Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Scalable Grid Engine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Global News Service
On August 20, hundreds of rideshare drivers voted to form the Tennessee Drivers Union and to strike on August 30 to address worsening working conditions at the Nashville International Airport. Workers struck strategically on Labor Day weekend, as they recognized that it was one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
Rideshare drivers are demanding that the Nashville International Airport expand the rideshare lot and expand access to clean bathrooms. The drivers are also demanding a limit on the use of scooters after 9 p.m. for driver and pedestrian safety, enforcement of the ban on fake taxis, and a living wage. Nashville rideshare drivers have long been urging the city to crack down on those impersonating taxi or rideshare drivers, leaving passengers feeling unsafe.
“Drivers should be paid by the minute and mile!” reads a statement by the Tennessee Drivers Union. “Uber has increased its take rates significantly over the past three years,” the statement reads. “Many drivers fear being unhoused, and drive for hours at a time to be able to make it week to week.”
The statement further reads, “The drivers refuse to continue to let huge companies like Uber and Lyft profit off of [their] labor. They want Nashville to hear their struggle… Unless and until their demands are met, Tennessee and its tourists can expect further disruptions.”
from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service
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