Headline: Uber chief executive says group about more than car transport

Sub-headline: Dara Khosrowshahi offers expanded vision by which company will be the Amazon of rides

Uber and it’s latest Technocrat, Dara Khosrowshahi have a vision: the complete co-option of states and municipalities to exercise their political/moral responsibility to their citizens, yes citizens not consumers, to put strict enforceable rules as to who, and how, public transportation will be provided by private companies, in sum,  governed in the public interest! Its called government for a reason!

Its quite simple, except to the acolytes of an utterly failed Neo-Liberal Model of ‘Market Ascendancy’ now in its tenth year of what? How about this, ‘profound malaise’ or some other benign locution? The Amazon of rides makes the reader wonder at the breadth of Mr.Khosrowshahi ‘vision’ as a kind of  Capitalist Monopoly.

Mr. Khosrowshahi models his company on Mr. Bezos’ ever expanding reach, by being a paid propagandist for the CIA, and owner of the Washington Post, the Neo-Con Paper of Record. That newspaper has seen better days, as chronicled in dependable Hollywood  kitsch, starring two bankable names Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in ‘The Post’. Mr. Bezos’ ambitions and their fulfillment has become the paradigm by which Mr. Khosrowshahi models his transportation company. What the world needs is one more would be oligarch with a vision! Bezos, Soros, the Koch brothers, Bloomberg etc., etc. This ‘news story’ resembles a press release in its brevity and lack of actual content.

Political Observer

https://www.ft.com/content/fa514ce2-120b-11e8-940e-08320fc2a277

 Headline: New TfL rules put further brake on Uber’s ambitions

Sub-headline: Private-hire operators will be forced to limit the time their drivers work

‘London’s transport authority has intensified its battle with Uber by announcing it will introduce regulations that would force ride-hailing apps to limit the time their drivers work and turn over travel data to the government. The new regulations from Transport for London would cover all private-hire companies, including traditional minicab groups. But the agency said the overhaul was specifically aimed at the “many new services being offered” — a clear reference to Uber, which is by far the largest new entrant in the British capital.

“The private-hire market is unrecognisable from when current legislation was introduced,” said Helen Chapman, interim director of licensing, regulation and charging at TfL.

The announcement comes six months after TfL decided not to renew Uber’s license to operate in London, finding it was not “fit and proper” because its service presented public-safety problems — including a failure to report “serious criminal offences”.

Uber has appealed against the decision and is allowed to continue its operations ahead of a hearing expected this summer.’

https://www.ft.com/content/d4a808a8-1258-11e8-8cb6-b9ccc4c4dbbb

Looks like the TfL just put the kibosh on the plans of  Mr. Khosrowshahi, although Uber has a friend in M. 37%, Macron, whose Neo-Liberalization of the French  economy seems to be gaining momentum:

Headline: Uber wins French employment case

Sub-headline:  Labour tribunal decides Uber was not an employer, in contrast with UK ruling

Uber has won a legal battle in France over the employment status of one of its drivers after a labour tribunal said the ride hailing app was “in the business of intermediation and not that of a transportation service” and therefore did not act as an employer.

The decision from the industrial tribunal highlights the complexity of defining and regulating the service even after Europe’s top court said in December it should be treated as a traditional taxi company instead of a technology group.

On Thursday the French tribunal ruled in favour of Uber against a driver, Florian Menard, who argued he was not self-employed and that his service contract with the company should be reclassified as an employment contract. He argued for compensation in lieu of paid holidays and “concealed work”.

The tribunal said Mr Menard had been free to drive the hours he chose and to refuse trips. “The tribunal holds that the parties are bound by no employment contract and that this is in fact a commercial contract concluded between Mr Menard and Uber,” the ruling said. Mr Menard has one month to appeal.

Uber has faced widespread protests in France over working conditions and low pay. Protests have also swept the UK where Uber lost a key legal appeal in November after a London tribunal upheld a ruling that it must treat drivers as “workers” entitled to the minimum wage and holiday pay.

https://www.ft.com/content/240b1da0-0cbd-11e8-8eb7-42f857ea9f09

Political Observer

Posted 1:46 PM PST