Photos: Uber, Lyft drivers strike in US, UK on Valentine's Day
From Chicago and New York and Miami to Austin, Texas, a coalition of drivers rallied at airports in 10 cities across the U.S. A similar strike was held in London
Drivers for Uber, Lyft and DoorDash went on strike across the U.S. and in London on Wednesday, refusing rides on Valentine's Day and demanding better pay and treatment.
From Chicago and New York and Miami to Austin, Texas, a coalition of drivers organized under Justice for App Workers rallied at airports in 10 cities across the U.S. Similar protests were held in Los Angeles, and delivery drivers in the United Kingdom also went on strike.
“We need changes,” Francisco Magdaleno, a 55-year-old Uber driver in Los Angeles, told USA TODAY during a protest in Los Angeles. “It’s not fair that investors should be getting paid before drivers. We are barely surviving."
He was among about 50 people who shut down a local street in the LA neighborhood of Historic Filipinotown for a couple of hours. They chanted things like "Si se puede" and carried signs that read: "No deactivation without representation."
“We demand them to pay us more,” Magdaleno said, adding that on a $50 Uber fare, for instance, he only makes $25.
Uber said in a statement: "We ... continue to act on driver feedback, adding new safety features to the app and improving our account deactivation processes."
Lyft said in a statement that the company is "constantly working to improve the driver experience, which is why just this month we released a series of new offers and commitments aimed at increasing driver pay and transparency."
Here are photos from the protests in the U.S. and the U.K.
Uber and Lyft strike in Los Angeles
Uber and Lyft strike in Austin
Uber and Lyft strike in Chicago
Delivery driver strike in the United Kingdom
