Ride-hail platform drivers in the metro DC region face financial debt, threats from customers, constantly changing rules that make calculating their earnings nearly impossible, and work hours that may make them a public safety hazard, according to a new Georgetown study.
Katie Wells, a post-doctoral fellow with Georgetown’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, presented the report and its recommendations to the DC City Council last Thursday. The Uber workplace, said Wells, is “so full of gamification elements that it resembles a casino in which the gamblers – the drivers – often lose.” Recommendations include the creation of a publicly funded commission to study the impact of Transportation Network Companies such as Uber; establishing a prevailing wage for TNC drivers and requiring such companies to share data on their working conditions. Wells and study co-author Kafui Attoh (KA-FREE A-TO) discussed the report on last week’s Your Rights At Work; search for Union City Radio on your favorite podcast platform. For the latest local labor event listings, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1938, one of the worst disasters in Virginia mining history occurred at the Red Jacket Coal Corporation mine near Grundy in Buchanan County. All 45 men in the mine at the time died when coal dust ignited, causing blasts that were felt two miles away. Today’s labor quote is by Kristen Johnson, a striking deli manager and UFCW Local 1445 shop steward at the Stop & Shop in Somerville, Massachusetts… “They want us to give up. They want us to quit. They want us to stop picketing and stop talking to our customers. We are not giving up.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. If you’re looking for ways to cut costs on medical expenses, check out the Union Plus Health Savings Program. Learn how you can save on vision, dental and prescription out-of-pocket expenses at unionplus.org/healthsavings.
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