Uber is an American international transportation network company. The company operates the service through the Uber mobile app, through which consumers with smartphones submit a trip request that is then forwarded to Uber drivers who use their own cars to take the consumer from point A to point B. Since the launch of Uber many companies have copied the business’s ideology (e.g. Lyft, Sidecar, BlackJet etc.) and that growing trend is called Uberification.
The problems stated by NELP in the article show that the subject are the contract workers that work for these type of companies.
The first problem that the article suggests is the lack of benefits. Since the company doesn’t think of these workers as employees but as independent contractors …show more content…
First of all Uber can give a choice to its workers to either join as an employee or an independent contractor. The employees will have to follow all the formal, professional, legal and informal rules set by the company while the independent contractors can operate the way they are already doing it. The employees can enjoy all the rewards and benefits like health insurance, paid time off, unemployment insurance, financial and non-financial rewards. The company can imply the classical management theory on the drivers who are employees. For the second problem of being unable to unionize the solution is same as the first problem. The workers will be able to unionize when they are classified employees and only then can they use their collective bargaining power to negotiate with the employers. The last problem about no privacy protections it is stated in the article that “when these companies don’t specify workers rights, they could be subject to intense scrutiny or even exploitation if companies decided to sell the data”. Geolocation is an important aspect in the Uber industry. Not only the Uber drivers are subject to this even consumers are also. To use this service you have to give your personal information and allow the Uber app to use your geolocation so that the driver knows where the costumer is and the payment process can be hassle free. The driver and the user are well aware that Uber has their personal information and their geo location can be accessed. Jeremy Bentham talked about surveillance of the workers in his theory of panopticism and in the modern time this is a way of surveillance. Once the customer has done his journey with the Uber driver they have no concern with the driver and if they were to be classified as employees then they would be monitored whenever they are on the job and in todays world we
The problems stated by NELP in the article show that the subject are the contract workers that work for these type of companies.
The first problem that the article suggests is the lack of benefits. Since the company doesn’t think of these workers as employees but as independent contractors …show more content…
First of all Uber can give a choice to its workers to either join as an employee or an independent contractor. The employees will have to follow all the formal, professional, legal and informal rules set by the company while the independent contractors can operate the way they are already doing it. The employees can enjoy all the rewards and benefits like health insurance, paid time off, unemployment insurance, financial and non-financial rewards. The company can imply the classical management theory on the drivers who are employees. For the second problem of being unable to unionize the solution is same as the first problem. The workers will be able to unionize when they are classified employees and only then can they use their collective bargaining power to negotiate with the employers. The last problem about no privacy protections it is stated in the article that “when these companies don’t specify workers rights, they could be subject to intense scrutiny or even exploitation if companies decided to sell the data”. Geolocation is an important aspect in the Uber industry. Not only the Uber drivers are subject to this even consumers are also. To use this service you have to give your personal information and allow the Uber app to use your geolocation so that the driver knows where the costumer is and the payment process can be hassle free. The driver and the user are well aware that Uber has their personal information and their geo location can be accessed. Jeremy Bentham talked about surveillance of the workers in his theory of panopticism and in the modern time this is a way of surveillance. Once the customer has done his journey with the Uber driver they have no concern with the driver and if they were to be classified as employees then they would be monitored whenever they are on the job and in todays world we