Will High-Tech Strikes by Unions Help Workers?

In the past month, Uber and Lyft drivers have staged some clever “strikes.” One involved drivers who were near major airports: They all turned off their apps at the same time, creating a spike-shortage of drivers. Uber’s surge pricing algorithm reset prices high. Two minutes later, they logged in. Yes, riders got stiffed. What’s their alternative? A cab?

“When I first started with Lyft everything was perfect, I was making about $25 an hour. But then the system started changing and they started paying less and less,” said Linda Valdivia, a union organizer.

In another “strike,” Uber drivers for McDonald's descended on a store and circled it with dozens of cars in the drive-thru.

“Hello, McDonald’s, may I take your order?”

“Yes, a living wage.” 
Car pulls up; next car pulls in to order. 
Repeat.

Meanwhile, Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, earned $45.3 million last year.

Putting this in perspective is—of all things— a report by McKinsey Consulting, an elite management advisor. They published a report that many unions would endorse: “A New Look at the Declining Share of Labor Income in the U.S.” It’s here: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/a-new-look-at-the-declining-labor-share-of-income-in-the-united-states?cid=eml-web

Their key finding: “They (policy makers) will need to ensure that technology works alongside human labor to make it more productive rather than substitute it; this would include retraining workers.”

That seems impossible in Washington and London, where America First and Britain First politicians run effective campaigns but cannot advance legislation.

In the meantime, gig workers are angry and more organized. They’re doing something the McKinsey study didn’t consider: Act in concert to withhold their labor (i.e., go on strike).