BOSTON — Drivers for ride-hailing companies in Massachusetts are pushing ahead with what they describe as a first-of-its-kind ballot question that could win them union rights if approved.
The push comes despite a landmark settlement last month guaranteeing that Uber and Lyft drivers will earn a minimum pay standard of $32.50 per hour in Massachusetts.
Supporters of the measure last week delivered the final batch of signatures needed to land a spot on the November ballot.
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Travelers enter a pick-up location for ride-hailing companies Tuesday in a parking garage at Logan International Airport in Boston.
April Verrett, president of the Service Employees International Union, said the tens of thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers working in Massachusetts deserve the collective bargaining benefits of unions.
“This would be the first in the nation to establish a union for drivers in this way,” she said. The group is working on a similar effort in California.
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Attorney General Andrea Campbell, who secured the settlement — which included what she described as “an unprecedented package of minimum wage, benefits and protections” — is also backing the ballot question.
Verrett said labor laws in the country aren't written to take into consideration gig workers, something the ballot question would begin to remedy in Massachusetts if voters support the question — and drivers ultimately form a union.
“We fundamentally believe that workers are workers,” she said. “All workers deserve a union, a way to come together with their coworkers to have a say in their livelihood.”
Yolanda Rodriguez has driven for Lyft for about six years and says she’s convinced that having union rights would benefit her and other drivers.
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Yolanda Rodriguez, 33, of Malden, Mass., drives her vehicle Tuesday in Malden before going to work for a ride-hailing company. Rodriguez, who has driven for Lyft for about six years, says she's convinced that having union rights would benefit her and other drivers.
The 33-year mother of three who lives in Malden, just outside Boston, said she begins most days at about 3 a.m., with many of her trips involving driving people to Logan International Airport.
Rodriguez said about a year ago her account was canceled when she was pregnant. She said she went for five months before it was restored and she could begin earning an income again.
“I don’t want that to happen to other women or men because there are often children behind the cancellations,” she said through a translator. “If I had a union, I would be able to turn to them and work with them.”
Under a policy Lyft announced earlier this year, the company said their goal is to make drivers feel supported and respected when a temporary hold is placed on a driver’s account during an investigation — including a streamlined, in-app button for drivers to appeal deactivation decisions.
But not everyone thinks the question goes far enough — if they support it at all.
Henry De Groot, 28, of Boston, has driven for both companies on and off for five years but says the ballot proposal question isn’t a fair deal.
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Travelers enter a pick-up location for ride-hailing companies, including Uber and Lyft, on Tuesday in the lower level of a parking garage at Logan International Airport in Boston.
“I’m 100 percent pro-union and I’m 100 percent opposed to the ballot question,” he said.
De Groot said the question doesn’t create a democratic system where all drivers have rights. He said no rights are included in the initiative beyond basic collective bargaining, including details on how dues are spent.
“You can’t have a regular union and not let workers have a vote,” he said. “There is no driver control over leadership. It’s about the basic democratic rights that other unions have. It’s a top-down organization.”
Kelly Cobb-Lemire, an organizer with Massachusetts Drivers United, which she describes as a grassroots, driver-led campaign, said other app-based workers including delivery drivers are left out of the ballot question.
“We’re fighting to ensure that both drivers and delivery workers have the right to form a union and are classified as workers,” she said. “We support democratic collective bargaining where every driver has a vote.”
She said her group is instead pushing lawmakers to approve a bill that would enshrine full employee rights for all app workers and include a path to unionization for everyone. She said the legislation also would mandate that drivers and delivery workers be paid at least the Massachusetts minimum wage for all working time.
The ballot question, if approved, would define “active drivers” as those who completed more than the median number of rides in the previous six months.
Once a union signs up 5% of active drivers in a bargaining unit, it would get a list of all eligible workers and block any other union from being recognized without an election.
If a union then signs up 25% of the eligible voters in a bargaining unit, it becomes the certified bargaining representative unless another union or a “no-union” group comes forward within the next seven days with signed cards from at least 25% of eligible voters, at which point there would be an election.
Backers of the question had been preparing to go up against a possible series of industry-backed ballot questions that intended to classify drivers as independent contractors.
But that threat evaporated after the settlement, which barred the companies from supporting all five proposed variations of their ballot question — meaning they won't proceed to the ballot.
In a statement after the settlement was announced, Lyft said the deal resolved a lawsuit that recently went to trial and avoided the need for the ballot initiative campaign this November.
What do you use rideshare for? It depends on your bank account
What do you use rideshare for? It depends on your bank account
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Your answer likely depends on all sorts of unique factors. If your job involves frequent travel, for example, you probably hail rides to the airport; if you don't own a car, you may use rideshare to run errands. But underlying all these possible use cases is one powerfully predictive data point: your bank account.
New research from Lyft reveals that rideshare use varies dramatically with income level. The company surveyed more than 30,000 riders across the U.S. and Canada and discovered that those with medium and high household incomes are more likely to hail a ride for leisure activities like bars, travel, and restaurants. Meanwhile, a greater percentage of lower-income passengers depend on rideshare for vital services like getting to work and health care appointments.
Riders were asked about their destination and their answers were analyzed by income, revealing a very clear pattern across all categories
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Lyft's largest category — at 44% — is low-income riders, defined as those with annual household incomes under $50,000. Around 27% of riders are middle income (making between $50,000 and $100,000). And 29% are high-income households (making $100,000 or more).
The pattern identified shows low-income individuals relying on Lyft for help with their most important transportation needs. Around 44% of them use rideshare for commuting to work, compared to only 26% of high-income riders. Low-income riders are also far likelier than high-income ones to use rideshare to access rides to school (21% vs. 8%), job interviews (27% vs. 9%), health care appointments (34% vs. 17%), and to run errands (40% vs. 17%).
Meanwhile, high-income riders are far more likely than low-income riders to use the platform to access rides to and from the airport (81% vs. 40%) and for leisure travel (63% vs. 29%). The same pattern holds true for middle-income riders, who also use the platform for access to transportation to and from the airport (64%) and leisure travel (49%) more often than low-income riders.
These results support prior findings of independent researchers, who also observed that low-income households increasingly rely on rideshare. A 2020 study of ride subsidy programs found participants preferred rideshare services to taxis and paratransit because they were on-demand and offered more comfortable and dependable service. A 2021 study of low-income individuals in Michigan also found that rideshare "can be especially beneficial for the low-income, aged, car-less, and disabled travelers."
All of which is to say, even though app-based rideshare services are relatively new in the long history of transportation, they're already playing a crucial role in people's lives, especially for those with fewer resources.
This story was produced by Lyft and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.
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