Bloody scabs! At a time when unions worldwide need solidarity and they're undercutting them. Nice one. I guess this is the lovely caring capitalism we've been hearing about.
Fuck the unions. They've half bankrupted the city already and are well on their way to completing the job. Uber does not owe the medallion owners a damn thing, and neither do the people of SF. They've made out like bandits for years by keeping the market deliberately undersupplied and inflating prices. Now we have the most expensive cabs in the US and you can't hail one outside of downtown for love or money. It's hard to get cab in the downtown area. I have no sympathy.
So - are people just supposed to not leave their house because taxi drivers decide to not work on a given day?
This is San Francisco. Public transit sucks, and owning a car sucks(though less than public transit). Many people rely on taxis for their livelihood and they will be screwed over if they can't go places tomorrow, regardless of the reason why.
Except the only reason taxis can "show that they matter" by shutting down is because they've been given a monopoly from government (via medallion system).
The result of this monopoly, at least in San Francisco, is a shortage of cabs, poor customer service from cabs and high prices.
All this strike proves is that no matter how good they have it, they'll always ask for more.
The fact that cab drivers also managed to form a union means nothing other than they're smart because they can leverage that to get a good deal for themselves (at the expense of every other person living in San Francisco). Forming a union doesn't suddenly entitle them to anything.
Uber is a long due competition to cabs. It improves the lives of people living in San Francisco. If cabs can't compete, then they deserve to lose and Uber has every right to compete with them.
That is the point of capitalism: ability to compete. Taxis don't deserve special treatment. Neither does Uber, for that matter.
There's a difference between being anti-union, and anti-medallion. I like taxi drivers. It's not their fault they have to pay hundreds of thousands for a medallion, and work with a lot of overly strict rules.
AFAIK, these strict rules don't stop taxis from screwing over tourists, and occasionally assaulting customers. I'm pretty sure an Uber system would, as the bad eggs would be tracked down a lot easier.
If unions want to protest unsafe cars, or 14 hour shifts, or they want the right to refuse service to unruly customers, that's fine. It's not a simple matter of supply and demand. But unions shouldn't be locking other workers out.
I'm pretty sure they are actively campaigning against increasing the number of medallions, so yes... they are to blame for making it a scarce resource and therefore worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You make it sound like taxi drivers are doing charity work. They hold hourly jobs just like 80% of San Francisco. Of course taxis matter, that's why they exist.
Weren't these the same taxicab drivers that were complaining that, even though Uber is a limousine service, they were encroaching on the taxicab market? Wasn't there a threat of jail time and fines from the city of San Francisco for every customer Uber picks up?
