Drivers who work for Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing services have received the right to unionize in Massachusetts through a ballot measure. The initiative received 53.9% positive votes.
Uber and Lyft don’t consider their drivers to be employees but rather independent contractors. With this approach, the ride-sharing platforms lower their expenses while not being required to provide full-time employee benefits.
According to a measure known as Question 3, ride-sharing drivers in Massachusetts will continue to be regarded as independent contractors but will now be able to form unions. These unions will hold a collective bargaining power that would allow them to negotiate better working conditions, higher pay, and new benefits.
To form a union, representatives will be required to gather signatures from at least 25% of all active drivers in the state. Massachusetts is estimated to have around 70,000 active ride-sharing drivers.
The initiative, the first of its kind in the United States, could set the stage for similar initiatives in other states. However, many believe that it doesn’t move the needle for drivers as much as it should.
“In rhetoric, it’s a victory,” Katie Wells from the nonprofit Groundwork Collaborative told the New York Times. “But is it a material victory that will actually change the power imbalance and the ability of these workers to survive an exploitative and predatory economy? Probably not.”