The following report is provided by an anonymous rideshare driver on the recent one day strike action by the ACE Collaborative DMV Drivers Group demanding higher wages and better pay transparency
On June 20th, Ace Collaborative DMV Drivers Group staged an impressive first public action in their fight for fair wages and pay transparency for Uber & Lyft Drivers. The group of underpaid drivers held a 24 hour labor strike as well as a press conference and protest at Reagan Airport, and led a caravan from Gravelly Point Park in Arlington to and around the National Mall in DC. Their stated aims were to make their concerns public and to recruit drivers and community supporters to the cause.
The group was founded just a few months ago with six drivers fed up with their labor and tools being exploited, and has grown to over five hundred drivers with the help of a local activist group, ACE Collaborative. They recruited me around two months ago at the Reagan waiting lot with a flier and a sign up sheet. Yesterday I drove from Richmond to help spread the movement southward.
I pulled into the Gravelly Point Park lot around 2 pm and was greeted warmly by excited drivers. I was given orange flags and streamers with which to mark my car as part of the caravan and an organizer made a protest sign for me on the spot using posterboard, stencils, and spraypaint. Within minutes I was in an Uber with others up to Terminal 2 Zone B at the nearby airport, the designated protest zone and press conference site.
Mitchell Yangson of ACE Collaborative opened the press conference and was followed by ten drivers who had prepared statements of their own. Mitchell’s words on behalf of the group here:
“As Virginians exercise the right to vote in the primary elections today, there is a group of Uber and Lyft drivers in the DMV that are choosing to exercise their right to express themselves through protests and to fight for better working conditions. Drivers have come together today and are calling on other drivers and our supporters in the DMV to keep those shut off until midnight tonight. In protest for the years of the declining compensation or wages, Uber/Lyft stealing tips, lack of pay transparency, and unjust deactivations of driver accounts.
This protest and our caravan reflects the fight that is taking place throughout the nation as we see other Uber and Lyft drivers and gig workers in other states fight against these practices by these types of tech operations, which ill refer to as transportation network companies. From California, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts. Florida, Pennsylvania and other states, drivers have been fighting back for better pay, pay transparency and protections against unjust account deactivation and I am proud to say that you can add the DMV to that growing list.
“This fight reflects a disturbing trend in the history of the labor movement, where workers are now fighting against corporate algorithms and artificial intelligence programs that are used to further and further exploit workers and the most vulnerable people in our community and back in other countries.
The use of these tools will only grow as more and more good jobs are being pushed upon working class Americans who are having difficulty keeping up with the rising costs of living caused by other corporations. Who are raising prices on food, essential consumer goods, medicine, healthcare, fuel, and rent just to make record profits.
Now we are not here to present solutions just yet. The drivers that make up this movement are still in discussion about those solutions. What we are doing today is publicizing the exploitative working conditions that DMV Uber and Lyft drivers are experiencing. And more importantly, we are calling upon other Uber and Lyft drivers to join our cause. To the drivers in the DMV who have not joined us yet:
You are not alone in your anger, frustration and despair. When you clearly see how Uber and Lyft are manipulating you to drive longer and farther, only to make less what Uber and Lyft are charging your passengers more and more. Contrary to the conventional thinking, you did not agree to be manipulated and exploited and you have every right to demand and fight for better pay and working conditions. From the beginning our vehicles have been essential to making Uber and Lyft household names. Your vehicles are taking all the risks that are related to this line of work. Without you and your vehicles, Uber and Lyft and other rideshare companies wouldn’t not be in existence.
Be aware of the power that you have brothers and sisters. For those that don’t know this movement that you’re starting, was due to the voice of one person. One driver, one driver who was aware of his power and took the further step to expand his power. So again, drivers be aware of the power that you have and know how you can expand your power. Please join your fellow drivers join us who have stepped up to fight for the betterment of all Uber and Lyft and rideshare drivers.”
After the press conference ended with chants of, “Power to the drivers! Power to the drivers!”, we flew signs in our designated protest zone for thirty minutes or as cars picked up arrivals. Just after I loaded up to return to Gravelly Point Park, none other than Senator Bernie Sanders happened upon our group. He spoke briefly with our organizers and posed for a photo with our drivers. Hopefully we can call on him to amplify our fight, even if he can’t actually *do* anything in Congress.
Upon our return from the airport to the rallying point, we chatted for a few minutes and then lined our cars up and proceeded with our fifty car caravan. We drove to DC and lapped around the National Mall with signs demanding better pay and equity taped to our vehicles. We honked, people waved and gave thumbs up.
Throughout our action yesterday we could see on our apps that dozens of drivers were still running airport trips, so its unlikely that our strike alone would have drawn the attention of Uber and Lyft. Thankfully, Channel 9 WUSA reached out to them for comment. Uber’s response was curt, dismissive, and condescending:
“Driver earnings in the region remain high with the average driver making over $32 an hour while active on the app. Drivers are also able to see exactly how much they’ll make and where they’re going before accepting a trip.”
Uber is being intentionally obfuscatory here. That $32 average does not account for the high cost of the tools of our trade: fuel costs, maintenance costs, the depreciation from mileage and wear-and-tear, and high insurance rates. This number also doesn’t account for driving time spent inactive on the app, such as when returning from long trips away from metropolitan areas – drivers turn off our apps in “dead” areas, but we still have to drive through them.
As for Uber’s response to pay transparency, this is not what we mean when we use the phrase. What we’re referring to is the pay rate relative to the customer’s fee: recently, a rider asked me if fares are “always $50 at this time of night.” Shocked, I informed him that I was only being paid $15 for the trip. Another rider recently told me they paid $15, while I received $6. What we want is full transparency regarding customer payment and driver compensation, in both directions. Customers need to know that the exorbitant amounts they pay are not passed along to us, and drivers need to know what percentage of the value we generate is being siphoned off by corporate. There needs to be transparency, too, around the policy that sets this ratio.
For now, we aren’t making any direct demands to Uber or Lyft; first, we need more bargaining power, more solidarity, more drivers working together instead of just competing against each other as corporate would have us do. Once we have the numbers and the organizational power, we will hammer out the specifics together as a group.
If you are a driver in Northern Virginia, DC, or Maryland, please reach out to ACE Drivers Collaborative through their Facebook page, and be sure to join the ongoing organizing discussion in their Whatsapp chat. Their next meeting is Tuesday June 27th at 4pm at Dulles Airport, and you’re invited!
If you are a driver in the Richmond area, we’re also organizing as the RVA Gig Drivers Alliance – please join our organizing group chat on the Signal app. Our first meeting is next Tuesday, June 27th, at noon at Abner Clay Park in RVA, and you’re invited!
If you’re a driver in Virginia but in neither area, reach out to either or both groups and we’ll help you organize your local drivers!
These transportation network companies have spent millions lobbying Congress to craft legislation that favors their bottom line and keeps us alienated, isolated, powerless, and struggling, keeping us marginalized as gig workers despite our dedication and hard work and long overtime hours. Their strategy of alienation shows us our solution: solidarity. Its up to us to find each other and have these conversations and come together and use every tool available to fight for our rights.
Watch the full press conference here, and please share this article with your friends and family and community members that drive for a living.
All Power to the People!
The Virginia Worker 
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