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• 1 media/outsource.jpeg media/5775bf2d98591.image.jpg 2016-11-29T16:08:34-08:00 Labor and Outsourcing 68 image_header 2016-12-08T16:18:25-08:00

   

         Uber is a company that hires employees under the guise of an “independent contractor”. This has allowed the business to expand drastically, even to the point of outsourcing jobs and the labor to people outside of the country. Although this may be good for business, this business strategy has consequences for people who are hired.  Hari Kunzru explores these consequences in his novel Transmission.  Kunzru shows how Uber's usage of outsourcing of labor leads to exploitation, unfair treatment, and low pay for workers.
       One of the claims Uber argues is that all of the drivers are simply independent contractors and not employees, because of this the “employees” have little to no rights. This relates directly to Arjun in Transmission with his employment and contract by DataBodies and that he was not an employee but simply a contractor for any company he worked for in the United States. In the book, it is shown the little rights that Arjun has, all of the expenses that his job makes him pay for to simply work in the U.S. and the small pay that he is left with especially in comparison to the amount of money DataBodies is making off of him. The same story can be seen with Uber and their “employees”, drivers must cover their own gas, insurance, damages, and phone that is used for the work. Uber holds almost no responsibility for anything that happens during a ride but does collect the payments and makes money off of the people it claims they have no real connection to. There are so many connections between Arjun's employers and Uber.       Silicon Valley has several enterprises gaining the reputation of exploiting workers skills. Hari Kunzru describes this situation through the character Arjun, the indentured servant in Databodies. For example, Apple has factory workers in China working for low wages, long hours, and very poor working conditions. This has created an uproar in our society today and another revolt is occurring with Uber laborers. The severity of abuse is not equal but the idea of workers taking a stand against mistreatment from a corporation is related. Uber employees not being considered or valued in the business workers protest and the disapproval is an obvious sign of this. Their competitor Lyft is providing a better employee experience but is a less powerful competitor. However, a new startup business called Juno is taking off. The concept is the same, an app that provides a service of driving people to their desired destinations. “Juno’s business model is to take what Uber has created and appropriate it.” (newyorker.com) meaning they have a completely diverse focus that benefits the driver. The benefits include twenty four hour driver support with a non robot, a higher commission, and profit off the company’s growth through an ownership stake in the company. Juno plans to cater to the employees and build a warmer experience for the customers.                                                 
        A company with happy employees can really affect the service they deliver. The idea is the more laborers that want to work for Juno, the more accessible the app will be. If Juno has drivers everywhere that results in shorter wait times for passengers therefore money increases into the system. This startup is eliminating all the problems with Uber with a different approach. In Transmission, the miserable employee Arjun was so desperate he created the virus that lead to the demise of the company. Companies that lose sight of valuing employees and focus on the money can become unsuccessful and crash.
        Another form of outsourcing that Uber has decided to utilize is deciding to outsource their electronic cloud needs. Uber outsourcing their cloud capability to other tech giants such as "Amazon, Google and Microsoft" (Weinberger) mirrors the same sort of intertwining relationships as another way that Transmission depicts with Arjun and Guy’s companies.  Not only will Uber be sending their cloud business to a company that will be better equipped but their customer service will be outsourced to different companies in cities around the world.  These cities include: "Phoenix, Chicago, Hyderabad, India; Krakow, Poland; Wuhan, China; Limerick, Ireland; and San Jose, Costa Rica; each of these cities will have 'enters of excellence'” (Bhuiyan)  to focus on the region for their customer service needs.  Again following the idea of trimming the fat off of Uber’s ever growing presence.  
         Two of the main characters are connected with each other without physically interacting with one another.  This has devastating effects, especially for Guy, when Leela.exe comes into play and their respective companies are in a downturn because of it, the need for being light rather than heavy made their companies vulnerable due to their interconnectedness.  If a Leela.exe virus became a reality and companies such as Microsoft, Google or Amazon were infected by a virus, then Uber would be vulnerable by association.       Another method Uber has begun to use to outsource jobs is to offer their labor to countries like the Philippines in order to continue to grow their business more cost-efficiently. Labor outside of the United States is always an easy way for companies to employ more people without spending the money that it would cost to hire people within the United States. This is also a prominent theme within Transmission. Arjun and all of the people he was on “the bench” with, in the beginning of the novel, were shipped to the United States from overseas. They were willing to take pay cuts and work in conditions most Americans would not deem suitable for a chance to move up within an American company. The same notion goes for people in the Philippines being employed for customer service jobs with Uber (Horwitz). However, instead of shipping these people to America, Uber is saving money that way as well, simply by directing calls overseas to offices in the Philippines.
        There are several connections that can be made between Uber and the novel Transmission with respect to the idea of heading toward the light and moving away from the heavy. First, Uber is a business just like any other, but its concept is to be an on-demand ride service which is putting the power in the hands of the consumer. If, as one article suggests, Uber outsources its customer service to the Philippines, then the closeness to the consumer no longer exists, because complaints and compliments have to travel away from the consumer’s area before getting back to the desired point. In this case, it might make me consider taking my business elsewhere.     In terms of Transmission, this connection means that Uber is becoming just like all other big businesses that the non-driver or consumer becomes a part of in guy speak: That is, consumers are forced to deal with multiple layers of service so that companies can expand without affecting their bottom line tremendously.
        The second connection that I find striking between Uber and Transmission by examining the main thesis here, is that even drivers and riders alike are trying to make the decision as to what is more streamlined and efficient, using Uber, or driving themselves, as another driver suggests who is also a rider in the Uber-rider article. One could argue that you trim the fat off of the consumer’s plate by using Uber because the consumer pays Uber and does not pay for parking, for example. However, the individual might be forced to pay exorbitant gas prices, which Uber might save them.      What does this say about Transmission? For one, in the scene in which Yves shows up to look at the financials of the company without Guy present, one can assume that Yves has the position of trying to do what is best for the company, not the consumer.
    There are interesting connections to be made between Uber and Transmission. There was an article in the New York Times entitled "Uber will pay up to $100 million to settle suits with drivers seeking employee status" ,written by Tracy Lien, that talked about how Uber is getting sued for hiring people as independent contractors, which allows them to avoid paying for certain things (the gas used, the time spent in between rides) that people need to be compensated for as they are working (Lien). This leads to millions of dollars in settlement fees after a class action lawsuit against the company (Lien).
       In Transmission, Arjun is treated similarly to uber drivers. He does the same amount of work, however, he was acquired to the company as a foreign contractor, he is treated in a similar fashion to uber drivers. All his wages are garnished to pay off administrative fees his work visa. This is similar to uber drivers, who do not get compensated for the gas they use, the hours spent not driving someone else, and the extra things that they need to provide for their customers such as mints, gum, aux cord. This relates to this theme of heavy and light. The company is trying to minimize the amount of dues they owe towards Arjun, trying to pay him less or not an equitable amount for him to survive properly.     Hari Krunzu novel Transmission exposes the deep connections in this theme of outsourcing labor. Uber is one company that exemplifies everything the novel has tries to show that outsourcing labor and hiring people under the guise of "independent contractors" leads to exploitations of the worker. Since Uber hires them under independent contractors, they can avoid paying fee's that they would have to pay to regular employees. Uber has locations all around the world , outsourcing their labor to people all around the globe. For example, we also see that Uber has outsourced their labor to the Philippines. This is good for business since they do not have to pay Filipino workers as much as they would have to pay American workers. The Filipino workers are also exposed to the same treatments as American workers, however, as they are not compensated for their time spent not driving around, the car insurance, and other fees related to working in the transportation industry.
  
  Authors: KIARA SANTAMARIA | FRANCESCA HOECKER CAIETTI | FERNANDO MENDOZA | SARA CHRETIEN | HERSCHEL ROJAS | JUSTIN TEDFORD