SPEAKING AT A NEWS CONFERENCE for the very first time, Takele Gobena, an Uber driver in Seattle, awkwardly approached the microphone to convey two messages: first, that Uber drivers needed a union and, second, that Uber paid miserably. Gobena, a gangly, twenty-six-year-old refugee from Ethiopia, said his hourly earnings came to less than the minimum wage after factoring in gas, insurance, and other expenses. Fearing retaliation, Gobena said, “I know Uber will probably deactivate me tomorrow. But I’m ready because this is worth fighting for.”

It didn’t take that long. At 6:50 that evening, a few hours after several websites posted articles about the news conference, Uber emailed Gobena to notify him he had been deactivated, Uber lingo for being fired. The company said his auto insurance had expired.

Within minutes, Gobena grabbed his smartphone, photographed his insurance card (which showed that his insurance policy was still in force), and emailed the photo to Uber and to Mike O’Brien, the city councilman who had organized the news conference. O’Brien sent the photo to several journalists to show that Uber’s reason for firing Gobena was poppycock. Badly embarrassed, Uber reinstated Gobena the next day. Uber vigorously denied that it had retaliated against Gobena, insisting it was all a mistake.