As someone who is only just finding out about all this, I don't fully understand why the cab drivers stopped picking people up. I think the fact that people were using Uber (and Lyft) to leave the airport means they needed to (which is ESPECIALLY if true if surge was in place for some period of time and people still willingly took it). As poetic as they might think it is, taxi drivers not welcoming people into the country is, practically speaking, very similar to the airports not welcoming people into the country.

All I'm saying is that it would really suck to be someone caught at the airport in the mess, maybe with a few kids you've had to endure protecting/managing for a 5-10 hour flight, and the cabs aren't going. I'd be pretty upset at the cabs, even if I stood with the protesters (which I do). (Keep in mind, this would also include people coming from the many other countries not called out in the EO.)

Side note: I think it's crazy how quickly so many different SIGNIFICANT articles are hitting #1 on HN and Reddit. The ban, the judicial pushback, the firing...I think I'm all caught up, I sit down at home, throw open HN, and there's an entire sub-story that went down about cabs, Uber, and Lyft sitting at a new #1. It's all too much for me...

> All I'm saying is that it would really suck to be someone caught at the airport in the mess...

Then imagine how it must feel to be one of the people affected by the ban.

That's the point of the strike: "Oh you think this is inconvenient?"

Shouldn't we be angry at the subway too for letting people leave the airport?

That's specious. The subway is a utility provided by the city.

Taxis, if regulated by the city, are effectively a utility provided partially by the city.

Regulation of a private service does not obligate the operators of that service to offer it, unless those regulations specifically require it.

Same with public services, right? Some states prohibit strikes, but as far as I know that just means fining the unions. I'm not aware of any US jurisdiction that compels individuals to perform labor (excepting things like military conscription and community service sentences for crimes).

In Seattle the police shut down the light rail to avoid protests. There were no taxi strikes at Seatac though afaik.

When has this strategy ever worked? This is not how you appease or bring about change.

How do you think the two-day weekend and the forty-hour week was created? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day

By an hour long unplanned "strike" called for with hours worth of notice?

Yeah, didn't think so. This conversation is getting absurd at this point.

"Appease"? Whom?

When has appeasing ever worked as an instrument of social change?

Perhaps that was the wrong word. "To bring about peace" is the definition I was going for.

Either way, this is not going to solve anything.

Go re-read "Letter from a Birmingham Jail". The relevant bit has been quoted elsethread.

If you're talking about civil disobedience, then this taxi strike is not an example and ultimately not of much importance or purpose.

Immigration and customs officials refusing to follow the ban order would be actual disobedience and far more effectual in signal and lives changed.

Civil disobedience is not a zero-sum game, and there are huge network effects in people protesting, striking, etc.

This happens all the time with people unused to protest. "Protests doesn't do anything", "Other things are more efficient", "Their demands are vague", "People should work on making policy instead of protesting", etc.

Network effects, people, network effects.

What network effects? Awareness was an issue before the internet but we have instant global news coverage now, so what does this particular strike (which is not civil disobedience) do?

Ironically, if the court order to put a stay on the ban had come in during the strike, it would have made it even harder for those poor people to get home. How's that for "inconvenience"? The strike was a bad plan.

It's not ironic because that didn't happen. I'm sure the strike could have been called off very quickly if that happened.

Instead of a gesture, Uber chose to allow immigrants from the countries in question to keep earning money. Uber made it easy for protesters to get around the police blockade of the AirTrain.

There were no ideal options on the table. Joining the strike would have meant hurting a sizable number of immigrants and hurting the protests.

Did you miss that the strike was only against picking up fares at the airport?

No. I'm just struggling to imagine why anyone thought Uber would join this and why nobody seems to care about Lyft.

It's not about joining. It's about Uber intervening by turning off an automated feature of their platform. People are pissed about that. Not me, but people. Me, I'm driving Lyft for a stint and enjoying non-stop ride requests.

What if Uber (and Lyft; by your definition they broke the strike too) didn't agree with the reason for the strike, or found it counterproductive? It's well within their rights to do so (and I'd agree with them). Just because your "transportation brethren" decide to take some action, it doesn't mean you should play lemming and take the same action in solidarity, especially if you think that action is in poor taste, or is harmful.

I mean, c'mon. During the time of the strike, people needed transportation to and from the airport more than ever, given the protesters coming in and out. And hell, if detainees had been able to clear CBP during the strike, the strike would have actively made it harder for those poor people to get home. I'd say the taxi workers union should be ashamed for picking that time to strike.

You clearly and literally do not seem to understand how strikes work.

Standing in solidarity by preventing the people who are protesting from getting to and from the protest is inane.

Without the lipservice they paid, I'd have actually believed the taxi union was rallying against the the protesters.

If you're going there to protest, take the subway. It's not like you've got luggage or anything. And the work stoppage was only against picking up fares, anyway.

what can Uber do? They can't update their app just for a strike. Apparently they could turn off a surge and that's what they did.