NYC Uber Drivers Set to Go on Strike Monday

By Matis Glenn

New Yorkers might have a hard time getting an Uber ride Monday, as a major city taxi union called for a drivers’ strike in response to losing out on wage increases.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a union representing 25,000 yellow taxi and app-based car service drivers, called on its constituency to strike Monday, following Uber’s court victory last week, which blocked the pay raises approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission in November. The temporary injunction will last until a hearing is held on January 31, 2023.

 The union wrote on social media that the strike will last from 12:01AM till 11:59PM, and that they are planning a protest in front of Uber headquarters, on Grenwich Street at 1PM.

The planned fare raises would include new mandatory driver pay rates in app-based rideshare platforms of 7 percent per minute, and 24 percent per mile. Base fares for yellow cabs will increase from $2.50 to $3.00, and every meter unit – 1/5 of a mile – will go from $.50 to $.70.

“Uber keeps drivers insecure over low pay and firings and stole our raise,” the union wrote. “Uber thinks drivers are expendable. Dara Khosrowshahi (Uber CEO) forgets we’re organized. We’re striking back.”

The Independent Drivers Guild, another union of drivers in the city, is planning a protest at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, at Tillary Stret and Navy Street, at 8a.m. They, however, have not called on their drivers to strike.

Uber alleged in its lawsuit that the TLC used skewed methods to adjust pay rates for inflation in favor of drivers, that it refused to provide documentation of those figures, and that some of the metrics used to determine the raise – notably gas prices – have trended down since the raises were passed. Uber also said that the pay rate increases would force it to raise fares by 10 percent to make up the difference, a move which will “irreparably damage Uber’s reputation,” and “risk permanent loss of business and customers.”

The TLC was supportive of the union’s decision.

“The city’s for hire drivers have every right to protest Uber’s attempt to deny them the inflation and cost of living pay adjustment that they are rightfully due,” Taxi and Limousine Commission Chair David Do said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. “TLC is actively protesting this too, in court.”

The union accuses Uber of being greedy. Following the court’s decision, Executive Director Bhairavi Desai said in a statement to Bloomberg, “We’re not crying in a corner. We’re readying to fight the small-hearted pettiness of a billionaire company that just doesn’t want to see its workers survive.”

The strike is scheduled for the day that the raise was scheduled to take effect.