Drivers for ride-hailing apps in Massachusetts certified a union, becoming the first in the nation to do so. The certification is expected to serve as a model for organizing efforts in other states targeting app-based industries. Drivers described concerns about pay, expenses, and working conditions, including sudden deactivations and lack of stability. A driver said the union would help ensure earnings reach workers rather than company owners. The certification followed a 2024 ballot measure that created a framework for ride-hailing drivers to unionize and bargain collectively while staying independent contractors. Organizers said the union could represent nearly 70,000 drivers statewide.
"Drivers for ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft in Massachusetts became the first in the nation Tuesday to certify a union, marking a milestone in the growing effort to organize gig-economy workers amid ongoing concerns over pay, expenses and working conditions."
"Jean Fredo, who has driven for Uber for more than seven years, said he hopes the union will bring better pay, stronger protections against sudden deactivations and more stability for drivers. "With the union, it will not feel like we're working for nothing," he said in French through a translator. "Now the money will not only stay in the billionaire's pockets. The money will actually come to the workers who work very hard.""
"The certification became possible after the state's voters approved a 2024 ballot measure creating a first-in-the-nation framework allowing ride-hailing drivers to unionize and bargain collectively while remaining independent contractors. Organizers say the union could ultimately represent nearly 70,000 drivers statewide."
"Driver Alfred Potter said a few days ago, the App Drivers Union was "still no more than a dream - a goalpost the app companies continued to move until they could move it no more." Victoria Acosta, a mother who drives for both Uber and Lyft, said she spent months knocking on doors, testifying at hearings and speaking with hundreds of other drivers as organizers built support for the union effort."
#ride-hailing #gig-economy-labor-organizing #union-certification #independent-contractor-bargaining #worker-pay-and-deactivation-protections
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