the strike. Now that's being a hypocrite on a grand grand scale.
  - dllthomas 10y ago
    Turning off surge reduces supply. That's not "nullifying the strike" - quite the opposite. It's weaker than it could have been, but it's also exactly what Lyft did.

pduszak 10y ago

"A strikebreaker (sometimes derogatorily called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike."

rashkov 10y ago
Things were moving so fast at the time, I guess I had my doubts that Uber was even aware of the strike, but I suppose that may be naive and that the taxi association probably contacted Uber about this. I'm definitely coming around to the idea that Uber is simply playing both sides of this, and that it gives them too much credit to assume good intentions of them removing surge pricing.
- loeg 10y ago
  They lowered prices in response to the strike. They were aware it was going on. If they had left surge pricing in effect that could be argued to be ignorance of the strike, but they didn't.

tn13 10y ago

> Uber suspended surge pricing at a time when many people were trying to get to the protest at the airport That means less people could travel to airport for protests. Suspending surge pricing reduces availability of cabs. You understand that right ?

CodeWriter23 10y ago

The whole Uber paying drivers stuck outside the country came after the perhaps well-intended surge pricing debacle. To me, that move is textbook Crisis Management. And having driven for Uber, their SOP is to never do anything that favors drivers. They don't even think of drivers, who pay to use their network, as customers.