Cletus Awah
If you drive anywhere, you’ve felt the endless surge in fuel expenses hit your wallet. Maybe you’ve decided to cut back on travel or rely on public transport. But I don’t have that option.
As a full-time Uber driver, my job requires me to drive 60 to 80 hours per week, spending more than half my weekly earnings on gas alone. I began driving for Uber and Lyft two years ago, but now, I find myself asking if I can afford to keep working.
Fuel prices hit record-breaking highs across the United States over Memorial Day weekend, and there’s no sign of slowing down.
During the past six months, the average retail price of gas more than doubled from $2.12 a gallon to $4.62 a gallon.
Here in Massachusetts, gas is now over $5 per gallon, a heavy burden on thousands of rideshare and delivery drivers. Meanwhile, instead of taking action to support drivers in crisis, multi-billion dollar app companies like Uber and Lyft have been actively working to roll back our rights. That’s why state lawmakers need to act now to make sure rideshare and delivery drivers have the basic rights and protections we need to survive.
Instead of relieving our growing gas bills as drivers, companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart spent months pushing a disastrous ballot question, which would have allowed apps to pay Massachusetts workers less than $5 per hour, gut what little protections we have, and bulldoze our chance to win union representation. They were using the blueprint that recently devastated drivers in California with the passing of Proposition 22.
Luckily, this similar ballot measure in Massachusetts was just defeated by the state Supreme Court, which ruled it unconstitutional. Even though they lost, we know Big Tech won’t stop here and we can’t continue allowing these companies to squeeze every cent possible out of their drivers and price-gouged customers.
We need app workers’ voices to be taken seriously. Now that Big Tech’s ballot initiative has been defeated, it’s time for policymakers to focus on expanding rights for drivers and delivery workers so we can enjoy the fundamental labor protections that so many workers across our Commonwealth do.
The pandemic has confirmed that we are critical in connecting and feeding our neighbors. Now we are demanding that those who serve Massachusetts can survive, too.
As the pandemic has evolved, more and more people are getting out of the house, taking trips in and out of Boston and across New England. Although the calls for Uber and Lyft rides and the need for delivery workers have increased, our paychecks are getting smaller.
Uber Technologies’ net worth as of June 2022 is $48.58 billion. Despite their enormous profits, rideshare apps continue pushing the rising expenses of doing business onto drivers and passengers. And with gas prices soaring, I am barely breaking even.
Just a year and a half ago, a gallon of gas was half the price it is now. Filling up my tank to work cost me over $400 per week in May, significantly reducing what I take home to my family. But despite this dramatic expense cutting into app-worker earnings, our money per mile from Uber has not gone up.
App companies like Uber and Lyft claim to be listening to drivers and answering our call for gas relief. This spring, Uber and Lyft introduced a rider surcharge of 45 to 55 cents onto rides in response to driver outcry.
But the surcharge is a flat charge, whether a rider goes one mile or 30. Drivers finishing 60 rides every week with the surcharge in place means getting an insulting $30 back from Uber and Lyft.
That’s not even enough for half my tank. Despite unbearable gas prices that are suffocating drivers, Uber’s out-of-touch CEO continues to ignore our suffering, recently stating at Bloomberg’s June Technology Summit, “I’m certainly not happy about gas prices, like everyone else, but it’s not affecting our business.”
This is what happens when there are no checks on the app platforms’ business models of seizing as much profit as much as possible, setting records each year It’s in their interest to pressure drivers to take on as many expenses as imaginable, so that’s what they do. Uber’s revenue in the first three months of 2022 was up 136 percent from a year earlier as travel continues to rebound. But pushing drivers to the brink could leave even the top brands with no one to fill their orders and customers stranded. Unless Massachusetts leaders take action, there could be devastating consequences across the state.
Unfortunately, gas prices appear to only be going up as summer rolls on. In speaking with my fellow app drivers, we are stressed, getting burnt out, and dipping into our savings to get by. Some drivers are quitting, but others, like me, have invested heavily in our careers and are dedicated to changing this business for the better.
I came here from Cameroon for a better life for myself and my family. Despite working full time, Uber and Lyft would prefer if workers like me except their crumbs. Well, we will no longer concede to crumbs when we need a full meal to survive. We are looking to our lawmakers to make this a reality.
Cletus Awah is a Lynn resident who has been a Lyft and Uber driver for two years. He is a member of the Massachusetts Independent Drivers Guild.