The Uber Worms Are Turning
by Miki Saxon
As has been pointed out in every media outlet on the planet, Uber is arrogant, pugnacious, obnoxious and plays fast and loose on matters from privacy to government regulations to customer charges to “contractor” relations and compensation.
Uber, in the person of CEO Travis Kalanick, has so enraged various officials that the company has been kicked out of cities, domestic and foreign, and entire countries.
Even Matt Kochman, Uber’s founding general manager in New York, left in disgust.
“Discounting the rules and regulations as a whole, just because you want to launch a product and you have a certain vision for things, that’s just irresponsible.”
Kalanick pushed, denied problems and claimed that everything that disagreed with Uber’s plans was anti-progressive or nit-picking.
But in January the tone changed.
In January, Mr. Kalanick delivered a speech in Munich filled with talk about compromising with regulators he once sparred with, wanting to “make 2015 the year where we establish partnerships with new European cities.”
A couple of weeks ago I wrote of clouds on the horizon in the form of a class-action lawsuit from 2009 that could affect not only Uber, but every business based on so-called contractors.
Turns out they weren’t clouds, but a full-fledged storm.
The Boston law firm representing Uber and Lyft drivers, Lichten & Liss-Riordan, won a 2009 decision that Massachusetts exotic dancers were employees because the club could set their shifts, and fire them. Judges in New York and Nevada followed that reasoning last year.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the California courts.
If the drivers win, it will be even more interesting to see how all the startups based on the 1099 business model play when the field is level.
Image credit: 401kcalculator.org
June 15th, 2015 at 1:16 am
[…] First it was Uber drivers, members of the so-called 1099 economy, who sued Uber. […]