The rules of capitalism are specifically designed to drive the price down as low as possible, in the ideal case, to the actual marginal cost of production. That's good for the buyer, bad for the seller, so sellers try all kinds of ways to get around this, some of which are legal (IP protection) and some are not (collusion, price-fixing). If you want to argue that we should change the rules I will not dispute you. But that the moment, that's where things stand.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

If no drivers were willing to accept the lower rates there would be no reason for them to collude.

Of course that's what's happening. Collusion != coercion. Collusion is voluntary.

What is really happening here is that Uber wants the drivers to play a multi-player prisoner's dilemma, and the drivers want to coordinate cooperation. Uber wants to force the price to the lowest that the market will bear and the drivers want to force the price to the highest the market will bear. The rules of capitalism are specifically designed to produce the former outcome.