Why drivers for Uber and Lyft are going on strike in major cities on Wednesday

Uber and Lyft drivers across the country will go on strike Wednesday as they continue to call for higher wages and better working conditions.

Drivers for the ride-sharing services are planning to log off their apps and strike in major cities on May 8, two days before Uber's initial public offering, CNBC reports.

Protests are planned in cities like Los Angeles and New York, with the Independent Drivers Guild organizing a procession of vehicles across the Brooklyn Bridge to the companies' Long Island City headquarters. New York drivers will shut off the app for two hours, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., while drivers in San Francisco are planning to do so for 12 hours, TechCrunch reports. In Los Angeles, the strike will last 24 hours, CNBC reports.

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Protests are planned for at least eight cities, with up to 10,000 drivers expected to participate in New York, The Washington Post reports.

These drivers, who are classified as independent contractors and don't receive the benefits they would as employees, have called for better pay and working conditions, especially as both companies go public and in light of recent wage cuts. In Los Angeles, where the strike was first called for, drivers' per-mile rates have been cut by 25 percent, the Post reports. Drivers have also called for more transparency about fare calculation, Vox reports.

"Drivers built these billion dollar companies and it is just plain wrong that so many continue to be paid poverty wages while Silicon Valley investors get rich off their labor," said Brendan Sexton, executive director of the Independent Drivers Guild, in a statement. Uber recently said that listing its drivers as employees would hurt its business, Business Insider reports.

In a statement, Uber said that "whether it’s more consistent earnings, stronger insurance protections or fully-funded four-year degrees for drivers or their families, we’ll continue working to improve the experience for and with drivers."