With gas prices up 59% over the past 12 months, Uber and Lyft drivers are being forced to work longer hours to make the same money. That or they’re forced to quit. All that and more in The Morning Shift for December 2, 2021.
1st Gear: We’re Only A Day Away From The Anniversary Of The ’73 Trucker Strike
Back in the first energy crisis, rising gas prices put the squeeze on independent truckers. What did the truckers do? Well, on December 3, 1973 they went on strike. I kind of wonder if we have something like that coming in our future.
As it is today, the burden of rising gas prices is being shouldered by app drivers and not the rich app companies themselves. The first problem is that costs of doing business is going up for ride-share drivers, as the Financial Times reports:
Drivers for ride-hailing and delivery apps and analysts covering the sector say that on top of changes in payment algorithms, the 59 per cent rise in the cost of petrol over the past 12 months has sent chills through the industry.
Uber and Lyft, the two biggest ride-hailing apps, are trying to ease the burden by encouraging a switch to electric vehicles, but many drivers are frustrated.
[…]
“Some drivers have been decreasing the amount of hours that they do. Some drivers have gone looking for other jobs,” said Beth Griffith, a former Uber and Lyft driver who heads the Boston Independent Drivers Guild.
“Some drivers have been decreasing the amount of hours that they do. Some drivers have gone looking for other jobs,” said Beth Griffith, a former Uber and Lyft driver who heads the Boston Independent Drivers Guild.
And who is taking the heat? The drivers, per the FT:
“There is a true cost associated with gig work. That cost continues to be handed down to gig workers by gig companies,” said Willy Solis, lead organiser for the Gig Workers Collective, who also works for delivery groups Uber Eats and Shipt.
Solis drives a 2018 Nissan Sentra in Denton, Texas, normally putting 40 hours on the clock each week. He says he now spends 50 per cent more on petrol than five months ago and is driving an extra hour each day to compensate.
If you ever needed more evidence that the gig economy’s actual product is worker exploitation, here you go. Telling drivers to just get an EV. What assholes.
2nd Gear: UAW About To Go “One Member, One Vote”
UAW members voted for direct representation, a historic move, as the Detroit News reports. All it needs is certification:
Direct voting has prevailed in a historic referendum on how the United Auto Workers union chooses its international leaders, according to preliminary results released Wednesday night.
The win, if certified, means the upending of a decades-old system for electing international officials of the union, and amounts to a major rebuke from rank-and-file members of union leadership that has been plagued by a corruption scandal.
The victory for the “one member, one vote” movement within the union also comes amid renewed momentum in the U.S. labor movement that has seen workers across the country — including UAW members from manufacturing to higher education — going on strike and otherwise pushing for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
[...]
The monitor, New York attorney Neil Barofsky, will announce the unofficial results once tabulation is complete. Final results — which must be approved by the Office of Labor-Management Standards and a federal district court — are expected Thursday.
Direct representation is a big step, but it’s bittersweet knowing that it only comes out of the UAW’s huge corruption scandals of late.
3rd Gear: GM Expects To Make More Money
Meanwhile, GM raised its 2021 financial outlook, expecting higher profits than anticipated, as Reuters reports:
General Motors expects full year adjusted pre-tax profits will reach about $14 billion, higher than the previous forecast, CFO Paul Jacobson said during a presentation on Wednesday.
GM had previously forecast full-year adjusted pre-tax profits at $11.5 billion to $13.5 billion.
Jacobson said GM’s financial performance is benefiting from strong consumer demand, high prices for new vehicles and more stability in supplies of semiconductors.
GM also said it wasn’t particularly worried about the Omnicron variant just yet, and it thinks things will stabilize, generally, in 2022. Stability of our current situation sounds horrible to me, and I hope GM is wrong!
4th Gear: Aston CFO Steps Down
According to Aston, it is for personal reasons. Here is billionaire boss Lance Stroll’s message, from Bloomberg:
“Over the last 18 months Ken has played a significant role in rebuilding Aston Martin Lagonda’s financial position and setting the business on a strong pathway for the future,” Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll said in a statement. “Whilst sad to see him leave the business, I understand Ken’s reasons and wish him the very best for the future.”
5th Gear: Tesla HQ Is Officially Texas Now
I am sad that NorCal’s hometown car company is officially leaving, but hey, it’s not like Tesla has been all that kind to the people of NorCal anyway. And this is just an official move of Tesla’s HQ; Tesla is not abandoning Fremont or anything. From the Associated Press:
Tesla says it has officially moved its corporate headquarters from Silicon Valley to a large factory under construction outside of Austin, Texas.
The company made the announcement late Wednesday in a filing with U.S. securities regulators. CEO Elon Musk had said at the company’s annual meeting in October that the move was coming.
[...]
It wasn’t clear if all of the headquarters employees would be required to move. A message was left Wednesday seeking comment from Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations department.
Reverse: Enron Was My Joker Moment, Or However The Kids Say It
Neutral: How Are You?
My attempts to extract a stuck bolt from an old bike frame have so far been fruitless. My next step is to find somebody with a torch. Maybe an incinerator.