Rideshare and Amazon drivers only have themselves to blame for rising fuel costs, according to a watchdog that monitors unions.
Freedom Foundation Attorney Timothy Snowball was reacting to a protest staged by two labor unions on behalf of drivers who are feeling the pinch of higher prices for gasoline.
“The Freedom Foundation is nonpartisan so I am not advocating for or against any given politician but voters should have to bear the cost of their own decisions," Snowball said. “If people elect politicians who then enact policies that hurt them, either in their bank account or in other ways, voters should have to feel that pain. That’s how democracy works.”
Mobile Workers Alliance, a group of more than 15,000 drivers, and SEIU 721, a labor union representing Southern California public service workers, rallied in Redondo Beach last week near an Amazon warehouse calling for more pay to cover soaring gas prices, according to media reports.
“The next time voters go to the ballot box, they have to think whether the politician they are voting for is not only somebody they agree with moral or politically, or anything else but also what is the effect going to be of the policies they are planning,” Snowball told the Southern California Record.
As previously reported, President Biden eliminated the Keystone XL pipeline after he was elected last year with executive orders that favored minimizing climate change instead of energy independence.
“It’s only going to complicate situations for these drivers to be bringing in unions like SEIU 721 that’s trying to get a piece of the action,” Snowball added. “Unions are not going to improve this for the individual worker because the result of unionization or the result of involving unions and collective bargaining is only going to restrict the flexibility that makes these kinds of jobs attractive or beneficial in the first place.”
Uber announced on its website that it was adding a 55 cent surcharge on each Uber ride and 45 cents for Uber Eats deliveries but only temporarily.
"The surcharges are based off the average trip distance and the increase in gas prices in each state," the statement reads. "This is temporary for at least the next 60 days when we’ll reassess."