[samman]

>Unions, especially service unions revolving around local physical transportation, depend entirely on nationalism. Without a sympathetic federal entity that can supersede local definitions of what work is, you're just a ragtag pack of misfits.

I'm not so sure that's the case ultimately. If all of Uber's drivers banded together and simply decided not to drive until their terms were met, they'd likely have a good deal of leverage over Uber without any government intervention required. That is the basic concept of unions. Of course, companies have historically tried to circumvent or supress unionized labor in the past, to varying degrees of success.

[sighsigh]

> If all of Uber's drivers banded together and simply decided not to drive until their terms were met, they'd likely have a good deal of leverage over Uber without any government intervention required

I have experience with unions and I can tell you that if every Uber driver on earth were to protest right here, right now.. and all you will be doing is creating job openings for other people who will happily get paid less to get the job done.

Driving people to and fro isn't exactly a highly skilled job and there is no shortage of people who are made poor because of a car payment.

Comments like this are just more proof of HackerNew's magical thinking regarding unions.

[jljljl]

>> I have experience with unions and I can tell you that if every Uber driver on earth were to protest right here, right now.. and all you will be doing is creating job openings for other people who will happily get paid less to get the job done.

It depends on how many within the pool of potential Uber drivers join the union, and consequently how great the impact on supply is. If the majority of current Uber drivers agree to representation by a union, I'm not sure they will be so easily replaceable.

>> Driving people to and fro isn't exactly a highly skilled job and there is no shortage of people who are made poor because of a car payment.

User's brand and pricing relies on skilled drivers, since the driver has to be efficient, knowledgable, and courteous enough to warrant high ratings (Uber drops drivers with low ratings). It also requires drivers who have access to a vehicle that meets Uber's standards.

I'm not sure the job is as low skill as you characterize.

[sighsigh]

It's low enough that robots will do it in 5 years. No amount of down votes is going to stop that. Lol @ hacker news burying this obvious technical advancement in the name of mythical unicorn unionism.