Ubers real disruption is labor exploitation but not in the way you think. Uber is allowed to get away with the mistreatment of the Drivers because they define t

Ubers real disruption is labor exploitation but not in the way you think. Uber is allowed to get away with the mistreatment of the Drivers because they define them as independent contractors, but how do they do this? An employee of a company is in traditional terms, somebody who acts for the benefit and interests of a larger entity which engages in business to business or customer interaction, in return for earning a reasonable wage and defined employment terms set by the company. An independent contractor is an individual entity, who by setting their own terms and prices, provides a service for other individual entities for the purpose of earning a reasonable income for themselves. What Uber has done, is see all the protections afforded to employees of a company both traditionally and federally, and sidestep them because they call their drivers independent contractors. It is implied that the Driver is setting their own pricing and terms of employment. They may legally technically be doing so, but what they're really doing is agreeing to the same terms set by Uber and defined by Uber as every other driver, as if they were employees. This allows Uber to really do whatever they want to an "independent contractor" which has agreed to their terms of not setting their own rates, having no transparency, and being totally subject to Ubers conditional compensation agreements.