Hundreds of Uber & Lyft Drivers and the Machinists Union Walk Out in Protest of Anti-Worker City Council Hearing
30 Sep 2024
  Hundreds of Uber & Lyft Drivers and the Machinists Union Walk Out in Protest of Anti-Worker City Council HearingCity Labor Leaders, Machinists Union and their Affiliate Blast City Council for Letting Uber & Lyft Off the Hook with Out of Touch, Union Busting Bill City Bill Would Undermine the Rights of NYC’s 80,000 Uber & Lyft DriversNew York, NY – On Friday morning, hundreds of Uber and Lyft Drivers with the Machinists Union and their affiliate the Independent Drivers Guild walked out of a City Hall hearing in protest of an out-of-touch, union busting New York City Council bill that would undermine the rights of the city’s 80,000 Uber and Lyft drivers to fight unfair app company treatment. More than 200 New York City rideshare drivers joined with city labor leaders on the steps of New York’s City Hall to protest the hearing. The City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure scheduled a hearing for 10 AM Friday in City Council Chambers on a bill that would undermine the union-negotiated rights of the city’s Uber & Lyft drivers to appeal unfair termination or “deactivation” of their driver account through a successful driver-led appeals process. In an unprecedented step of city interference with a major labor union, Committee Chair Selvena N. Brooks-Powers scheduled a hearing on a bill that would let Uber and Lyft off the hook for participating in a Machinists Union negotiated grievance process for Uber and Lyft drivers. The city bill, Int. 276, would replace the union process with a weaker, taxpayer-funded system run by a city agency that leaves drivers to fend for themselves. Worse yet, the city bill has a loophole that would let Uber and Lyft force drivers to “opt out” of any appeals process at all. In 2016, the Machinists Union negotiated the nation’s first driver-led process for New York City’s rideshare drivers to appeal unfairly being kicked off the driver app or “deactivated”. That process has been successfully implemented by Machinists Union affiliate the Independent Drivers Guild (IDG) ever since. Under the current union-negotiated IDG implemented process, the Drivers Guild has helped thousands of deactivated drivers get back to work — many within a week. 100% of cases that went to arbitration were successful in returning the driver to work. “The Machinists Union stands firmly against the proposed deactivation bill, Int 276, a bill that threatens to dismantle our union grievance process that has proven to be a lifeline for thousands of drivers unfairly deactivated by Uber and Lyft. We are ashamed to see the City Council discussing this issue instead of the lockout crisis that has rocked the New York City driver community this summer,” said Robert Pease, the Business Representative for Machinists Union District 15 and Executive Vice President of the NYC Central Labor Council. “Through our union-negotiated system, drivers have access to trained advocates, fair arbitration, and a swift path back to work. This bill would undermine everything we’ve fought for, replacing this strong, driver-led process with a weaker, bureaucratic system run by a city agency, leaving drivers to fend for themselves. Even worse, Int 276 contains a loophole that could allow Uber and Lyft to force drivers to “opt out” of any appeals process entirely. This bill would make it harder, not easier, for drivers to get back to work and support their families.“ “This is union busting plain and simple. With this bill, the City Council is undermining the union-negotiated rights of 80,000 New Yorkers who depend on driving for Uber and Lyft for a living. Shame on Chair Brooks-Powers for hearing this outrageous anti-union, anti-worker bill,” said Brendan Sexton, President of the Independent Drivers Guild, the nation’s largest rideshare driver organization and an affiliate of the Machinists Union which has represented New York’s for-hire vehicle drivers for more than 25 years. “This is a disgrace and a distraction from addressing the very major challenges for-hire vehicle workers are facing. We should be talking about permanently ending the exploitative app company lockouts that Uber and Lyft deployed to avoid paying drivers the minimum, livable wage that this City Council voted into law. We should be talking about increasing the minimum pay rates to compensate the 99% of New York City rideshare drivers who were affected by Uber and Lyft’s app lockouts this summer. We should be strengthening worker rights, not undermining rights for 80,000 lower income, largely immigrant families,” added Sexton.“The CLC stands with The Machinists Union and their thousands of driver members in the Independent Drivers Guild who have fought for and won the right to a fair grievance process in New York City. This process has helped protect drivers from unfair deactivations, helping them get back to work in a timely manner. It is a system that works – one where drivers are represented by trained advocates who fight for their rights every step of the way. We should not allow Intro 276 to dismantle these hard-won protections or undermine the IDG’s tireless efforts to secure justice for these workers,” said New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO President Vincent Alvarez. New York for-hire vehicle driver Devin Bell had been driving for Uber for more than five years when suddenly his driver account was deactivated. Uber said it was based on a customer complaint. “I’d been driving for Uber for years. I had driven nearly 5,000 trips on the app, consistently maintaining a very high rating. So when my driver account was deactivated, it came as a shock. That was my livelihood,” said long-time New York City Uber driver Devin Bell. “The company wouldn’t help me when I tried calling and going to the Uber hub on my own. But when I went to IDG they knew just what to do. A Guild advocate helped me file an appeal and quickly got my account reinstated. I’m so grateful to IDG and their appeals process. We are lucky to have it here in New York and I know drivers in other cities wish they had a program like ours.”“As drivers, we know all too well how crucial it is to protect our rights. The proposed deactivation bill, Int 276, is a blatant attack on the workers that keep New York City running. This bill threatens us—creating a system that leaves drivers to fend for themselves and opening the door for corporations like Uber and Lyft to trample on workers’ rights without consequence,” said UTANY President Adalgisa Payero. UTANY represents New York rideshare drivers in the Bronx and is a member of the app worker coalition Justice for App Workers. Payero continued, “In this day and age, it is unthinkable that we would allow hard-fought protections to be stripped away. The grievance process established by the Machinists Union through the Independent Drivers Guild has given drivers the power to challenge unfair deactivations, quickly and fairly. This is the power of collective action and union representation. We cannot allow the City Council to take this away and replace it with a weaker, bureaucratic system designed to favor big companies over working people. UTANY stands in full solidarity with the Machinists Union and the thousands of drivers who rely on this process to support their families. This bill is not just an assault on drivers—it is an assault on all working people of New York and must not be tolerated.” About the Independent Drivers Guild The Independent Drivers Guild is the nation’s largest rideshare driver advocacy group that represents and advocates for more than 300,000 drivers across the northeast, IL and FL. We are Uber and Lyft drivers united for a more fair industry. The Guild’s organizing has secured landmark victories that put billions of dollars in the pockets of drivers, including requiring a tipping option in the Uber app and winning the nation’s first livable minimum wage for rideshare drivers in New York City. The Drivers Guild is a non-profit worker center affiliated with the Machinists Union, an AFL-CIO member union, which has represented for-hire vehicle (FHV) drivers for more than twenty-five years. The Drivers Guild and Machinists Union have led the nation in advocating for benefits and protections for FHV drivers. In 1999, the Machinists Union advocated to create the Black Car Fund, establishing a workers’ compensation fund for New York’s for-hire vehicle drivers. In 2016, the Machinists helped NYC rideshare drivers negotiate the nation’s first driver-led grievance process and form the Independent Drivers Guild which has successfully advocated for and won a series of new protections and benefits through the NY program, including free vision, dental, health clinics, telemedicine, disability insurance and the Guild’s mental health counseling program, developed specifically for FHV drivers in response to New York’s driver suicide crisis. Media Contact: Moira Muntz, Moira@drivingguild.org |
