Posts tagged Lyft
A Win For California’s App-Based Drivers
March 17, 2023 // In an ironic twist, California Attorney General Rob Bonta argued in favor of Prop. 22 to the Court of Appeals even though he voted for AB5 when he was an assemblyman in the California state legislature and was personally opposed to Prop. 22. The state correctly asserted that the will of the voters should prevail, and the Court of Appeals agreed. Former assemblywoman and author of AB5 cried foul about Monday’s ruling, claiming the “system is broken” and that the appeals court “chose to stand with powerful corporations over working people, allowing companies to buy their way out of our state’s labor laws.” Gonzalez, who now heads the California Labor Federation representing 1,200 unions in the state, has no such concerns about the millions of independent contractors and small businesses adversely affected by her disastrous law. From transcribers and translators to sign-language interpreters, videographers, wedding planners, regional theaters, pharmacists, the independent film industry, and more, AB5 has wielded a wrecking ball to the independent workforce in California, particularly impacting female entrepreneurs who have been disproportionately harmed by the law.
California Court Rebukes War on Workers
March 16, 2023 // This obviously poses an existential threat to emerging app-based companies that rely on a contractor model, but it also posed an entirely predictable threat to many traditional professions where workers eschew the 9–5 cubicle or factory floor work model. When the Legislature codified Dynamex via Assembly Bill 5, which went into effect in January 2020, it exempted many industries — primarily those with the most influential lobbies. Nevertheless, economic destruction ensued. Companies eliminated jobs rather than hire people as salaried employees. Publications — including Vox, which ran a piece championing AB 5 — laid off its California stringers. Musical groups that relied on gig workers had to shutter their operations. All types of freelance workers — from photographers to sign-language interpreters to rabbis — suddenly found themselves in a pickle. The same Gov. Gavin Newsom who used his vast executive powers to suspend laws during the COVID pandemic refused to suspend AB 5, even as people who were forced to stay at home lost their stay-at-home freelance opportunities. Some Californians embraced the workaround of starting an LLC, but that imposed new costs on workers who already were struggling. Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court of Los Angeles
You may have heard of the ‘union boom.’ The numbers tell a different story
March 2, 2023 // Headline writers began declaring things like, "Employees everywhere are organizing" and that the United States was seeing a "union boom." In September, the White House asserted "Organized labor appears to be having a moment." However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released its union data for 2022. And their data shows that — far from a resurgence — the share of American workers in a union has continued to decline. Last year, the union membership rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 10.1% — the lowest on record. This was the second year in a row that the union rate fell. Only one in ten American workers is now in a union, down from nearly one in three workers during the heyday of unions back in the 1950s.
New York Taxi union to strike against Uber and Lyft at LaGuardia airport on Sunday: report
February 24, 2023 // Anyone traveling into LaGuardia International Airport in Queens, New York and planning to take an Uber or Lyft may want to reconsider their plans, as a union representing all rideshare and Taxi drivers plans to go on strike at the hub for 12 hours on Sunday. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which boasts a membership of 25,000 professional drivers, is planning to go on strike at LaGuardia airport on Feb. 26 by refusing to pick up Uber and Lyft rides between 12 p.m. and 12 a.m.
Union warns: One week to Uber, Lyft strike at LaGuardia Airport
February 21, 2023 // The group says it represents 21,000 yellow cab, green car, black car, livery and app-dispatched drivers. Drivers were expecting per-minute increases of 7.8%, originally approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission in November, and set to go into effect Dec. 19. But a judge issued a temporary restraining order after Uber sued the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Biden Wants To Restrict Work and Flexibility for Freelancers
February 20, 2023 // Beyond these misunderstandings, there is a key question that PRO Act proponents have failed to directly answer: Over a dozen surveys—including the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Contingent Worker Supplement—have found that a majority of independent contractors would prefer their current arrangements over an employment arrangement. Workers cite dependent care obligations, personal circumstances, or a strong preference for job flexibility (over job stability) as the primary reasons. Beyond surveys, in a recent study published by the Journal of Political Economy, economists estimated that UberX drivers would require almost twice as much pay to accept the inflexibility that comes from adopting a taxi-style schedule. And for the top 10 percent of DoorDash drivers, losing flexibility is equivalent to a 15 percent pay cut. Sens. Mark Warner (D–Va.), Todd Young (R–Ind.), and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D–Wash.)
How To Empower Millions of Independent Workers
January 3, 2023 // Given millions of Americans' clear preference for independent work, and given the economic benefits of these arrangements, state and federal legislators should reduce the regulatory and tax burdens on both independent workers and gig platforms.
Uber and Lyft drivers strike over pay at Denver International Airport
November 28, 2022 // Car horns were blazing as members of Colorado Independent Drivers United, a union representing Uber, Lyft, and Doordash drivers, held a four-hour strike at Denver International Airport Saturday. The drivers also shut off their apps during that period. It is unclear how much of an impact the strike had on travelers looking for rides out of DIA. Uber stated that it did not see an impact on service at the airport. CIDU posted on Twitter that it had “near-total participation” from drivers. Transportation Network Companies (TNC) Act of 2014, Driver Advisory Council,
Biden’s regulatory machine wants to stifle the freedom of the American worker
October 31, 2022 // Frankly, workers are not helpless. They are perfectly capable of choosing their own lifestyles and can evaluate their labor choices along with the compensation and benefits each provides. We currently have an economy in which, for the entirety of 2022, the number of job openings has nearly outnumbered unemployed workers 2-1. If these “gigs” were so horrible, these people would seek other employment. Moreover, the Biden administration’s mandated reclassification would significantly increase the cost of doing business for both small businesses and large companies such as Uber, Doordash, and others that provide unique economic opportunities for gig workers. This heavy-handed regulatory approach will discourage entrepreneurial innovation and result in added costs that will be passed along to the consumer.