It was a unanimous vote in favor of the legislation, which will likely be used as a test case for this new variation of the workforce – how will it affect non-transportation on-demand services, such as TaskRabbit, Postmates, Luxe, Amazon Prime, and many others. The massive ride-hailing apps that have taken over the taxi market in recent years will nearly certainly challenge the law in court.
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He added that he was concerned about “the relatively unknown costs of administering the collective bargaining process and the burden of significant rulemaking the Council has placed on City staff”.
Drivers for Uber and Lyft in Seattle could soon become the first in the nation with the right to form unions.
Drivers for Uber, Lyft and other services are independent contractors and are not protected under the National Labor Relations Act. But taxi, for-hire and app-dispatched drivers are categorized as independent contractors, rather than employees, so those federal protections don’t apply to them. A smattering of regulatory rulings has offered little clarity: Over the summer in California, the state’s labor commissioner said a San Francisco Uber driver was an employee of the company.
“Uber is creating new opportunities for many people to earn a better living on their own time and their own terms”, a spokesperson told Ars in an e-mailed statement.
“A driver could be logged onto the Uber platform and another, and another, and I wouldn’t have full visibility of that so at the end of the day they are responsible for the transport they’re providing”, he said.
Supporters of the Seattle legislation envision a future where drivers join “exclusive driver representative” organizations that represent drivers in collective bargaining with a company such as Uber.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (D) said that he would not sign the bill, instead opting to allow it to pass into law without his approval, because concerns he has with the legislation have not been resolved.
A man drives a sedan with an Uber sticker on it.
“It’s a company making billions of dollars, while their workers are making less than minimum wage”.
The bill was sponsored by Council member Mike O’Brien who said he introduced the measure out of necessity after witnessing how little power the drivers themselves had in working for a living wage.
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“This is incredible”, said Saad Melouchi, 30, who drives for Uber. This marks a first in the United States, and could pave the way to similar rulings in other cities where the companies operate.
