In this week’s roundup, senior RSG contributor Paula Gibbins dives into a vaccine stipend for Instacart shoppers, Uber lawsuits, taxi unions reacting to Uber and more.
As Uber avoided paying into unemployment, the federal government helped thousands of its drivers weather the pandemic [Washington Post]
Summary: Tens of thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers received at least $80 million in government assistance during the coronavirus pandemic — making them among the largest groups of beneficiaries of a little-known government grant and loan program established to help small businesses weather severe economic disruptions.
The drivers benefited from the Economic Injury Disaster Loans program of the U.S. Small Business Administration, money intended to help struggling businesses, entrepreneurs and other workers stay afloat during the pandemic. Policy experts said it was unusual for such a vast pool of workers under the umbrella of multibillion-dollar corporations to tap into that money. But gig workers qualified because they are classified as independent contractors under the law, a designation companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash fought last year to maintain….
My Take: When the pandemic hit a year ago, rides became pretty scarce for a lot of drivers. Plus, there was the added issue of wanting to stay healthy instead of being put at risk on a daily basis. It’s not surprising to me that the EIDL program was so successful and very much utilized by gig workers.
While I didn’t take part in the EIDL program, I am glad for the drivers that did and were able to stay afloat during the worst of the passenger drought and the coronavirus. I hope all of those drivers are doing well.
Learn more about EIDL and the Paycheck Protection Program here.
Instacart Shoppers Embracing Vaccine Stipend [Progressive Grocer]
Summary: “Throughout the pandemic, the health and safety of the entire Instacart community has been our top priority. We’re proud of the proactive steps we’ve taken to support our shopper community, including our Vaccine Support Stipend program designed to ensure that, when the time comes, Instacart shoppers don’t have to choose between earning income as an essential worker or getting vaccinated,” said Dilshika Wijesekera, director of food safety at Instacart. “As the fight against COVID-19 continues, we’re committed to advocating for shoppers to get access to COVID-19 vaccines so they can continue to serve as a lifeline for millions of people across North America. We’re also continuing to work closely with federal, state, and local government officials to offer Instacart as a resource in the national response to the pandemic.”…
My Take: Awesome! I think it’s great that a gig economy company is doing something to support their workers. It may not be much, but it’s a step in the right direction. And, since vaccines are free, with this stipend program, workers should have no excuse for not getting one if they choose to do so. No one should ever have to choose between working and their health, but unfortunately that is the case for a lot of minimum-wage and gig economy workers.
Uber must face lawsuit over ‘woefully inadequate’ wheelchair service [Reuters]
Summary: Uber Technologies Inc must face a lawsuit by a disability advocacy group that its car-hailing app discriminates against people who use wheelchairs in Washington, D.C., a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in Washington on Monday denied the San Francisco-based company’s motion to dismiss the 2017 lawsuit by the Equal Rights Center, a Washington-based nonprofit organization with more than 8,000 members….
My Take: Uber, if you’re going to say you have wheelchair accessible vehicles for people who need them, you’d better come through on that promise. If you don’t have it implemented yet, don’t boast that you do. Don’t provide an alternative as if it were on equal footing as your “regular” ride options. Shame on you.
Taxi driver unions protest Uber’s return to Barcelona [Mooresville Tribune]
Summary: Hundreds of yellow-and-black taxi cabs disrupted traffic in Barcelona on Thursday to protest the return of the ride-hailing giant Uber to the northeastern Spanish city after a 2-year hiatus.
The U.S.-based multinational was driven out of the streets of Barcelona in February 2019, when regional authorities ordered that rides arranged through mobile apps had to be hired at least 15 minutes in advance.
At the time, Uber said the requirement was “totally incompatible with the immediacy of on-demand services.”
But Uber resumed operating in the city of 5.4 million residents this week, allowing users to order rides from over 350 regular cabs charging with taxi-meters….
My Take: I hope Uber is ready and willing to bend to the rules of Barcelona. In the past, they have not had a good reputation of following the rules set by anyone other than themselves. I can’t even count how many times they’ve been banned from one city or another by trying to get around the rules.
And, of course, they are looking to make their own rules in as many places as possible. It’s already happened in California. Now, they are looking to do the same in Massachusetts, Europe and likely in other places as well.
Case Study: Empowering Gig Economy Workers to Reach Their Financial Goals [Argyle]
Summary: Moves, a Toronto-based financial services startup specializing in the needs of gig economy workers, provides gig economy workers with easy access financing solutions like cash advances without credit checks or skepticism, so they can cope with business expenses and achieve financial health.
Today, Moves deploys Argyle at the outset of their user journey. The data Argyle provides is Moves’ primary means of creating user profiles and pre-approving users for a cash advance.
Once a user has connected all of their income sources, Moves looks at their historic total earnings and weighs that amount against predetermined pay thresholds to arrive at their cash advance limit. In essence, it’s a calculation of how much they can afford to pay over a reasonable period of time.
My Take: As a gig worker, I know the feeling of living paycheck to paycheck and needing the occasional cash advance. If there is a possibility of getting a cash advance simply by proving my income I’d earned on gig platforms, that would be awesome.
Can Shared Mobility Survive the Pandemic? [CityLab]
Summary: Before Covid struck, ride-hail companies embraced shared trips with gusto. As mounting evidence suggested that individual Uber and Lyft trips worsen traffic congestion, pooled service seemed to offer a more city-friendly product. “We think the transformation of car ownership toward carpooling is going to be tremendously beneficial for cities, for the environment,” an Uber executive told The Verge in 2018.
Editor’s Note: You’ll want to read this fascinating article about how shared trips (Pool, Line, etc.) fared pre-COVID and how they’re doing now, but honestly, if you’re an Uber or Lyft driver OR passenger, you probably already know how this article is going to go.
Drivers: was driving Pool or Line a good experience for you? Probably not, as many of us faced complaining passengers and people who lied about the size of their party in order to get the cheaper Pool/Line fare.
Passengers: be honest. You didn’t like getting into a cheaper Line/Pool ride and having to share it with someone else, did you?
Is it ‘better’ than public transport in the sense that Line/Pool rides were closer to us than public transit and more convenient? Yes. But will we look forward to going back to it post COVID? Read the article to find out.
Will you be getting the vaccine? Is the gig-economy keeping you from getting it because you’ll miss out on wages? What do you think of the vaccine stipend Instacart has implemented?
-Paula @ RSG
