In the US, Uber drivers were granted class action status in a lawsuit over there terms of employment. As contract workers, Uber drivers are currently expected to pay for expenses, including gas, and vehicle maintenance. If it is ultimately decided that they are indeed employees, not contract workers, the company would be expected to pay for social security, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation. Uber's effect on the car-hire sector, and the venture labor market is hotly debated. Fuchs idea of people labor, which appropriates people into commodifcation, which in turn becomes value, As Fuchs discusses, the people labor that Uber is able to appropriate into commodification, which in turn becomes value, brings up whether these drivers should indeed get compensation as "employees" for their working expenses. This combination of new technological innovations and new institutional arrangements sets Uber on a unique global stage.
In the coming months and years, Uber will be a company to watch as if challenges our ideas surrounding venture labor. The complications governments face is with rapidly changing technology enabling seemingly unregulated industries how will governments determine how best to update regulations with quick moving technology being one step ahead of them.
Uber may enable better use of capital, but is it actually undermining working standards?
In the coming months and years, Uber will be a company to watch as if challenges our ideas surrounding venture labor. The complications governments face is with rapidly changing technology enabling seemingly unregulated industries how will governments determine how best to update regulations with quick moving technology being one step ahead of them.
Uber may enable better use of capital, but is it actually undermining working standards?
The question of whether Uber is undermining working standards is an interesting one. On one hand, I have heard many stories of people who needed quick money in a short period of time and turned to Uber. They reported making over $1000 in a weekend. However, on the other hand, these stories could be isolated incidences, acting as the exception and not the rule. You can't help but think "what happens if someone throws up in their car?" or if they get in a car accident with someone in their vehicle and have to pay for any injury insurance out of their own pocket? Those are very debatable issues with no clear cut answer to them. While Uber may not adhere to all traditional working standards, especially in the people transportation industry, employees are accepting these jobs having had all these conditions disclosed and opt to accept or decline accordingly.
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