Hundreds of angry Uber drivers unplugged from the car-service app on Monday to protest the company’s new rate cuts, which they say have drastically slashed their take-home pay.
More than 400 hacks rallied outside the company’s Queens headquarters for the start of a 72-hour strike, which will continue on Tuesday at La Guardia and Kennedy Airports.
“Uber is killing us,” said Paul Ryan, 50, who has been driving for the company for a year and a half. “They call us partners, but we have no vote. We’re not partners — we’re slaves to them.”
The protesters — who make up less than 1 percent of Uber’s drivers — made three demands:
They want the fares restored to the levels before Friday’s 15-percent cut; they want Uber to add a tipping option on the app; and they want Uber to cut its commission to 10 percent.
In a strange twist, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which has traditionally represented yellow-cab drivers, organized the Uber protest and rally. Both Uber drivers and taxi drivers say this is the first step in the two groups working together to fix the problems that have plagued the industry.
“When companies are at war with each other, it’s the workers who get squeezed,” said Bhairavi Desai, who is the executive director of the Alliance. “Their strategy is to starve the Uber driver in an effort to starve the taxi drivers.”
But Uber said Monday that the price cuts benefited drivers, who saw their earnings go up in the first days afterward. Company officials said drivers have pulled in an average of 20 percent more, because they are now spending 39 percent less time sitting idle.
But Uber driver Mohsin Alvi said it will now take 21 rides — up from the earlier 17 — to make $100.
Meanwhile, a New Jersey man was busted for stealing two laptops from Uber’s Manhattan headquarters on Friday. Jonathan Price, 24, of Hackensack, also allegedly stole three cellphones and a tablet from the company’s offices on West 28th Street at about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 29. Cops caught up with him shortly after he left the building, police sources said.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona