Uber’s CEO refused to explain further why the company has been cutting prices to the driver that confronted him.
Last month, video surveillance captured Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, engaging in a heated argument with a company’s driver over falling prices. For the duration of the ride, the 37-year-old driver, Fawzi Kamel kept quiet. However, once Kalanick reached his destination, the driver started questioning him about the falling fares.
On Wednesday, March 1st, the driver in question got in touch with NBC reporters and told them the ride-hailing company’s CEO left him under the impression he does not care about whether the employees make minimum wage. The footage was captured at the beginning of last month but did not surface until February 5th, after Fawzi Kamel gave Kalanick a one-star rating and handed a copy of the dashcam footage of the incident to Bloomberg.
As the driver who claims he went bankrupt because of Kalanick’s decisions was making his case, Uber’s CEO can be heard accusing the man he is not ready to take responsibility for his own actions before getting out of the vehicle, slamming the door shut behind him.
On the other hand, Fawzi Kamel says the company kept dropping prices each year in order to gain more clients to benefit its grow and lost the drivers out of its sights. Kamel told reporters some of them are unable to make minimum wage because of this.
“And the worst part is, they call us partners, but they make the rules, set the price, and even choose the cars you can use”, said Fawzi Kamel.
After the video went viral on social media, Travis Kalanick issued a written apology to the company’s staff, saying he acknowledges he hadn’t been the best leader at all times and needed to change his mentality and grow up. Furthermore, he promised he was going to seek advice on how to improve his leadership. However, Fawzi Kamel was unimpressed by the CEO’s apology. He told reporters Uber Black drivers are demanded to drive only recent versions of certain car models, forcing them to invest a great deal of money into their vehicles. Ultimately, the driver claims he and fellow Uber Black drivers have been undercut with cheaper products and subsequently lost capital, because Uber changed their mind about Lincoln Town Cars, a model that was previously favored by the company.
Image Source: Flickr
