San Francisco may grind to a halt over Super Bowl weekend if planned Uber strike goes ahead
Uber drivers are planning a protest in San Francisco over the Super Bowl weekend to challenge the wage slash in the last month, with some drivers reportedly earning less than minimum wage.
Uber has reportedly increased their share of ride costs by 130 per cent while cutting rates to drivers by up to 45 per cent.
An Uber spokesperson said the cuts were put in place to encourage more rides in the winter months: "By cutting prices for riders, we can give them one more reason to take a ride, which helps keep drivers busier during the slow season. To put drivers’ minds at ease, we have hourly earnings guarantees in place."
Over the Super Bowl weekend, an estimated 300,000 visitors are expected in San Francisco, which has 800,000 residents and is the second most densely populated city in the US. Uber, which is an official Super Bowl 50 partner, is reportedly guaranteeing its drivers a minimum of $35 per hour in the city during peak times over the course of the event.
Dave Sutton, the spokesperson for Who’s Driving You, the movement behind a planned driver strike during the Super Bowl, talked on why they chose to protest such a huge event: "Uber drivers have suffered repeated fare cuts with no way to hold Uber accountable. Mucking up Uber’s Super Bowl performance is the perfect vehicle to showcase their grievances and demands."
The protests began on Monday, when a caravan of 1,000 Uber drivers reportedly drove through San Francisco, passing by the airport, the Uber support center and City Hall to protest the recent fare cuts.
Over the weekend the protestors plan to congest the highways leading to the stadium, with one protest organiser saying: "We’re telling them we’re going to shut it down for the Super Bowl. We’re shutting it down. We’re shutting the highways down. We’re shutting everything down and we’re not going to allow Uber to keep screwing drivers over."
It is not clear how many drivers plan to strike, but the same organiser said in the protest video he has rallied 4,000 drivers from the area and that another 5,000 from Los Angeles have committed to the cause.
Uber driver Harry Campbell, known as 'The Ride Share Guy' online, doesn’t see Uber giving way over the Super Bowl strike threat: "I think the only way Uber will even sit down at the table with drivers is if the strikes start to affect their bottom line."