WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR? A Safe Work Environment

Uber, Lyft, and other app companies are loud and proud when it comes to their safety protocols. But what’s left out of cheery safety advertisements like Uber’s “Safety Never Stops” campaign is that these considerations are not extended to their drivers.

The fact is, violence against drivers is going up. The companies aren’t protecting us, and we’re scared.

In order to work with these app companies, drivers go through rigorous background checks to ensure the safety of their passengers. But drivers often have no idea who they are letting into their cars each day. Drivers have been crying out for an end to policies that allow passengers to use fake names, which makes it easier for criminals to target drivers in carjackings and violent assaults.

Attacks against drivers have become more common and app companies have yet to take substantial action to better protect their workers. In February alone, a 71-year-old Lyft driver was shot and killed in Maryland, an Uber driver was robbed and carjacked in Syracuse, and a woman Uber driver was shot and killed by a passenger in Pennsylvania. Women drivers in particular have also been the targets of sexual assault and harassment. In 2019, Uber released a U.S. Safety Report revealing more than 3,000 sexual assaults from the year before. Out of these cases, 42 percent were attacks against drivers. These acts of violence and harassment are unacceptable.

Based on current app company policies, drivers who are victims to these attacks don’t have access to rider information to file a report, and app companies will not produce any records unless they receive a subpoena requiring them to disclose basic information.

Delivery workers face similar risks while working. Like rideshare drivers, delivery workers are continuously background checked. Yet, like rideshare drivers, they have no idea whose homes they are stopping at and have no information they can provide if something were to happen to them while making a delivery. It’s terrifying.

App companies MUST change their safety protocols to protect not only their passengers but their workers. App workers deserve to know that they will make it home after work each day.

Join us in our fight for a safe work environment for ALL app workers.