RESOLVED:  Shareholders of Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”) request that the Board of Directors commission an independent third-party audit on driver health and safety, evaluating the effects of Uber’s performance metrics and ratings and its policies and procedures on driver health and safety. 

The audit should be conducted with input from drivers, workplace safety experts, and other relevant stakeholders and consider legislative and regulatory developments and adverse media coverage. A report on the audit, prepared at a reasonable cost and omitting confidential and proprietary information, should be publicly disclosed on Uber’s website.

SUPPORTING STATEMENT: 

Uber is the largest ride-hail company in the world, a significant player in the delivery market, and strives to be “the safest way to go anywhere and get anything.” Yet Uber’s model of using regulatory loopholes to avoid providing adequate workplace protections and controlling how work is performed has left drivers facing pervasive health and safety issues, disproportionately harming this primarily Black, Brown, and immigrant workforce.

Unsurprisingly, 41 percent of app workers of color reported feeling unsafe while working.[1]

The crisis significantly impacts Uber’s nearly one million drivers, their households, and society.[2]  Despite Uber drivers being a small percentage of the country’s workforce, they comprise almost 1 percent of US job-related deaths.[3] A report by Gig Workers Rising also found that since 2017, in the United States, 52 app workers have been murdered on the job.[4] Since the report's release, the figure has increased to 72, 67 percent of whom were people of color. Drivers also face carjackings, sexual harassment/assault, and physical assault. In a federal wrongful (driver) death lawsuit against Uber, the company confirmed that from 2017 to 2020, drivers reported at least 24,000 assaults or threats of assault by passengers.[5] 

Uber’s policies discourage drivers from reporting incidents. If drivers decline rides, Uber can issue penalties. If they cancel too many rides, drivers can be deactivated, limiting their capacity to end a trip if they feel unsafe. Drivers also report that if they document an incident, Uber deactivates them while investigating, freezing a worker’s earning capacity for an undetermined amount of time.  

Uber has released two safety reports, which do not include instances of nonfatal attempted assault or reported long-term physical injuries or trauma. Uber’s safety issues and incomplete reporting have drawn scrutiny from legislators, regulators, the press, and the public. In 2022, Senators Markey and Warren led six of their colleagues in sending a letter to Uber’s CEO, pressing Uber to answer for their lack of health and safety transparency and asking Uber to address the dangers of rideshare driving.[6] Despite lawmakers’ calls, Uber did not disclose additional data on workplace deaths or injuries.[7] 

The lack of transparency and failure to adequately investigate and address driver health and safety issues pose significant risks to Uber, including financial, regulatory, and reputational risks. 

We urge shareholders to vote FOR this proposal.

[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/12/08/the-state-of-gig-work-in-2021/

[2] https://www.uber.com/newsroom/working-together-priorities/

[3] https://themarkup.org/working-for-an-algorithm/2022/07/28/more-than-350-gig-workers-carjacked-28killed-over-the-last-five-years

[4] https://www.gigsafetynow.com/_files/ugd/af5398_74d1c1fd564b42d58e95dd8a2d99ee03.pdf

[5] https://themarkup.org/working-for-an-algorithm/2022/07/28/more-than-350-gig-workers-carjacked-28killed-over-the-last-five-years

[6] https://www.gigsafetynow.com/_files/ugd/7ac46e_377382bc48dc41998899578a0fbd8f8c.pdf

[7] https://www.markey.senate.gov/download/app-based-delivery-companies-responses-to-lawmakers