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At around 5 am on November 28, 31-year-old Ahmad Fawad Yusufi was sleeping in a car in the parking lot of a San Francisco playground. At that time, someone walked up to the car and tried to steal Take his wallet and shoot him to death. Yusufi is an Afghan immigrant who arrived in the United States on a special visa after serving as an interpreter for the US military. He came to the city from his home in Sacramento to drive for Uber and tried to take a break between shifts.
Since that terrible night, Yusuf’s family, including his brother, wife and three children, have been eagerly seeking answers, and now they say Uber needs to do its part to help.In a letter to the company Released today Through the labor organization Gig Workers Rising, Yusufi’s brother Mohammed, whose name is Ilyas and who calls Ahmad his brother, made three demands: use Yusufi’s Uber account to pay his family US$4 million in immediate assistance, and more Good payment for all Uber drivers. (Ilias also serves as the company’s driver.)
Uber initially responded to the murder, stating that Yusufi “appears to be offline” at the time of the shooting and refused to share any logs or files of its account activity with family members or the media.
In the letter, Ilias questioned whether being offline on the app meant that Yusufi was not working at Uber, highlighting one of the core shortcomings of gig jobs. “My brother Ahmed was killed while driving for your company. When you told the media that he was not working for Uber when he was killed, you lied. He was working for Uber in San Francisco… . That night he stopped to rest after working for Uber.”
Yusufi moved from Afghanistan to California three years ago-a necessary security measure he took after helping the US military.Ilias said that Yusuf is the family’s core supplier, even though they are trying to include GoFundMe page, Yusufi’s wife and children do not have sufficient financial capacity.
Growing security issues
Gig drivers in the United States are no strangers to violent crime.One Recent survey The Wall Street Journal revealed that although the company refused to share statistics, drivers accounted for 11% of carjackings in Minneapolis, and Report from tag In July, in the past year and a half, there were 124 confirmed carjacking and attempted carjacking incidents.
Uber introduced several new security features, such as quick access to 911 dispatchers, the ability to broadcast GPS coordinates to police responders, and a recording option released this month.But in some ways, this is One of the most dangerous jobs in the country, And some drivers and labor groups, such as the Independent Drivers Association, Allegations The company has not done enough to ensure the safety of its employees. Some people started to do it themselves, carrying pepper spray, installing security cameras, and even carrying guns.
Yusufi is one of many Afghan refugees living in Sacramento. They drive for Uber in San Francisco, where there is more demand for transportation (some 56% of odd jobs Immigration in San Francisco). Ilias said that Yusufie left Sacramento on Friday, November 26 for the Bay Area to work for Uber and sleep in his car as much as possible between rides-this is for drivers who cannot afford a hotel room. Common practice. According to Ilias, a friend of the driver who was present with Yusuf said that they were resting in the car when the shooting occurred.
Uber allows drivers to stay active on the app for only 12 hours before needing a 6-hour break, a move designed to ensure safer riding conditions. During breaks, naps or meals, drivers will close their apps to maximize their time to make money.
In the letter, Ilias said that the low wages of Uber drivers “maintain such unstable working conditions that hundreds of Afghan drivers drive from Sacramento to San Francisco every week, sleeping in their cars in unsafe environments— —Just to make enough money every week to support the family. Their family.”
What counts as work
Uber has not responded to this letter, but the company is keeping in touch with the family. In a statement to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review prior to the publication of this letter, an Uber spokesperson said: “We are saddened by this senseless act of violence that took the life of Mr. Yusufi. In During this difficult time, our hearts are with his family.”
In the absence of a response from the San Francisco Police Department, Ilias and his brother’s family were eager to learn more about the circumstances of Yusuf’s death. Ilyas tried to access Yusufi’s Uber account and said it was disabled. He tried to contact Uber about this matter and said that Uber had responded that it violated their policy.
December 5, local news channel ABC10 reports that Uber says Yusufi “seems to be offline” At the time of shooting.
In a phone conversation with MIT Technology Review, an Uber spokesperson stated that Yusufi was not active on the app from midnight to 5 am on November 28, and the police responded to this at the time. But it was active on November 27th. Uber declined to disclose the relevant time. The company also refused to provide Yusufi’s driving log files to MIT Technology Review on the grounds of privacy issues.
Yusufi’s case cuts to the heart of a debate about whether gig workers are eligible to be employees of the company. In the past few years, California’s laws have been volatile on this issue. By 2020, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart have spent approximately $200 million lobbying to support a measure that will exclude the benefits of gig workers, such as Pay a break.The law, Proposition 22, was passed in 2020, but it has been Knocked down by the judge As unconstitutional. As the appeal process proceeds, gig workers will continue to be unprotected.
For Yusufi’s family, it doesn’t matter whether he was actively using the Uber app at the time of the filming. From their perspective, Ilias said that he was driving for Uber in San Francisco. “We are refugees in this country. We don’t have very good information. We are new here,” he said. “We have no one to support us. They can do whatever they want.”
Correction: A previous version of this story referred to Ilias as the cousin of Ahmed Yusuf. They are actually brothers.
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