Great answer, thanks! I still don't think it makes sense for Uber (as a tech company) to start employing their own drivers, but maybe the current system isn't great either.
Saying Uber is simply a tech company is basically doublespeak. Uber doesn't sell their app.. Uber maintains partnership with businesses, and managers their business using technology. Why shouldn't Uber employ their drivers, who power their app just as much as the developers who created it.
Because that's a line of thinking that doesn't really have a well defined limiting principle.
Amazon doesn't sell their app...it maintains partnership with businesses, and manages their business using technology. Why shouldn't Amazon employ their retailers, who power their app just as much as the developers who created it?
Also: Uber is set to announce 25% layoffs, but not a single driver will be affected by this. To the extent that Uber drivers are "out of work", it's because there are no riders requesting rides — but that's a direct relationship between buyer and seller.
Instead, the strongest argument in favor of classifying Uber drivers as employees is the fact that they are unable to set their own prices. On the flip side, Uber has been gradually rolling out a new feature that allows drivers to do just that, which makes that argument moot.
