By Pat Savage
New York City’s Mayor, Bill de Blasio, is angry at ride-share companies Uber and Lyft. Specifically, he doesn’t care for their decision to slam the brakes on subcontractors when business is slow.
For their part, Uber and Lyft place the blame on a recently implemented minimum-wage requirement by the city.
A radio caller complained to the mayor that he and his colleagues were responsible for his being unable to get work during portions of the day. But de Blasio passed the buck to the ride share firms for keeping too many subcontractors in place in the wake of recent rules limiting those numbers.
“They created a reality where they flooded the market on purpose so that they could get the biggest possible marketshare,” de Blasio told the caller. “They didn’t care how much pollution it caused. They didn’t care how low the wages of their workers were. They didn’t care how many workers, like Al, invested in vehicles and then were left high and dry.”
He added, “Why on earth is the call not for these companies to give fairness to these workers they exploited for so long, and they used to increase their market share and to prepare for their IPOs? They have the money to pay their workers decently. They have the money to create a fair transition for folks in this situation. They don’t have to use these sort of punitive approaches. But these are antiworker companies.”
“Lyft maintained that any negative ramifications for drivers are entirely the fault of de Blasio and his Taxi and Limousine Commission, which has sought to stop drivers from cruising in Manhattan without passengers on board,” noted Crain’s New York Business. “The company urged the mayor and the City Council to reconsider the contentious policies, which have been the subject of multiple lawsuits.”
“Lyft has had no choice but to change the driver experience by not allowing drivers to come online at times of low demand,” a Lyft spokesperson told Crain’s. “We welcome the opportunity to engage with the mayor and council to revisit these rules, which have had negative consequences on so many New Yorkers.”
The tussle didn’t appear to harm Uber in the eyes of investors. Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. “gained ground again Friday, to extend their bounce off last week’s record low, after Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt turned bullish on the ride-sharing company, citing “reasonable” valuation and signs that fundamentals are “turning the corner,” noted marketwatch.com. “SunTrust Robinson Humphrey’s Youssef Squali also recommended investors buy, saying valuations and recent disclosures suggest the stock has probably “bottomed out.”
