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Marlton, N.J. —The NLA is proud to share that the op-ed "Uber Must Stop Veering From the Truth" by NLA President Gary Buffo has been featured by the San Francisco Chronicle—the largest newspaper in northern California and the second largest on the West Coast.
The article questions Uber's main arguments against CA AB-5 and request Uber to corroborate its position with proof. “Uber claims its drivers don’t want Assembly Bill 5, even though every other sign points otherwise, so it’s time for Uber to show us the receipts," stated Buffo.
The full article can also be accessed here, and is also included below:
“Uber claims its drivers don’t want Assembly Bill 5, even though every other sign points otherwise, so it’s time for Uber to show us the receipts.
For context, a little over a month ago AB5, also known as the Gig Economy Workers Bill, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to the applause of workers’ organizations and business owners around the country. The bill was one of the most definitive actions yet by a state government to protect vulnerable workers against companies that have actively worked to misclassify them as independent contractors.
Of these companies, the most prominent among them has been Uber, which spent millions of dollars lobbying against the legislation, launched targeted misinformation campaigns toward its drivers and the public, and is still working to weasel out of the law’s jurisdiction.
Behind this maneuvering, Uber maintains two arguments: the first is that the law doesn’t apply to its business because it’s a technology platform rather than a ride-hailing service, and by extension that its “drivers’ work is outside the usual course of Uber’s business.”
This positioning not only runs counter to the obvious truth, but also to Uber’s boilerplate response to any negative story on its labor record: “Drivers are at the heart of our service — we can’t succeed without them.” Uber today is rapidly diversifying and integrating the various parts of its business to demonstrate its lack of a “heart,” as seen by its grocery acquisition, new inefficient helicopter service, expansion into a hiring business, Uber Freight expansion, and recent app overhaul and integration between Uber and Uber Eats.
The second and even more dubious argument Uber maintains is that, while the law does not apply to its model, if it did, its drivers still ultimately do not wish to be classified as employees.
This argument flies in the face of the massive nationwide protests by ride-hail drivers demanding employee classification. In fact, this audacious claim is supported only by official Uber statements and Uber-funded groups.
One of the most recent of these claims was when Uber purported that its drivers expressed, “through focus groups and surveys, that they don’t want to be employees.”
The company makes this claim in the context of having been bribing a Florida politician, hiding massive user data breaches in 2017, and being widely accredited with inspiring AB5 by its inability to protect and properly pay its workers. This is a transportation company that has so poorly protected its passengers that it opted to add a panic button to the app rather than adopt comprehensive fingerprint-based background checks nationwide.
We call upon Uber to simply release the focus group footage and survey questions, along with their associated contexts. We believe it will be immediately evident how exactly it manipulated its workers and subsequently shaped their responses.
It is plainly obvious that while drivers are at the core of Uber’s business model, truth and righteousness are not.
So, Uber, show us your receipts.”
Visit limo.org for more information.
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Greensboro, N.C. — Prevost is pleased to announce Mitch Guralnick as director of pre-owned coach sales. Guralnick joins the Prevost family with more than 40 years of experience in the transportation industry.
His professional experience includes a year at CCW as director of business development and a stint at MCI as vice president of pre-owned coach sales from 1999 until his retirement. Guralnick was also the president of White Bus Company—a tour, charter and contract operator—until 1998 when he sold the company.
As director of pre-owned coach sales, Guralnick will provide a high level of expertise in his new role at Prevost and will be responsible for leading and supporting the pre-owned sales force while exploring new business avenues to further the Prevost brand.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mitch to the Prevost family,” says Director of Pre-Owned Business Guillaume Charron Sr. “This is well in line with the plan we put in place a year ago to ensure Prevost can offer our customers a host of quality pre-owned products in every region and deliver on their specific requests.”
Guralnick not only brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the Prevost organization, but will also be a great motivator to the sales team. With his extensive background, the company anticipates that he will help exceed customer expectations for Prevost, a manufacturer of premium intercity touring coaches and leader in the production of conversion coaches.
“I am thrilled to start this new chapter with Prevost and am excited to join this prestigious sales team,” says Guralnick. “My goal as director of pre-owned coach sales is to help assist the sales team in reaching our highest potential and to deepen relationships with our customers, whether they are first-time buyers or standing customers.”
Visit prevostcar.com for more information.
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King of Prussia, Pa. —Nearly 50 attendees made the November 13 meeting of the Philadelphia Regional Limousine Association (PRLA) a packed-house event, and Chauffeur Driven’s Business Development Manager Jeff Rafkin and Editor Madeleine Maccar were among those present for an evening event that attracted first-time guests, longtime members, and association representatives from six different states.
The meeting was sponsored by Philadelphia insurance and kicked off with good news from PRLA Treasurer Bob Euler Jr. of King Transportation, who was pleased to report that the association’s coffers have seen “a significant increase” since the beginning of the year.
President Johnny Donohoe of Sterling Limousine then addressed the meeting’s range of general business: a now-definite East Coast holiday party hosted by the PRLA and the neighboring Limousine Association of New Jersey (LANJ) and Long Island Transportation Association (LITA) scheduled for December 9 in Newark, N.J.; how the PRLA partnership with Chosen Payments has yielded a $2,500 rebate check to the association; and another call for nominations to the board of directors.
Ryan Shaer of Ace Limousine & Airport Service, a second-generation operator, was nominated to fill one of the vacant seats, which he accepted with a brief speech.
Euler returned to the mice to reported on the ongoing construction at Philadelphia International Airport. He emphasized that the airport is “cracking down on illegal operator soliciting passengers at baggage claim,” and added that commercial cars are still not allowed to sit idle in the cell phone lots.
Two of the evening’s featured speakers made out-of-state trips to join the PRLA: NLA First Vice President and LITA President Doug Schwartz of Executive Transportation traveled from Long Island while Tom Holden of Bus Advisors flew up from North Carolina.
PRLA Secretary Tracy Salinger of Unique Limousine introduced Schwartz before the longtime NLA board member took to the podium. Schwartz discussed the benefits of the NLA/CD partnership as well as the NLA’s numerous current initiatives, such as its show scholarship for small and new operators, the No Operator Left Behind program spearheaded in conjunction with Limo University, and membership discounts on everything from PAX chauffeur training to the upcoming CD/NLA Show in Las Vegas February 23-26, 2020, about which he also offered additional details.
Donohoe then introduced Holden, saying that the guest speaker’s experience with buses comes from both an operator and advisory standpoint and explaining the need for a DOT expert since “lots of people are getting into buses and coaches but not everyone is doing it right.”
Holden then explained that even though “it takes a lot of meetings to understand the rules” of operating larger vehicles, there are bus experts here to help navigate those murky waters. He gave a brief overview of the most relevant updates, violations, and regulations for the luxury chauffeured ground transportation industry to be aware of, as well as the numerous rebates in fuel and school work available to operators before taking questions from the audience and raffling off a Motor Carrier Safety Regulation manual, which was won by Shaer.
The meeting closed with Donohoe thanking the current board for their hard work “making some really great strides this year” and a 50/50 raffle. Pete Corelli of Lakeview Custom Coach was the lucky winner, which he donated back to the association.
The PRLA’s next meeting will be in 2020; however, it will be a joint host of the East Coast Holiday party with both LANJ and LITA December 9.
Visit prlainc.com for more information.
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