NewsWatch
Keeping a critical eye on Uber,
Lyft, Sidecar, et al
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Welcome to the latest edition of AFT NewsWatch, a weekly service of Advocates for Fairness in Transportation, an ad hoc group of regulated transportation service companies dedicated to informing and educating the public on threats to public safety from new so-called ride-sharing or ride-booking services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. Visit the Archive to read previous editions.
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After sexual assault reports, Uber, Lyft may face expanded background checks
This year, Austin Police have gotten at least seven reports of sexual assaults by drivers for transportation network companies like Uber or Lyft. That's one reason some members of the Austin City Council are pushing for tougher regulations for these companies - including requiring drivers to have fingerprint background checks. Right now, the companies conduct background checks that aren't verified by fingerprints.
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Fewer than 40 Uber & Lyft drivers completed optional background checks
Can the people offering rides in San Antonio be trusted? That's been a key question since ride-sharing programs like Uber and Lyft made agreements to work in San Antonio. The 9 month, $18,750 deal Lyft and Uber signed with the city included optional and free 10-point fingerprint background checks. Last night lawmakers in Austin stayed up to 1am, deciding ride-sharing drivers would be required to be fingerprinted in their city.
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Uber driver accused of attacking 2 customers with ice scraper
Kourtney Wilson and Toni Sanders left the Winter WonderFest at Navy Pier to discover their car had been towed. That was just the beginning of a bad night that would end with Wilson and Sanders scuffling with an Uber driver wielding an ice scraper, according to the two women and police. "Never did I think that he was going to attack us in the middle of, you know, downtown Chicago during rush hour," Wilson, 29, said.
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U.S. Justice Dept probes data breach at Uber: sources
The U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing a criminal investigation of a May 2014 data breach at ride service Uber, including an examination of whether any employees at competitor Lyft were involved in the episode, sources familiar with the situation said. Earlier this year, Uber revealed that as many as 50,000 of its drivers' names and their licence numbers had been improperly downloaded. An investigation by Uber determined that an Internet address potentially associated with the breach can be traced to Lyft's technology chief, Chris Lambert, Reuters reported in October.
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Uber of the airways won't fly, federal appeals court rules
Private pilots can't offer flight-sharing services to the public using an Internet model similar to those developed by Uber and Lyft, a federal appeals court ruled. The ruling upholds a decision earlier this year by the Federal Aviation Administration that said the service offered by Boston-based Flytenow violates flight regulations. The company's website connected private pilots with passengers willing to share fuel costs and other flight expenses.
Read more from the Associated Press
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Judge faults Uber for confusing drivers with new contract
Uber Technologies Inc. won't be able to impose a new contract on drivers who are suing the company to be treated like employees after a federal judge said the reworded agreement was confusing. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco on Thursday also said he would order Uber to stop communicating with drivers covered by the class action about matters affecting the lawsuit without consulting their lawyers or getting the court's consent.
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Fact checking Uber on labor laws
Uber has grown into a global phenomenon with a flexible labor system in which drivers are treated as independent contractors. Increasingly, that system is under attack. Just this week Seattle passed a historic law to allow Uber drivers, and other drivers on contract, to unionize. And it turns out, according to legal experts, the local law has teeth.
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Seattle first U.S. city to give Uber, other contract drivers power to unionize
The Seattle City Council voted unanimously to give taxi, for-hire and Uber drivers the ability to unionize. Mayor Ed Murray won't sign the ordinance, but his signature is not needed for the bill to become law, he said. The National Labor Relations Act gives employees the right to collective bargaining. But drivers for taxi, for-hire and app-dispatch companies like Uber and Lyft are categorized as independent contractors, rather than employees, so those federal protections don't apply to them.
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Uber's business in China is built on exploiting armies of underpaid, overworked interns
Interns in China are the latest group to complain about Uber's labor practices. The company's lean business model in China, former interns and a manager claim, relies on the exploitation of huge numbers of barely paid students and recent graduates, who toil up to 15 hours a day for as little as $5 a shift, and sometimes are paid nothing. These interns are tasked with signing up hundreds of drivers in one day, they allege, in addition to other tasks performed by employees in other countries.
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Furious Uber customer vows never to use service again after driver takes him on £109 'ridiculous detour'
A man has vowed never to use Uber again after claiming he was charged a staggering £109 for what should have been a five mile journey. Robert Howells was astonished to be charged the astronomical amount after using the company to travel from Rodenhurst Road in Clapham south London to Rotherhithe New Road. He said he was even more surprised when he realized the driver, instead of taking the quickest route, had gone on a detour of at least 20 miles.
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| | Four things about Uber you wish you never knew |
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