If you’ve been seeing an increase of people announcing that they’re deleting the Uber app from their phones along with the #DeleteUber hashtag — here’s why.
As you know, Donald Trump issued an immigration order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries on Friday. By Saturday afternoon, protests had sprung up at airports around the country where more than 100 visa holders were caught in limbo after the executive order.
In solidarity, the New York City Taxi Worker’s Alliance called for a complete stop to pickups from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at JFK airport, where two Iraqis were being detained.
At 7:30 p.m. Uber announced that it was suspending surge pricing from JFK — making their rides cheaper in an attempt to undermine can capitalize on the Taxi Worker’s protest.
In today’s age, Uber’s actions have been viewed as a virtual ‘crossing of the picket lines’ and people have responded by deleting the app.
Early Sunday morning, Uber tweeted that their actions wer not meant to break up the strike. The company highlighted to CEO Travis Kalanick’s Facebook post Saturday, in which he said the company was working to identify drivers from the seven countries who could be impacted by the ban. For those currently stuck outside the United States, Kalanick said Uber would help compensate for their missed wages during the 90-day period of the ban.
In that SAME post, Travis emphasized the importance of working with Donald Trump — as he’s already a member of Donald’s business advisory group.
https://twitter.com/Uber_NYC/status/825577611816468481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile…
Lyft, Uber’s biggest competitor, has emailed customers to let them know that the company will be donating $1 million to the ACLU over the next for years. The announcement accompanies Lyft’s straight-up condemnation of Trump’s immigration order.
Their email reads:
We created Lyft to be a model for the type of community we want our world to be: diverse, inclusive and safe.
This weekend, Trump closed the country’s borders to refugees, immigrants, and even documented residents from around the world based on their country of origin. Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft’s and our nation’s core values. We stand firmly against these actions, and will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community.
We know this directly impacts many of our community members, their families and friends. We stand with you, and are donating $1,000,000 over the next four years to the ACLU to defend our constitution. We ask that you continue to be there for each other – and together, continue proving the power of community.
John & Logan
Lyft Co-Founders
It looks like we’ll be using Lyft a lot more moving forward.
