The company has made a five ear agreement to recognize the Independent Drivers Guild as the representative of around 35,000 Uber Drivers in New York City.
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The Drivers Guild is the first such organization Uber has officially given the nod to, though drivers in other cities have created their own groups.
After angry protests and several lawsuits, Uber is finally letting its drivers have representation from a union. It will also help the company attract and retain drivers. Uber considers its drivers contractors which cannot form a collective bargaining unit like employees can. Uber agreed to pay up to $100 million as part of the settlement.
Uber faces other labour-related hurdles.
Because Uber drivers in New York City and across the country are classified as independent contractors rather than employees, the startup has no legal obligation to bargain. They will also be eligible for discounts on life insurance and vehicle or roadside assistance, and can receive benefits such as time off and retirement savings. The guild will not be able to address the federal government with complaints. The International Association of Machinists will foot some of the administrative and other costs, Kallman said.
“We haven’t always done a great job working with drivers”, Plouffe wrote in a blog post. However, the legal status of Uber drivers has been hotly contested. The new ally levies a almost 9 percent tax on black-car-rides but that does not apply to taxis, as reported by the New York Times. With the terms of the new deal with the IDG, the machinist union will help the San-Francisco-based company lobby the State Legislature to treat all hired drivers equally. Uber said on Tuesday that money saved from taxes would “likely” go into a benefit fund for drivers.
The agreement drew a mixed reaction from drivers and labour activists. “Right off the top of my head, I can think of three things more important to drivers than the deactivation policy”, he said. “It was possible there was somebody at Uber’s corporate office making a decision that really didn’t understand the situation from the driver’s perspective”.
That relationship has been strained since Uber cut fares by 15 percent in February.
“First and foremost, price cuts and commissions matter most to drivers”, he told NYT. The guild will have little power to negotiate over fares.
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Mr. Diallo’s group, meanwhile, is encouraging drivers to sign cards that will allow the Amalgamated Transit Union to represent them; more than 5,000 drivers have signed.
