The French love a good strike, or ‘grève’. I live on one of the main roads leading into the city and there is barely a week that goes by without at least one strike or protest bringing the 14th arr. to a standstill. Today it is the turn of taxi drivers who are not happy about Uber taking over business. Now personally I love my au pair family’s Uber Black account (they basically pick you up in a swanky car with tinted windows and complimentary water and sweets) and I’m never going to complain about not having to take a hyperactive toddler on a bus. However, in the real world I would not have an Uber account (maybe Uber Pool where you split the cost of the ride) and yes strikes are disruptive but it’s people lives. It’s their livelihood. I know Free Market means ‘we’ get a better price but who really benefits from that?
UberPop is the real issue of today’s strike. It allows ordinary people to become taxi drivers whenever they feel like it. It sounds a little bit like getting into an unlicensed car, something we’re often warned not to do. The French government has announced that the service is illegal and yet it continues to operate. Germany has already banned UberPop.
Courtney Love got caught up in the protests and whilst it sounds like what happened to her was genuinely scary she is also a fool for thinking she’s bigger and more important than a social movement where people are expressing their frustrations.
