A shameful example of Capitalism hard at work in our "free enterprise" system.
As a long time contractor(25 years)with the Washington State
Department of Services for the Blind, I quickly advise anyone
considering becoming contract labor: *Don't Do It!
At least, if contracting is going to be your main means of financial
support. For my purposes it works, because we have a solid financial
situation already in place.
First of all, Contract Worker is a big fat lie. Contracts are
agreements drawn up by an individual and a person or company needing
the services offered by that individual or their company. The sort of
"contract" presented to me by Washington State is already written by
the State, and presented to me to sign or not. If I do not sign,
someone else will be offered that contract. The State decides how
much I am worth over the next biennium. This last year, despite
having signed for a certain amount of money, the State lost some of
its funding and notified us that we were being reduced this last year
by 22%.
When we first began this Independent Living Older Blind Program(ILOB)I
set about to organize the contractors. Fearful of losing what they
had, the idea was voted down. The Department has divided the state
into 7 regions, and there used to be about 2 dozen field workers. But
none of the workers made a decent living. One woman, with a Master's
degree in Social Work, was paid $10 per hour. If she worked a 40 hour
week and all 52 weeks, she'd earn around $20,080 a a year. Out of
that she would pay her own sick leave, annual leave and any medical
coverage.
Contract labor is just one more slimy trick up the sleazy sleeves of
our Capitalist Masters.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/23/19, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://themilitant.com/2018/11/10/uber-yellow-cab-drivers-need-unity-to-fight-bosses/
Uber, Yellow Cab drivers need unity to fight bosses
??By Peter Thierjung
Vol. 82/No. 43
November 19, 2018
NEW YORK ??? The cutthroat competition among Uber, Lyft, other e-hail car
services, livery companies and the Yellow Cab fleet bosses has claimed a
seventh suicide victim here. Fausto Luna flung himself in front of an
oncoming subway train and died Sept. 26. The 58-year-old Uber driver had
told friends he was getting depressed in face of mounting debts and
increasing overtime.
His situation isn???t unusual. Uber drivers??? incomes fell 53 percent from
2013 to 2017, according to a study released by the J.P. Morgan Chase
Institute that same month. ???Alongside the rapid growth in the number of
drivers has come a steady decline in average monthly earnings,??? the
report said. Uber disputes the findings, saying declining incomes result
from drivers ???choosing??? to work part time.
Today more than 100,000 e-hail cars flood New York City streets,
compared to 67,500 in 2016. That???s on top of some 13,500 Yellow Cabs,
many worked 24/7 by teams of drivers; several thousand Green
(???outer-borough???) Cabs; as well as private limos.
???Due to the huge number of cars available with desperate drivers trying
to feed their families, [the employers] squeeze rates to below operating
costs [for drivers] and force professionals like me out of business,???
wrote 61-year-old Douglas Schifter on his Facebook page last February.
Schifter, who had been driving since the mid-1970s, wrote a column for
more than three decades for Black Car News documenting drivers???
worsening conditions. He detailed how e-hail companies, led by Uber,
broke into the New York market, as it has worldwide, provoking a war
with the taxi fleet and livery bosses. The heightened competition
imposed on drivers has been disastrous ??? for all of them, whoever they
work for.
The wealthy owners ???count their money and we are driven down into the
streets,??? Schifter wrote. ???I will not be a slave working for chump
change. I would rather be dead.???
Days later he drove his Black Car to the east gate of New York???s City
Hall, where he shot himself in the head.
Since February three Yellow Cab drivers, three livery drivers, and now a
driver for Uber have committed suicide. All were saddled with debt and
unable to make ends meet.
Like the big majority of working people in New York ??? from construction
to home health care and retail employees ??? drivers face soaring rents,
crumbling public transit, declining wages and worsening job conditions.
The suicides are stoking discussion and debate. Almost all agree on the
need for some urgent relief from the deteriorating conditions they face.
But how to get that relief isn???t clear.
Some Yellow Cab drivers put the blame on Uber drivers, claiming they
aren???t ???professionals.??? Amid an intensifying scramble for work and
fares, the cab fleet bosses press drivers to hitch their prospects to
???our??? company. The employers call for measures to limit Uber, Lyft and
other rivals ??? to drive out them of business.
Others share Yellow Cab driver Mousa Ibrahim???s view. Uber???s arrival in
the New York market was devastating to Yellow Cab drivers, he told the
Militant. But Uber drivers ???are now going through what we went through
when Uber first started,??? he said. ???We???re all in the same boat
now.???
Matteo Salvi, another Yellow Cab driver, said it???s wrong to target
fellow drivers. ???Don???t blame the player,??? he said. ???Blame the
game.???
City hall imposes a ???cap???
On Aug. 14, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation to stop issuing
licenses for e-hail cars for a year. In the meantime, city planners will
???study??? whether a ???cap??? on e-hail cars should be permanent. Many
drivers, including those working for Uber, support the new law, hoping
it will put a lid on sharpening competition.
In signing the law, de Blasio accused Uber???s owners of carrying out ???a
very cynical plan to over-saturate this city,??? saying their motivation
is ???corporate greed.???
But the mayor was silent on the exploitation of cab drivers by the
Yellow Cab and garage bosses, who aim to claw back market share and
shore up their profits. Since 2013, Yellow Cab bosses have been de
Blasio???s patrons to the tune of more than a half million dollars in
campaign contributions.
Democrat de Blasio, like mayors from both the bosses??? parties before
him, presides over city government to defend the prerogatives of the
employing class, the capitalists. For liberals like him, regulation such
as the cap is a way to hog-tie workers and stifle resistance to
exploitation by the capitalist rulers.
De Blasio says his push to limit e-hail cars will help drivers in face
of competition. But that???s not the aim of the cap. Bosses want ???their???
workers to fear competition from other workers. It???s a weapon to keep
wages down ??? and, above all, to keep resistance down. The mayor???s real
aim is to ???cap??? momentum toward industry-wide unionization of cab,
e-hail and livery drivers.
Through experience, drivers will learn that dependence on the capitalist
government, or on their own bosses, won???t solve their problems. They
need to turn their attention to what they can do, together, to fight
effectively. Already there have been significant strikes and protests by
Uber and other drivers in Australia, Britain and elsewhere, aimed at
wringing concessions from their bosses. But too often they haven???t
reached out to fight on behalf of other workers who drive for a living.
Drivers in New York City need to look to solidarity and a united fight
for one union for all drivers.
When that day comes, workers across the five boroughs and far beyond
will side with the drivers, organize solidarity in their fight against
their exploiters, and look for ways to emulate their example.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Workers need unions, break with bosses??? political
parties
???Join SWP taking ???Militant???, books to working class
???Uber, Yellow Cab drivers need unity to fight bosses
???Do Washington???s trade sanctions on China mean a new ???Cold War????
???UN votes 189-2 to demand end to US rulers??? Cuba embargo
Feature Articles ???Kurdistan book fair marked by thirst for political
discussion
Also In This Issue ???Amazon robots intensify the exploitation of labor
???Marriott strikers fight bosses over wages, hours, safety
???Australia: Workers march, demand end to anti-union laws
???Fall 2018 Militant Subscription Campaign
???Socialist Workers Party 2018 Fall Fund Drive
On the Picket Line ???Canada postal workers strike over pay equality,
health care
??????We???re working for peanuts,??? says striking bus driver in New
Zealand
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxx
--
---
Carl Sagan
??? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. ???
??? Carl Sagan
