Drivers Rally With National Union Leaders

Companies Argue Drivers Prefer To be Independent Contractors

April 24, 2024….Massachusetts labor leaders brought in the cavalry Wednesday, welcoming a pair of national union officials in the latest push to overhaul working conditions for drivers on platforms like Uber and Lyft.

Drivers and union members rallied outside the State House, joined by Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry and Secretary-Treasurer April Verrett, who said their groups support for the battle underway in the Bay State.

“April and I and the two million members of SEIU are proud to stand behind the rideshare drivers here in Massachusetts demanding justice,” Kay Henry told the crowd to cheers and applause.

One local arm of the union, 32BJ SEIU, and the International Association of Machinists are pushing legislation (H 1099 / S 666) that would provide for-hire ride and delivery drivers with a path to unionization, require app-based platforms to pay into the state unemployment insurance system, and give their workers access to a guaranteed minimum wage and paid sick time.

Those unions are also working on a narrower version of the measure as a potential ballot question, which could go before voters this fall alongside a separate measure backed by Uber, Lyft, Instacart and DoorDash that would give drivers some new benefits while enshrining in state law that they are independent contractors and not employees.

The companies argue that many drivers prefer to be independent contractors because it provides more flexibility to set their own schedules, but opponents contend that doing so denies many benefits sought by drivers that come with employee status.

“We are on the cusp of rewriting the rules to make sure every worker in this country has an opportunity to join a union, and the workers here in Massachusetts are standing up today against these huge multinational companies — they’re the tip of that spear,” Verrett told the News Service.