9,000 Uber Drivers Planning to Disrupt Super Bowl With Protest

9,000 Uber Drivers Planning to Disrupt Super Bowl With Protest
http://observer.com/2016/02/9000-uber-drivers-planning-to-disrupt-super-...
'We're shutting it down. We're shutting the highways down.'
By Sage Lazzaro • 02/02/16 4:57pm

Mike Dean of The Rideshare Report, narrating yesterday’s San Francisco protest. (Screengrab: YouTube)
Yesterday, a caravan of about 1,000 Uber drivers reportedly drove through San Francisco, yelling and beeping their horns. In a tight pack, the string of disgruntled drivers drove by the airport, the Uber support center and City Hall to protest the recent fare cuts, which have left many drivers earning below minimum wage.

This rally, however, was just a taste of what’s to come. These drivers along with many, many more are planning to assemble this sunday for a protest that will disrupt the Super Bowl, set to be held at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco. Specifically, they plan to congest the highways leading to the stadium and even the area around the stadium itself. Thousands of drivers are expected to attend.

“We’re telling them we’re going to shut it down for the Super Bowl. We’re shutting it down. We’re shutting the highways down. We’re shutting everything down and we’re not going to allow Uber to keep screwing drivers over,” Mario, who organized the caravan but declined to give his last name, said in a video recorded by RideShare Report’s Mike Dean at the protest.

In the video, Mario says he has 4,000 drivers from the area planning to attend and that another 5,000 from Los Angeles have committed to the protest also.

“This will continue until Travis decides to man up and start paying these drivers what they deserve,” he added.

On the Rideshare Report, Mr. Dean writes that the plan to disrupt the Super Bowl was inspired by a tip a driver received from an Uber employee. He says a driver got word that the company plans to offer a promotion on Super Bowl Sunday and drop rates from $1.15 per mile to 50 cents per mile to help ease the surge pricing effect.

These drivers are just a few of the many who have spent the last few weeks fighting Uber for a living wage. Nationwide, drivers have boycotted, raised their voices on social media (only to be blocked by CEO Travis Kalanick, in some cases) and hosted rallies in dozens of cities, including yesterday in New York City, where an estimated 1,000 drivers gathered outside the company’s New York headquarters in Brooklyn. It was no coincidence the NYC and San Francisco rallies happened at the same time. Mario said they were a coordinated act and that his team is united with those protesting in New York, Seattle,Washington D.C., New Jersey and Texas.