There’s a lot to agree with in there, and some nice anecdotes. I’m glad we agree on the ‘human’ and service workers bits, I’d hoped that was overstated.
I’m also close to calling it a night, so we might have to pick this up later (accursed BST) However, there are a couple of parts that I want to respond to:
Taxi drivers may have it easier in the regards that you mention, but that’s back to them paying licencing to the council/state, that the Uber model deliberately and actively strives to avoid - it’s there in part to keep the driver safe as well as the customer, and I’m a strong advocate that customers and drivers should get the consequences of being abusive.
While I admit it’s my own reading of the topic, I’ve read both views presented about the driver and the passengers ‘being arseholes’, And came away with the impression that neither of them exactly covered themselves with glory there, so I’m not convinced for myself that the overall argument pans as strongly ‘anti’ the driver as it seems to you.
That’s just another perspective, of course, but maybe another view helps?
Also, I damned well hope that Taxi drivers who are abusive to their clients certainly do lose trade/money - that same licencing system means that complaints about the driver to the council/state certainly should carry weight and censure up to five and or lots of licence. That’s another part of the licencing system, that the not-an-employer-but-it-screws-you-if-they-drop-you-for-bad-ratings ‘carshare’ companies actively avoid.
I’m also bound to agree with you about unions and related protections - the likelihood of the ‘carshare’ systems allowing that to happen (when they can drop drivers at will, without comeback), is another reason why I’m concerned about the long term effects of this particular manifestation of the ‘new economy’.
(Just to be clear, while I’m concerned about the ‘rights/protections grab’ that I see as an integral part of the new scheme(s), I assure you that I’m not intending any of this to be a dig at you, long-concatinated-compound-nouns notwithstanding.)
