Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............3
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................4
City Council..........................3
Classifieds............................3
Entertainment......................2
Wiseburn..............................3
Lawndale..............................4
Legals.................................6,7
Pets........................................5
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny/
Wind
65˚/57˚
Saturday
Cloudy
65˚/58˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
63˚/56˚
The Weekly Newspaper of Inglewood
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 68, No. 20 - May 16, 2019
A Happy Welcome to Ash Park
This past Saturday, the City of Inglewood presented Ash Park to the local community. The day’s festivities included plenty of fun activities, booths to attend and food to nourish. Photo: City of Inglewood
Uber Drivers Pump the Brakes
While Company Plots Next Move
By Rob McCarthy
Uber drivers were hopping mad last week
and decided they weren’t going to take it
anymore. A loosely organized group representing
the drivers called a one-day strike to
demand higher pay and bargaining power.
That group, Rideshare Drivers United, was
taking a cue from Uber and being disruptive.
In the gig economy, disruption is a moneymaker
for technology startups that almost
singlehandedly change consumer behavior.
The revolt didn’t severely disrupt Los Angeles
International Airport, judging by local
news coverage. Television images from LAX
showed cars displaying the familiar Uber
logos cruising through the airport. However,
it wasn’t clear if the drivers were supporting
the strike or making pickups and drop-offs
at the nation’s second-busiest airport. Rideshare
Drivers United demonstrated at LAX
to demand higher pay and better working
conditions. The demands included a $28
hourly minimum wage, fares on a sliding
scale that increase with gasoline prices, and
a new tipping policy.
The L.A.-based group wants job security,
too, for the independent operators who work
with Uber to connect with people who need
a ride. Representatives of the group stressed
during Thursday’s protest that Uber can
remove a driver from using its ride-hailing
smartphone app without a formal investigation
or hearing. The drivers worry they could
lose their livelihood -- up to $240 per day- -
without a chance to defend themselves from
accusations of wrongdoing by passengers
or a violation of the rules of conduct they
agreed to abide by.
Uber didn’t comment about the strike or
whether management is considering the list
of demands for higher pay and more bargaining
power for its independent workforce.
Still, the Ridershare Drivers group vows
to keep pressing the company and its rival,
Lyft, to recognize the drivers as more than
independent contractors. They want to be
treated like partners with a stake in Uber
and Lyft, both of which are now publicly
traded companies. Hedge-fund managers and
individual stockholders now are part-owners
in the rideshare industry, which analysts say
puts both companies under pressure to get
more profitable.
One way to do that is to eliminate the
need for drivers, and that’s something on
Uber’s radar. Set against the backdrop of
driver dissatisfaction and demands for fair
treatment, Uber has experimented with a fleet
of robotic vehicles that will pick up and drop
off passengers. But, will paying customers
feel safe enough to climb in?
People in Pennsylvania apparently are. Uber
spokeswoman Sarah Abboud revealed that
self-driving cars are in operation in only one
location in the 50 states: Pittsburgh. Testing
is being done in San Francisco and Toronto
too, but in cars with someone at the controls.
The company doesn’t want to eliminate all
of its drivers -- just some.
While Uber wouldn’t say exactly when
drivers might be replaced by software-controlled
cars, its customers always will have
a choice between going auto or with a guy
named Otto. “The technology is still early
days and scaling in a reliable, safe manner
will take time. I can say that as the technology
develops, Uber envisions a future where
both self-driven cars as well as those
driven by our drivers will be necessary to
deploy this technology in a safe manner,”
Abboud said.
A deadly traffic collision in Tempe, Ariz.
involving an Uber self-driving car temporarily
halted the program until it restarted last
July. Uber Advanced Technologies is the unit
assigned to equip cars with the technology
and safety devices that will win the trust of
state regulators first… then the public that
sees rideshare as a better, safer option than
owning or driving one’s own vehicle.
The company is moving ahead, with financial
backing from Toyota and other investors.
Eric Meyhofer, who oversees the engineering
and software teams at Uber Advanced
Technologies Group, says that self-driving
technology has great potential for making
rideshare more accessible and even safer, but
“it’s not going to happen overnight.”
See Uber Drivers, page 6