NYC Mayor Announces Rideshare Driver News -- Drivers Guild Statement
Statement from Aziz Bah, Director of the Independent Drivers Guild on NYC Mayor Adams Announcement Drastically Reducing NYC Rideshare Driver Lockouts
“Uber and Lyft’s driver lockouts are devastating for the 80,000 New Yorkers who drive for these apps for a living. As drivers licensed to operate in New York City, we pay thousands of dollars annually for licensing and insurance. Many of us have invested our savings and taken out loans to join this industry. It’s completely unfair for an app company to be able to disrupt our livelihoods at a moment’s notice.
Independent Drivers Guild members have been fighting around the clock to end the app lockouts imposed by Uber and Lyft. We lobbied legislators and city officials, caravanned in protest, and made sure rideshare companies heard our voices. We want to thank Mayor Adams and Commissioner Do for listening to drivers and acting to significantly reduce these unfair lockouts as we continue the fight to protect fair pay for drivers and permanently end lockouts.”
Further background on IDG’s Campaign to End the Lockouts:
App companies have been locking NYC rideshare drivers out of their driver apps, blocking them from working, their livelihood.
On June 25th, IDG organized a protest caravan of more than 600 Uber and Lyft vehicles and nearly a thousand rideshare drivers calling for an end to the driver lockouts.The caravan went over the Queensboro bridge and circled Uber’s driver office in Long Island City Queens where we held a lockout protest.
See protest caravan video here:: https://youtu.be/YEuL9CiRDDk?si=-6ZL8rydBHlB1ra6
On July 20th at our annual driver appreciation and family day (the largest annual gathering of New York Uber and Lyft drivers– thousands attend each year) Mayor Adams attended and announced to IDG members he promises to stand with drivers and end the lockouts.
IDG also launched an email campaign to the Mayor and TLC Commissioner July 23rd following the mayor’s pledge to stand with drivers and end the lockouts.
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 drivers form the Independent Drivers Guild which has successfully advocated for and won a series of new protections and benefits through the 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@drivingguild.org
