California Dems Seek Death Penalty for Uber and Lyft

Townhall.com ^ | August 22, 2020 | Michael Reagan

[Kaslin]

I know you've been busy binging the exciting coverage of the Democrat National Convention.

But have you heard the latest bit of horrible news from the once golden state of California?

I don't mean the 367 wildfires that are out of control and charring the hills of Northern California.

Or the heat wave and the rolling blackouts caused by the high electricity demand for air conditioning.

I'm talking about the possible disappearance from California of the popular ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft.

Both companies were planning to completely shut down their California operations at midnight Thursday rather than comply with a terrible state law called AB5.

AB5, which became law in January, was deliberately written by Democrats in the state Assembly who are out to destroy the future of Uber and Lyft in California by forcing them to reclassify their independent 1099 contract drivers as employees.

Uber and Lyft, which were born in San Francisco barely more than a decade ago, became household names across the United States by providing quick, reliable, cheap, 24/7 transportation for millions of urban and suburban people in cities where government-protected taxicab monopolies had robbed the poor and the carless with high fares and horrible service for decades.

Until the COVID-19 shutdown in March crushed America's economy and wiped out our social lives, about a million Americans of all ages worked for Uber and Lyft as full- or part-time independent contract drivers. More than 100,000 of them worked in California.

The ultimate "gig" workers, Uber and Lyft drivers use their own cars and work when, where, and how much they want. They have no boss.

About 80 percent are part-timers who work fewer than 15 hours a week and can make a few hundred extra bucks.

But I've had drivers tell me they supported their families by ubering 50 hours a week and clearing $45,000 a year.

Obviously, California's leftist Democrats don't really care when gig workers lose their jobs. They only care about union workers - and unions hate gig, freelance, and independent workers.

In fact, if unions had their way, they'd outlaw all 1099 contract workers and force every employee to be a full-timer with all the job protections and benefits known to the modern working man.

On Thursday afternoon, a California appeals court gave Uber and Lyft another five days to comply with a previous court order requiring them to show how they plan to obey AB5.

That made the stock prices of Lyft and Uber jump a point or two, but it's only going to delay the inevitable showdown.

Neither company has yet to make a profit. And they know that complying with AB5 would force them to raise their prices, hire fewer drivers, reduce their service and make it even harder to make money in California.

That's why each company has invested about $30 million to put Proposition 22 on the November ballot.

Prop 22 would override AB5 and classify app-based ride-hail drivers and food delivery people like those working for DoorDash and UberEats as independent contractors and not employees.

It's my bet - and hope - that Uber and Lyft are so popular, so useful, and so much a part of the culture that the nutty liberal people of California will wake up and vote for Prop 22 and foil the evil scheme of the Democrats.

What the leftist Democrats are trying to do to Uber and Lyft - kill or cripple them to please their union bedfellows - is a frightening example of what happens in a one-party state that's been run by corrupt politicians for decades.

Scarier still, it's also the kind of abuse of power that the whole country can expect next year if Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer win control of Washington this fall.

[Lockbar]

The up-side is it will disrupt the lives of 23 year old losers who still live at home, never owned a car, and play video games all day. How will they get around? A boom for skate-board shops.

[cnsmom]

This really hurts the elderly and disabled that aren’t safe driving.

[Gen.Blather]

I understand the company’s problem. They have a successful business model. California is saying, no, you can’t use your model, you have to use the one we choose for you. That choice means that Uber and Lyft can no longer exist anywhere. Using the old model, they can’t compete in any way with existing cab companies. One reason they exist at all is because the people who supply their services can only work using the present model. This gives them the flexibility to fit a job into otherwise none profitable cracks in their personal schedules.

[econjack]

CA will eventually pay the price for their legislation, spending, and tax policies. People are leaving CA for more business-friendly states. But, the voters in CA keep putting the same, like-minded, people in office, so I guess it’s what they want. Given enough time, they will be able to hug trees without a single business in sight. Too bad they can’t see the long run cost of doing that.

[Leaning Right]

> This really hurts the elderly and disabled that aren’t safe driving. <

Uber and Lyft make the roads safer because college-age kids use them to get to the bars, and then back home. No one drives drunk.

So now what?

[eyeamok]

My problem is that these companies are all proud Progressive Democrats. they should suck it up and follow their Public Masters rules

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

So now what?

The law of unintended consequences. Or..is it unintended?

I can see where Uber and Lyft being used by drunks would cut into a very lucrative revenue stream for The State. Gotta snuff out that kind of competition, ya know.

[Thank You Rush]

“”Uber and Lyft drivers use their own cars and work when, where, and how much they want. They have no boss.””

My husband and I owned and ran a flight operation at a Southern CA airport for years and the state tried to do the same thing with all flight instructors back in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. That was fought by CA pilot organizations and defeated. The same criteria - no one told them when to work or set their hours.

These dolts never miss messing things up if given the chance.

[Alberta's Child]

I understand the company’s problem. They have a successful business model.

I’m not so sure about that. After ten years neither Uber nor Lyft has shown a profit.

These companies basically just develop apps for gypsy cabs, when you think about it. I don’t have a problem with that, but I’ve always contended that this business model isn’t going to work because it gets squeezed between two competing pressures: drivers who need to cover higher and higher costs, and downward price pressure for a service where an unlicensed and uninsured Mexican or Pakistani will always be willing to work for less.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Once I got recommended a YouTube video where someone was complaining about how Uber was making it increasingly difficult for drivers to make a living, or even a net profit.

This led to multiple videos of veteran drivers and their complaints, talk of organizing protests and even talk of creating a union.

Uber was even experimenting with autonomous vehicles. So it looked liked the typical Uber driver was just an interim solution to the final business model: no drivers.

I guess California will get there ahead of all the other states... as usual.

[Thommas]

This really hurts the elderly and disabled that aren’t safe driving.

This is merely a Democrat, fascist attack on behalf of big-bucks donations from the Taxicab Unions!
Lyft and Uber provided a cheaper alternative to onerous, wallet wringing prices of taxicabs. The independent operators were willing to provide their services willfully, voluntarily, and with knowledge of their actions.

With the Unions kneecapped by capitalism, the Communist Democrats had to come to the aid of their brethren.

[DownInFlames]

Taxi Cabs

[Lizavetta]

AB5 affected FAR MORE people than drivers. Journalists, musicians, home health workers, photographers, project-based workers in any field, transcribers like me, and a zillion other contracting jobs disappeared overnight.

And barely a whisper about it on the news.

[Leaning Right]

> Taxi Cabs <

I don’t live in California. But in my neck of the woods Uber and Lyft are quite reliable. If you need them at, say, 6 PM they are there at or around 6 PM.

But taxi cabs are very unreliable. If the driver decides he doesn’t want your fare (because a more lucrative one has just called in) he simply won’t show up for you.

And you’ll never get a call informing you of that. You’ll just be waiting for a taxi that never shows. You could call the taxi company. But all you’ll get is “Sorry. Our drivers are free to decline all fares.”

So what do you do if you really need a taxi, and no Uber or Lyft is around? You gotta resort to bribery. You gotta tell the dispatcher they’ll be a $40 tip for the driver. Then maybe he’ll show up.

[qwertyz]

Thanks for the reminder ... you can bet if Dems win Congress and Senate, this turd will roll out nationally.

[Leaning Right]

> This is merely a Democrat, fascist attack on behalf of big-bucks donations from the Taxicab Unions! <

I looked it up. There is a taxicab union, the National Taxi Workers’ Alliance. But they have no bargaining rights anywhere. So they have no real power.

So this doesn’t look like a typical union squeeze. Something else must be going on here.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Taxi_Workers’_Alliance

[marktwain]

CA will eventually pay the price for their legislation, spending, and tax policies.

Only if they are not successful at passing the costs on to the rest of us, with Federal bailouts of their insane pension systems (and anything else they can come up with).

That is the plan. Run your economies into the ground. Don't worry. Make sure the Federal government picks up the tab.

After all, the big national companies that happen to be in their state, pays a lot of federal taxes.

And all the workers in their state pay Social Security and Medicare taxes to the Federal government.

So, of course, when those companies and individual flee the failed states, the failed states will demand all the federal taxes those individuals and companies paid, go to them to bail them out!

We have to have the courage to allow them to fail.

[Agamemnon]

The liberals have figured out a way for their opposition to voluntarily deport themselves from California. That's why things don't get better, and why no opposition rises to oppose them. Those who can leave, do so.

All that remains is the dispirited manipulate-able who can't leave, cowering in submission to the tyranny around them just to survive.

FReegards!

[econjack]

Man, I hope you’re wrong. So far, Trump’s been really good on taking a Federalist view of things. I hope he’s smart enough not to get mired in the local mud.