Drivers Protest Outside Uber CEO’s Pacific Heights Mansion

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App-Based Workers to Caravan & Protest Outside Uber CEO’s Pacific Heights Mansion

While drivers struggle to survive the pandemic, Uber CEO hides out in his $16.5 million dollar mansion

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Protest Uber CEO's Pacific Heights Mansion

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA) On June 24, a caravan of approximately 100 app workers with We Drive Progress and Gig Workers Rising will protest outside of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s $16.5 million dollar mansion in Pacific Heights. The action will call out app companies for stealing from drivers through their ongoing, illegal misclassification of workers as independent contractors, and will shame Uber and others for abandoning drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a time when 67% of California drivers reported being unable to pay their rent or mortgage, rideshare CEOs continue to line their pockets while shamefully failing to provide workers with the basic workplace protections they deserve and are entitled to, under AB5. Drivers say enough is enough.

WHAT: App workers caravan and protest at Uber CEO’s mansion

TIMELINE: 

INTERVIEW AVAILABILITY: The best window for interviews will be at Dara’s mansion beginning at 11:00 AM but drivers can be available throughout the morning.

VISUALS: Long line of cars, colorful signs, chanting and honking, two banners outside Dara’s mansion reading “A Thief Lives Here” and “Drop the Ballot Measure,” drivers posting notes on Dara’s garage door detailing what they’ve had to go without because of Uber’s refusal to obey basic labor protections for drivers.

Drivers Call Out Hypocritical BLM Statements from Gig Companies

On Juneteenth, drivers published an open letter which over 500 drivers have now signed. The letter calls out how hypocritical Black Lives Matter gig company statements are in light of the fact that their drivers, a majority of whom are people of color and immigrants, are not treated with dignity and respect by the gig platforms. A recent study revealed that Uber and Lyft algorithms charged users more for trips to non-white neighborhoods.

Drivers Pushed to the Financial Brink

Rideshare drivers have faced increasing financial insecurity and gotten little support from Uber and Lyft as they struggle to put food on the table, pay their bills, and access unemployment benefits amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a recent survey, two-thirds of drivers reported that it is unlikely they would be able to pay their mortgage or rent in May and another quarter report they have no health insurance while companies refuse to provide the protections required under California law AB5.

Uber, Lyft Shift Costs to Taxpayers

Uber and Lyft continue to misclassify California drivers as independent contractors. They refuse to pay into California’s unemployment insurance fund, pay drivers a living wage, and offer paid sick leave, in violation of California law AB5, even after the California Attorney General filed a lawsuit against both companies for their noncompliance. SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin recently filed a similar lawsuit against DoorDash for running afoul of AB5 by misclassifying their workers.

A report from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that if the companies treated drivers as employees they would have paid $413 million into the state’s unemployment insurance between 2014 and 2019, funds California desperately needs. The state recently borrowed $348 million from the federal government to make unemployment insurance payments to Californians.


We Drive Progress is a movement of app-based workers behind the wheel of every rideshare trip across Northern California. We are part of a coalition of over 24,000 drivers statewide who are responsible for the billions that companies like Uber, Lyft, and their investors pocket every year. We’re uniting to win our union and a better life for ourselves and our loved ones. @WeDriveProgress

Gig Workers Rising is a campaign supporting and educating app and platform workers who are organizing for better wages, working conditions, and respect. @GigWorkersRise