Uber Technologies Inc on Tuesday admitted to underpaying its New York City drivers tens of millions of US dollars over the past two-and-a-half years.
“We are committed to paying every driver every penny they are owed — plus interest — as quickly as possible,” Uber executive Rachel Holt said. “We are working hard to regain driver trust, and that means being transparent, sticking to our word and making the Uber experience better from end to end.”
The ride-hailing company said each affected driver would get a refund of about US$900, which includes interest.
Uber did not give an exact figure on the number of drivers it has in the city, but said it was in the tens of thousands.
The company said it had mistakenly continued to calculate its commission based on gross fare, before any taxes and fees were deducted.
The company is now to calculate its commission based on the net fare, which is in line with its updated national driver policy enacted in November 2014.
The union that represents Uber drivers welcomed the announcement, but said the company owes its drivers more than it is claiming.
“Uber is using the difference in the commission it wrongly took from drivers, rather than reimburse the drivers the full tax and surcharge amounts they are owed back — a difference of nearly 10 percent,” New York Taxi Workers Alliance executive director Bhairavi Desai said.
“This payout is an attempt by Uber to pull a fast one to avoid court oversight and shortchange drivers in the process,” said Desai, whose organization has filed several lawsuits against the San Francisco-based company.
It has been a tumultuous year for Uber, which has been hit with lawsuits, allegations of sexual harassment, a federal investigation into claims that it has used a fake version of its app to thwart authorities and accusations of trade theft.
In February, a video emerged of CEO Travis Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver. It includes yelling and profanity, and ends with a combative Kalanick dismissing the agitated driver’s claims that sharp reductions in fares forced him into bankruptcy.
Kalanick later conceded he needed leadership help.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last