Uber Is Suddenly Sticking up for Workers’ Rights Now Robotaxis Are Here

Uber has teamed up with labour unions in two US states to fight off competition from driverless car companies.

The company is working with unions in Washington and New Jersey, the Financial Times reported, as it pushes for “hybrid networks” that would require human drivers to be seated in robotaxis. 

The move comes as the race to expand autonomous cars intensifies. Uber has just launched 15 self-driving cars with British firm Wayve in London, giving it an early lead over future rivals. 

But in the US, Uber is facing competition from Google-owned Waymo, which operates robotaxis in 14 cities. Self-driving cars can be hired on Uber in just four. 

New alliances between Uber and unions mark a departure for the ride-hailing tech firm, which spent years blocking attempts to unionise among its drivers. In Seattle, the company repeatedly challenged laws designed to give drivers collective bargaining rights. 

Following the implementation of new laws in California, Uber also spent $59 million lobbying for its overturn so that it wouldn’t have to pay drivers the minimum wage. 

But with driverless cars threatening to cut Uber and its drivers out of the market, company president Andrew MacDonald says its approach to worker protections has “changed”. 

“Today, we partner with cities instead of confronting them,” he wrote on LinkedIn in May. “We’ve struck dozens of deals with labour groups for worker protections, and we work alongside hundreds of thousands of taxi drivers around the world.”

He acknowledged that Uber’s newfound interest in protecting drivers “might feel ironic”.

Despite pushing for stronger regulations, Uber is still investing heavily in the emerging technology. Last week, Uber announced 3,000 job cuts to redirect funds towards investment in future opportunities, including robotaxis. 

Manny Pastreich, the president of US union 32BJ SEIU, told the Financial Times: “Where Uber for their own strategic reason is opposing deployments, we’ll take it. Am I going to depend on that? No. I’m not.”