FEBRUARY 2, 2016 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016, 5:25 PM
BY RICHARD NEWMAN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Following the lead of angry Uber drivers in New York City, the ride-hailing service’s contract drivers in New Jersey are planning a work stoppage and demonstration next week to protest recent fare cuts, the head of a new statewide trade association said Tuesday.
Patrick J. McManus, president of the fledgling New Jersey App-Based Drivers Association, said Tuesday the trade group will meet Wednesday in Woodbridge to discuss plans to protest “probably on Monday,” at Uber’s New Jersey office in Hoboken. There are 13,000 Uber drivers in New Jersey.
If they do it would be the second such action in the New York metropolitan area this month. Hundreds of Uber drivers demonstrated this Monday in front of Uber’s New York City headquarters in Queens to protest the recent 15-percent rate cuts.
Rates paid to drivers who provide UberX service were cut 15 percent to 85 cents a mile throughout most of New Jersey Jan. 9 and drivers are very unhappy about it, said McManus. The Edison resident drives as an independent contractor for both Uber Technologies and its largest rival, Lyft.
“This is the third or fourth rate cut that [Uber’s] done,” McManus said Tuesday in a phone interview. “It’s a chase to the bottom. They are cheapening the job.”
