Rideshare drivers in San Diego launched a 25-hour strike at midnight Monday, marking what is arguably the largest ride-share strike in the country.
Drivers were urged to turn off the ride-sharing app they use in solidarity with drivers in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The Facebook page of Rideshare Drivers United-San Diego said the strike was launched to demand Uber and Lyft restore a 25 percent cut to mileage pay.
San Diego compensation will drop from .93 per mile to .69 per mile, according to the association.
A driver who asked to be identified as Terry said she made $60,000 the first year she worked as a ride-share driver.
Three years later, she made $28,000 for the same 40-hours a week.
She said businesses like the apps that employ ride-share drivers are unregulated and she and her fellow drivers are demanding rights and protections.
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“They’re milking both the passengers and the drivers to fake their IPO profits,” she said. “That’s not a sustainable business model.”
They are also demanding a minimum pay of $28 hour, a wage that is more than double the current minimum wage in San Diego.
San Diego’s minimum wage is $12 an hour as of 2019 with state-mandated increases bringing the wage to $15 an hour by 2022.
An Uber spokesperson said the company was going to introduce changes that would help drivers earn wages similar to what they earned late last year.
“Drivers told us that they value promotion opportunities, so we’re introducing a new Quest promotion feature, while also changing the per minute, per mile and minimum fare rates. These changes will make rates comparable to where they were in September while giving drivers more control over how they earn by allowing them to build a model that fits their schedule best," the spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, Uber increased the per-minute rate for Uber X and UberPool trips in Orange County Los Angeles on March 11, and added the Quest promotion feature for drivers in Los Angeles.
The rate increase came six months after the company increased its per-minute rate and minimum fare for drivers for UberX and UberPool trips in North Orange County and Los Angeles in September 2018.
The spokesperson also said that Uber decreased its per-mile rates and brought the minimum rate back to what it was in September for both UberX and UberPool.
The company expects the changes to impact driver earnings positively, returning their averages to the same levels they saw before the rate increase in September.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
