Taxi company boosters in Massachusetts are moving forward with what they describe as the first ballot question of its kind that could give them union rights if approved.
The pressure comes despite a monumental settlement last month guaranteed that Uber and Lyft drivers in Massachusetts will earn a minimum wage standard of $32.50 per hour.
Supporters of the measure last week delivered the final set of signatures needed to secure a spot on the November ballot.
April Verritt, president of the Service Employees International Union, said the tens of thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers who work in Massachusetts deserve the collective bargaining benefits of unions.
“This would be the first in the country to create a union for drivers in this way,” she said. The group is working on a similar effort in California.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell, who secured the settlement — which included what she described as “an unprecedented package of minimum wage, benefits and protections” — also supports the ballot question.
“It is a strong foundation that can and should be built upon,” Campbell, a Democrat, said of the settlement.
Verritt said the country’s labor laws are not written to take gig workers into account, something that could solve the ballot question in Massachusetts if voters support the demand — and drivers eventually form a union.
“We fundamentally believe that employees are employees,” she said. “All workers deserve a union, a way to come together with their colleagues and have a say in their livelihoods.”
Yolanda Rodriguez has been driving for Lyft for about six years and says she believes having union rights would benefit her and other drivers.
The 33-year-old mother of three who lives in Malden, just outside Boston, said she starts most days around 3 a.m., with many of her trips taking people to Logan International Airport.
Rodriguez said her account was canceled about a year ago when she was pregnant. She said she went for five months before it was fixed and she could start earning an income again.
“I don’t want this to happen to other women or men, because children are often behind the cancellations,” she said through an interpreter. “If I had a union, I could turn to them and work with them.”
Under a policy Lyft announced earlier this year, the company said their goal is to make drivers feel supported and respected when a temporary hold is placed on a driver’s account during an investigation — including a streamlined, in-app button that allows drivers to appeal deactivation decisions.
But not everyone thinks the demand goes far enough – if they support it at all.
Henry De Groot, 28, of Boston, has driven for both companies for five years, but says the ballot question isn’t a fair deal.
“I am 100 percent pro-union and I am 100 percent against the ballot question,” he said.
De Groot said the question does not create a democratic system in which all drivers have rights. He said the initiative does not include rights beyond basic collective bargaining, including details on how contributions are spent.
“You can’t have a regular union and not give workers the right to vote,” he said. “There is no director control over leadership. It is about the fundamental democratic rights that other unions have. It is a top-down organization.”
Kelly Cobb-Lemire, an organizer with Massachusetts Drivers United, which she describes as a driver-led campaign, said other app-based workers, including delivery drivers, are being left out of the ballot question.
“We are fighting to ensure that both drivers and delivery workers have the right to form a union and be classified as employees,” she said. “We support democratic collective bargaining where every driver has a voice.”
She said her group is instead pushing lawmakers to pass a bill that would enshrine full worker rights for all app workers and include a path to unionization for all. She said the legislation would also require drivers and delivery workers to be paid at least the Massachusetts minimum wage for all work time.
If the ballot question is approved, “active drivers” will be defined as those who have taken more than the average number of trips in the past six months.
Once a union has enrolled 5% of active executives in a bargaining unit, it receives a list of all eligible employees and can prevent other unions from being recognized without elections.
If a union subsequently registers 25% of eligible voters in a bargaining unit, it becomes the certified bargaining representative, unless within the next seven days another union or a “non-union group” comes forward with signed cards of at least 25% of the voters. eligible voters, after which elections would take place.
Proponents of the question had been preparing for a possible series of industry-backed ballot questions intended to classify drivers as independent contractors.
But that threat disappeared after the settlement, which barred the companies from backing all five proposed variants of their ballot question — meaning they would not proceed to the vote.
In a statement after the settlement was announced, Lyft said the deal resolves a lawsuit that recently went to trial and avoided the need for a ballot initiative campaign in November.
Uber also released a statement at the time calling the agreement “an example of what independent, flexible work with dignity should look like in the 21st century.”
Under the agreement, drivers will earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours per year under the deal.
The two companies will also have to pay a combined $175 million to the state to resolve allegations that the companies violated Massachusetts wage and hour laws, a significant portion of which will be paid out to current and former drivers.
