CA Uber and Lyft Drivers can obtain merger rights

From LevagsCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Uber and Lyft drivers in California have been fighting for years for higher salaries and better working conditions -on the streets, in front of the legislators of the state, in court and on the newsletter.

Now a bill penetrating the state legislative body would allow drivers to unite.

If Assembly Bill 1340 Pass, California will become the second state to entitle drivers to ride collectively. Massachusetts was the first to do it after the voters there approved a vote measure last year.

Riding companies are opposed to legislation in California, stating that it is contrary to the “Spirit of Proposal 22, the vote initiative, which they have bankrupt, that the voters approved in 2020, it cemented the status of the Grandrons in the State. appellate court strikes this provisionS

Drivers and other concerts have received some benefits when support 22 passed, but their complaints continue, many of them have been tied to the fact that they are not considered employees. And after the law Effectively does not leave a single state agency responsible for implementationMany concert workers do not know where to turn to ask for unpaid salaries or health scholarships, compete to be kicked out of applications, or get help with other problems.

Some drivers and defenders say that the ability to market collectively can handle these problems. But the GIG concert industry warns that it would mean major changes to their business model, which will raise the prices of ride higher and affect the availability of rides.

“We can benefit from the fact that we are united,” says Hector Lopez, who has been driving for Lyft in the bay area for the past few years and has been involved in growing group concerts. “This may be the only way to get fair salaries.”

A group that represents Uber and Lyft said that drivers in California earn an average of $ 37 per “active” hour, while UC Berkeley Labor Center surveys found that the average payment of drivers, including tips and taking all their work shifts and costs, was $ 9.09 an hour.

Another common impotence of the driver is limited communication when they need help. Drivers must use the Uber or Lyft app to report back and forth with a company representative, or in some cases talk to them on the phone. But Lopez remembers that he is able to get help in Lyft Hub, a physical place working with people he can talk to. These hubs closed a few years ago.

“We could have an union that has an office to get a face -to -face help,” Lopez said. “This is something that is really big that they took us.”

Not all drivers will be on board. There is a “health suspicion” about the unification among California drivers who say they evaluate their status as independent performers, said Sergio Avedian, a senior associate of Risshire Guy, a YouTube channel popular with concerts.

But he said that many drivers also “often express dissatisfaction with lack of presentation and lever, especially as regards deactivation, shortening and algorithmic transparency.”

What would the account do

The proposal to the legislature will entitle drivers to drive drivers to shape themselves and join an union that the concert companies will have to bargain in good faith.

This will also require driving companies to send lists of drivers and other driver information to the State Public Employment Council every three months, which starting in 2026.

Application and application -based applications and service protection coalition includes an industrial group that includes Uber, Lyft, Doordash and Instacart, opposes the legislation, as well as various commercial and business groups.

In a letter to the legislators in July, the group said the requirement of the bill for companies to submit information about the driver of the state – which will give the potential union a way to reach a directly dispersed group of workers – is a “dangerous violation of the driver’s privacy” and can lead to unwanted texts, telephone calls and even visits to drivers.

Different groups of drivers are expected to be the only union for negotiating drivers throughout the country. But provided that the group may cause 10% of active drivers to approve it as a representative, it will have access to lists with drivers, according to analyzes of the bill by legislative committees. Each group will be forbidden to share this list of third parties.

Nicole Moore, President of Los Angeles -based drivers of RideShare United, supports the requirements for opening the bill. “At the moment, the state has no idea how bad we are paid,” she said. “We can tell you, but it’s anecdotal. We need data.”

Uber spokesman Zahid Arab said the bill would mean increased costs due to administrative and corresponding weights and the fact that the company would have to negotiate with an alliance over pay and benefits. The industrial group said that if drivers were allowed to unite, it could lead to higher costs of rides.

A spokesman for Lyft would not comment on the legislation.

The bill, co -authored by the Buffy Wix and Mark Berman, of Palo Alto, and the two Democrats, was appointed to hear the Senate Budget Loan Committee on August 18.

What happens in Massachusetts

At Massachusetts, Uber and Lyft drivers have won the right to unite months ago and are now working to make an alliance a reality.

Whose clot, who has been driving for Uber for a decade, has been trying to organize drivers in the Boston area. He says his pay is “getting worse and worse every year.” He said he could make $ 300 or $ 400 a day, and now he is driving 12 hours a day and makes about $ 200 a day.

“There are over 80,000 drivers (ride) in Massachusetts,” said Clot. “They all work so hard to make very little money. Many of them still do not know that they are allowed to unite. Some of them are also scared – this Uber may take revenge.”

The Massachusetts Driving Union of Annexes is a joint effort of employees of the International Union 32BJ and the International Association of Machines and Aerospace Workers.

Gabe Morgan, Executive Vice President of Seiu 32BJ, said through a spokesman that thousands of Massachusetts drivers have already signed unification cards and that, in addition to honest compensation, drivers deserve transparency.

Will sectoral negotiation work?

The sectoral negotiation or negotiations as a group within a particular profession has worked in certain places and industries, such as in Los Angeles, where hospitality workers have won standards and benefits for salary, said Katie Wales, an expert in technology and labor, which co -authored the Uber Dism. But Wales said he was worried that in the driving industry, the sectoral negotiation could not lead to real changes.

This is because the big players in the concert economy have struggled to continue to change “superficial”, Wales said. She pointed to prop. 22, which, among other things, promised California workers’ employees. But showed a study supported by the Union Few concert workers actually qualify For or use scholarships that are not expanded to those who receive public health benefits. The study also found that 29% of the concerts surveyed were at Medi-Cal, California’s health insurance program for low-income people and disabled people. The companies have not released the exact numbers for how many workers the scholarships receive.

The sectoral negotiation “can work, but it has to be done well,” says Laura Padin of the National Labor Law Project, a group for research and advocacy for low -wage workers. She said that drivers “are subject to great control over companies” and must be covered under the National Labor Relations Act, but they are not because they are not considered employees. “In this political environment, it may be the best we can hope for,” Padin said.

Federal MPs have been trying to improve the working conditions of concerts for years. The most proposal was introduced last week by a sensory. Brian Shaz from Hawaii and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, both Democrats. This will require concert companies to disclose more information on salaries and rates of drivers and consumers; The cut of CAP companies for the 25% driving tariff, which means 75% will go to drivers; And more. Another proposed federal legislation This would help to strengthen workers’ right to organize for years. So other governments are trying to intervene. At the state level, in addition to California, Minnesota and Illinois, they are also considering accounts to give drivers collective bargaining forces.

But even if drivers are able to unite and unite, they will still have to deal with more obstacles, experts say.

“When drivers are able to organize and win labor standards directly through public policy, Uber tries to fight it,” says Maraya Montgomery, director of national campaigns for Powerswitch Action, a network of advocacy groups. She mentioned what happened in New York where drivers Earned minimum pay rates This began in 2019

Last year, Bloomberg They report that Uber and Lyft use a loaf in the law and systematically lock drivers – preventing them from finding applications – during certain periods. Last month the City Committee on Taxi new rules Order the companies to give a notice to the drivers for 72 hours before locking them.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.