The so-called Uber Files’ leaker, Mark MacGann, claimed on Wednesday that although the ride-hailing company appeared to be making progress in improving its workplace culture, its business model was still “clearly” unsustainable.
In an aggressive effort to enter new markets from 2013 to 2017, Uber Technologies Inc. breached the law and secretly influenced lawmakers, according to articles published in The Guardian and Le Monde newspapers in July. Uber said in July, in response to the Guardian and Le Monde reports: “We have not and will not make excuses for past behaviour that is clearly not in line with our present values.”
The person who leaked the more than 124,000 business data was identified as MacGann, who oversaw Uber’s lobbying attempts to influence governments. According to MacGann, he made the decision to speak out because he thought Uber intentionally broke the law and misled consumers about the advantages of the gig economy model for drivers.
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s current CEO, and his executive team “have done a lot of wonderful things, but they have so, so far to go,” according to MacGann. “My message to Uber is: ‘you’ve done well, (but) you can do it so much better (because) the current model is absolutely not sustainable,'” MacGann told a news conference during Europe’s largest tech conference, the Web Summit, in Lisbon. “Uber is pumping tens of millions of dollars in Europe, United States, other parts of the world fighting legislation,” he said.
According to Khosrowshahi, if gig workers become employees, they would lose the flexibility they currently have and rides would become more expensive. The CEO stated that employees desire benefits and flexibility and that new legislation is necessary to support them.
“I’m proposing that gig economy companies be required to establish benefits funds which give workers cash that they can use for the benefits they want, like health insurance or paid time off,” Khosrowshahi wrote in the op-ed.
