Are you an Uber or Lyft customer with questions about how these companies treat their workers?
Ask a driver.
Drivers in Seattle have been coming out and speaking publicly about issues with their job—the low pay, a lack of communication from the enormous companies controlling their access to work, how scary it is for the company to have all the power.
Now we’re asking you to keep the conversation going. Next time you hail an Uber or Lyft, ask your driver what’s going on at work, and get their side of the story.
Not sure how to get a conversation started? Here’s some good first questions:
“I heard that some drivers are fighting for the right to negotiate with Uber and Lyft for better pay and work conditions. Have you heard about that? What do you think of it?”
“I know that Uber and Lyft have cut their rates in Seattle a few times. How do those fare cuts affect you?”
“I saw a story about an Uber driver who was only making a couple dollars an hour after paying for all his expenses. Do you feel like you make enough money driving?”
“What’s the most interesting thing that’s happened to you while driving for [Uber or Lyft]?”
One important thing to remember about conversations like this: The fact that you get to rate your driver at the end of a ride gives you a lot of power. It’s like every passenger is a secret shopper, and bad ratings mean getting kicked off the system—and out of a job.
People in public-facing jobs are generally expected to be polite and not complain about work to customers. So just like you don’t really know if the person ringing up your groceries is actually super concerned that you have a nice day, and you don’t usually find out if the person giving you an IV in the hospital just got denied their vacation request, remember that drivers might not feel totally comfortable telling you everything about their work life.
But it’s also important to come together and talk about these issues with each other, so that a bunch of well-paid PR firms don’t get to control our discussion about the Uber economy and ignore real passengers’ and drivers’ voices.
We want to know what you hear! Fill out the form below to agree that you'll have a conversation the next time you hail a ride. And after your conversation, come back and let us know how it went. What will you learn from your driver about on-demand work?
Let’s get a real conversation started about wages and workers’ rights in the Uber economy.
Let us know you're willing to have a conversation, and we'll follow up to give you some prompts & ask how it went.