Posts tagged SEIU Local 32BJ
Op-Ed: Question 3 Still a Question: Massachusetts’ Experiment in Sectoral Bargaining for Gig Workers
April 10, 2025 // These impracticalities explain why Question 3 embraces sectoral bargaining. Under this regime, once the drivers form a union, that union will represent all the drivers in the state, no matter what rideshare company they work for. (Rideshare companies can also team up to simplify the negotiations.) This will put the drivers in a vastly superior bargaining position than if they had to incrementally organize smaller units of drivers or even company by company, as is the norm under the NLRA. Under the NLRA, organizers would next have to get the support of 30% of drivers in a bargaining unit before being able to call an election. But how do organizers reach that 30%? For rideshare drivers, there is no workplace where everyone congregates. The closest equivalent is the airport parking lot, where many drivers wait to get a ride request. But to even encounter 30% of drivers there, much less to convince that 30%, could be a prohibitively high bar. Additionally, driver turnover is high. By the time 30% is convinced, those drivers may have moved on, a new cohort taking their place. Part-timers also pose a problem. For these reasons, Question 3 requires that the would-be union collect signatures from only 5% of Active Drivers (defined as those that have completed more than the median number of rides in the last six months). That is a much more plausible bar to clear, given that rideshare drivers are quite literally a moving target, in time and in space.
Unions call on lawmakers to tackle affordable housing
April 17, 2024 // Michael Heller, president of the Association of Riverdale Cooperatives & Condominiums, said he was happy to see the strike averted. “We’re delighted this was avoided and we hope our co-op boards and our co-op leadership can continue to have a productive relationship with their unionized employees for a full three more years,” Heller said. In a statement, realty board president Billy Schur said rising interest and insurance rates, vacancies, and other issues arising from the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act were to blame for a hostile environment for property owners throughout the borough. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz disagreed. “That’s a lot of nonsense,” Dinowitz said. “They’ve been bellyaching about the HSTPA for the past five years. But they certainly didn’t complain when the laws were so heavily skewed toward landlords, when they were making money hand over fist.” The root of the problem, Dinowitz said, is rents are too high. “The solution to everything is not necessarily in Albany,” he said.