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Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

reuters.com

51–60 of 97 posts

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#51
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think you're mad as a consumer, imagine all the Uber/Lyft drivers who no longer have any income because the government has made it uneconomical for their employer to do business in their city.

If they can't pay even minimum wage, it was already uneconomical and being subsidized by government welfare.

So maybe stop subsidizing wages with government welfare, and labor will automatically gravitate away and uber/lyft won't find enough drivers and be forced to hike wages to find drivers.

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#52
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article, Uber and Lyft made the decision to stop operating, not the government.

It now costs you 100k a year in taxes for your property. You then move and everyone say its your fault because you don’t want to take a loss every year. Do i have this correct?

Kind of! In this analogy I’m cheating on my taxes, and everyone tells me it’s my fault when the government makes me pay what I actually owe.

I’d also go to prison, whereas Uber and Lyft just get to say “whoops!” and leave town.

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#53
post #2

“Wage theft” what? It’s very transparent what you are getting paid and what the deal is when you drive for uber or lyft. Argue all you want for thinking that law makers should be setting special wages for specific industries. Personally i think they should stay out of it but man i would be mad as someone living in the city that these services are no longer available.

I would be even more mad if I was driving for Uber in those cities and overnight the government made the decision for me to remove that as an income option.

That's exactly how Uber wants you to think. That's what they're doing: making it seem like the law is preventing them from operating (they just don't want to pay reasonable wages) so that the people get mad and vote it out, at which point they can simply continue to pay unlivable wages again.

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d be furious if the government told my employer they had to pay me overtime, and my employer closed up shop rather than abide by the same rules as everyone else. This is Uber’s fault, not the government’s fault for enforcing basic employee rights.

So, do you think Minneapolis should pass a second law prohibiting Uber from pulling out of Minneapolis?

Of course not! Uber should be free to not operate in places where they don’t want to obey the local laws.

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#55
post #2

“Wage theft” what? It’s very transparent what you are getting paid and what the deal is when you drive for uber or lyft. Argue all you want for thinking that law makers should be setting special wages for specific industries. Personally i think they should stay out of it but man i would be mad as someone living in the city that these services are no longer available.

> man i would be mad as someone living in the city that these services are no longer available.

Before Uber, we had these things cal... oh never mind.

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#56
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they can't pay even minimum wage, it was already uneconomical and being subsidized by government welfare.

They offer a service and you can choose to drive for them. This in a lot of cases helps people make extra money or hold them over. But you think it’s better to let the government remove this option? I just can’t get onboard with this thinking. I understand it for W2 jobs but for freelance and pick your own hours it does not make sense.

Exploiting underpaid workers is not a service. Even if they are in tough situation with few better options.

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#57
post #2

“Wage theft” what? It’s very transparent what you are getting paid and what the deal is when you drive for uber or lyft. Argue all you want for thinking that law makers should be setting special wages for specific industries. Personally i think they should stay out of it but man i would be mad as someone living in the city that these services are no longer available.

> man i would be mad as someone living in the city that these services are no longer available. Before Uber, we had these things cal... oh never mind.

Oo yeah im familiar. They suck. Thanks for the history lesson though!

It’s been shown drunk driving drops with uber because cabs will ignore you outside of a select few cities.

As a college student i had multiple cabs try to scam me or overcharge and this was if they would even show up at all leaving me to walk miles and in one case getting robbed at gun point because of it. But yeah lol its the same as uber.

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#58
post #44

I suggest reading the report by the Minnesota Department of Labor [0]. Some interesting pulls from the summary: > Census data and the driver survey indicate the majority of Minnesota TNC drivers are male immigrants and predominantly Black or African American non-Hispanic workers with less than a four-year college degree; many live in low-income households (up to 200% of the federal poverty level) and, relative to all…

>> are disproportionately reliant on public assistance. Whenever workers for a company are disproportionately reliant on public assistance, it means that the management has figured out a scam to get rest of the taxpayers to subsidize their business. The taxpayers make up the difference between what is paid vs a living wage which would be required for those workers to sustainably work for the corp, and the management/…

Absolutely. Companies like Walmart and McDonald's take advantage of this.

https://www.worldhunger.org/report-walmart-workers-cost-taxp...

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#59
post #44

I suggest reading the report by the Minnesota Department of Labor [0]. Some interesting pulls from the summary: > Census data and the driver survey indicate the majority of Minnesota TNC drivers are male immigrants and predominantly Black or African American non-Hispanic workers with less than a four-year college degree; many live in low-income households (up to 200% of the federal poverty level) and, relative to all…

>> are disproportionately reliant on public assistance. Whenever workers for a company are disproportionately reliant on public assistance, it means that the management has figured out a scam to get rest of the taxpayers to subsidize their business. The taxpayers make up the difference between what is paid vs a living wage which would be required for those workers to sustainably work for the corp, and the management/…

Not necessarily.

The barrier to earning income by working for Uber/Lyft is much lower than other jobs. Workers are not fungible. Some people make better employees than others. Those who are already on public assistance are more likely to be less reliable/capable.

If these folks could get a job with higher wages, wouldn't they already be doing that? Especially considering the freedom from forced scheduling that driving provides.

Re: Uber, Lyft to stop operations in Minneapolis over minimum wage law

#60
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that is the dirty truth. All of those feel-good minimum wage laws are in fact stealing wages from those workers. Those workers were OK to work for those wages before the law. Now they have nothing. The result is now higher unemployment and use of tax-dollar to subsidize those people.

Yeah, to be clear – I obviously want people to be compensated well for their work, but the path to that isn't as easy as passing a law. And I wish that wasn't the case, but it is, and ultimately this is the consequence of pretending otherwise.

But having laws still works better than to just hope that no greedy businessmen would ever want to exoit workers.
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