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Go read about working conditions at factories in the 19th century. Those people weren't slaves either; they "chose" to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week, in ext
by gwd 3y ago
Go read about working conditions at factories in the 19th century. Those people weren't slaves either; they "chose" to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week, in extraordinarily dangerous conditions, because the alternate from their perspective was to starve to death. That's not the situation these Uber drivers are in, specifically because of unions and other laws (such as minimum wage laws) which prevent such "choices" from happening.
- Manuel_D 3y agoThe irony is that industrial jobs in the early 19th century were better than the alternatives, namely subsistence farming. For all the talk about "Dickensian" industrial working conditions, the industrializing countries in 19th century saw some of the biggest leaps in standards of living in history, unions or not. This is exactly the kind of misguided take that leads people deprive people less privileged then themselves of employment opportunities. You wouldn't want to drive for Uber, it'd be a bad choose in your situation. And you're applying the same thinking to people who don't have the same employment prospects. What will Uber and Lyft drivers do now that price controls have made ride sharing too expensive for most of the market? Work at fast food joints? In retail? All of those choice were present when drivers chose to drive for ride share companies, and the drivers concluded they were inferior to working for Uber and Lyft. Now, were forcing them to go to one of those inferior choices and patting ourselves on the back for doing a supposedly good thing.
- silent_cal 3y agoI think this is a bit of a false dichotomy. Yeah wasting away in a factory for 12 hours a day is better than starving to death on a farm, but still, the factory conditions didn't have to suck as bad as they did.
- okwhateverdude 3y agoOr Uber and Lyft could simply make less profit so they could abide by local labor laws. The labor law didn't remove the employment opportunity. Greed and shitty companies that don't want to abide by the law removed the employment opportunity. Don't shift blame for the scofflaws.
- Manuel_D 3y agoBut if profit is negative then Uber and Lyft will just leave the market entirely. The only way to keep profits positive is to increase prices beyond what customers are willing to pay.