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"content": "\u003cp>U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday declined to hear an appeal from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uber\">Uber\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lyft\">Lyft\u003c/a> that sought to block California state labor lawsuits over back pay for drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision — or lack thereof — let stand a California appeals court ruling from 2023 that allowed the state lawsuits to proceed because state officials never agreed to be bound by employer arbitration agreements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California Court of Appeal basically said, look, these state agencies, they get to go into court, and they have the authority to undertake enforcement actions to enforce the law,” said Cheryl Sabnis, who practices employer-side labor law in San Francisco for Vedder Price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a private dispute necessarily between an individual and a company where you would definitely see a motion to compel arbitration. You know, often those are granted. This is a very different animal,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here’s what you need to know:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Four years ago, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower sued the ride-hailing companies for the “misclassification of drivers as independent contractors” rather than as employees. The suit sought money “for unpaid wages and penalties owed to workers which will be distributed to all drivers who worked for Uber or Lyft during the time period covered by the lawsuits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit continued even after voters approved Proposition 22 in 2020 to uphold the authority of companies to classify drivers as independent contractors. Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, among other companies, spent more than $200 million to back the ballot measure, which was approved by 59% of voters in November 2020. The initiative was in response to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ab5\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a>, a state law that made it more difficult to classify drivers as independent contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11959050\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11959050\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED.jpg\" alt='A white bumpersticker with the word \"Uber\" written on it on a car bumper.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Uber sticker is seen on a car on Aug. 20, 2020 in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In its ruling last year, the state appeals court in San Francisco said California officials were not suing on behalf of drivers so much as enforcing state labor laws. “The public officials who brought these actions do not derive their authority from individual drivers but from their independent statutory authority to bring civil enforcement actions,” \u003ca href=\"https://casetext.com/case/in-re-uber-techs-wage-hour-cases\">Justice Jon Streeter wrote\u003c/a> for the California Court of Appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, the state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal. Uber and Lyft then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California attorney general’s office applauded the high court’s move on Monday. “We’re pleased by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny certiorari in this case, allowing the case to proceed in the California Superior Court,” the office said in a statement, adding that it “remains committed to defending the rights of California workers to receive the benefits and protections to which they are legally entitled.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Driving the story\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft have been locked in a years-long battle with the state of California over how to classify gig workers. In their\u003ca href=\"https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/uber-technologies-inc-v-california/\"> appeal to the Supreme Court, lawyers for Uber\u003c/a> and Lyft, joined by a coalition of California employers, contended that the Federal Arbitration Act overrides state laws and blocks state lawsuits seeking money for employees who already agreed to arbitrate claims as individuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12007450 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27783_GettyImages-461843616-qut-1180x782.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-1130.html\">provided no explanatio\u003c/a>n along with its determination not to hear appeals from\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uber\"> Uber\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lyft\"> Lyft\u003c/a> asking to block state labor lawsuits over back pay for drivers. That kicks the case back to state courts, but it means there’s a continuing lack of clarity, according to UC Santa Cruz sociology professor Steve McKay, who directs the university’s Center for Labor and Community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we have a system where employers pay for a lot of the benefits, who’s covered and how? And that’s actually falling more and more to the state to provide that then if employers aren’t doing it,” McKay said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot of money at stake, he explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you’re an independent contractor, you’re not covered by worker protections such as wage and hour laws, anti-discrimination laws, and laws providing the ability for collective bargaining. If you’re a contractor, you don’t receive unemployment benefits. When you’re temporarily jobless, you don’t get worker’s comp if you’re injured, and you’re responsible for paying all the payroll tax,” McKay said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The company take\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, the justices struck down part of California state law that\u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1573_8p6h.pdf\"> authorized private attorneys to sue\u003c/a> on behalf of a group of employees, even though they had agreed to be bound by individual arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theane Evangelis, counsel for Uber, wrote in a statement to KQED, “While the Supreme Court did not take this opportunity to weigh in now, it should do so in the future, holding once again that the FAA preempts state efforts to undermine arbitration agreements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is also important to note that the Supreme Court is still considering our constitutional challenge to AB5,” she continued. “As we explained in detail in our complaint in that case — and to which a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit unanimously agreed — in enacting AB5, the California legislature unfairly targeted my clients out of animus rather than reason. We’re asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review and give us our day in court.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Uber and Lyft’s Appeal in California Labor Case Won’t Be Heard by Supreme Court | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday declined to hear an appeal from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uber\">Uber\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lyft\">Lyft\u003c/a> that sought to block California state labor lawsuits over back pay for drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision — or lack thereof — let stand a California appeals court ruling from 2023 that allowed the state lawsuits to proceed because state officials never agreed to be bound by employer arbitration agreements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California Court of Appeal basically said, look, these state agencies, they get to go into court, and they have the authority to undertake enforcement actions to enforce the law,” said Cheryl Sabnis, who practices employer-side labor law in San Francisco for Vedder Price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a private dispute necessarily between an individual and a company where you would definitely see a motion to compel arbitration. You know, often those are granted. This is a very different animal,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here’s what you need to know:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Four years ago, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower sued the ride-hailing companies for the “misclassification of drivers as independent contractors” rather than as employees. The suit sought money “for unpaid wages and penalties owed to workers which will be distributed to all drivers who worked for Uber or Lyft during the time period covered by the lawsuits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit continued even after voters approved Proposition 22 in 2020 to uphold the authority of companies to classify drivers as independent contractors. Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, among other companies, spent more than $200 million to back the ballot measure, which was approved by 59% of voters in November 2020. The initiative was in response to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ab5\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a>, a state law that made it more difficult to classify drivers as independent contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11959050\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11959050\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED.jpg\" alt='A white bumpersticker with the word \"Uber\" written on it on a car bumper.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230824-UBER-Getty-RB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Uber sticker is seen on a car on Aug. 20, 2020 in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In its ruling last year, the state appeals court in San Francisco said California officials were not suing on behalf of drivers so much as enforcing state labor laws. “The public officials who brought these actions do not derive their authority from individual drivers but from their independent statutory authority to bring civil enforcement actions,” \u003ca href=\"https://casetext.com/case/in-re-uber-techs-wage-hour-cases\">Justice Jon Streeter wrote\u003c/a> for the California Court of Appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, the state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal. Uber and Lyft then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California attorney general’s office applauded the high court’s move on Monday. “We’re pleased by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny certiorari in this case, allowing the case to proceed in the California Superior Court,” the office said in a statement, adding that it “remains committed to defending the rights of California workers to receive the benefits and protections to which they are legally entitled.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Driving the story\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft have been locked in a years-long battle with the state of California over how to classify gig workers. In their\u003ca href=\"https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/uber-technologies-inc-v-california/\"> appeal to the Supreme Court, lawyers for Uber\u003c/a> and Lyft, joined by a coalition of California employers, contended that the Federal Arbitration Act overrides state laws and blocks state lawsuits seeking money for employees who already agreed to arbitrate claims as individuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-1130.html\">provided no explanatio\u003c/a>n along with its determination not to hear appeals from\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uber\"> Uber\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lyft\"> Lyft\u003c/a> asking to block state labor lawsuits over back pay for drivers. That kicks the case back to state courts, but it means there’s a continuing lack of clarity, according to UC Santa Cruz sociology professor Steve McKay, who directs the university’s Center for Labor and Community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we have a system where employers pay for a lot of the benefits, who’s covered and how? And that’s actually falling more and more to the state to provide that then if employers aren’t doing it,” McKay said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot of money at stake, he explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you’re an independent contractor, you’re not covered by worker protections such as wage and hour laws, anti-discrimination laws, and laws providing the ability for collective bargaining. If you’re a contractor, you don’t receive unemployment benefits. When you’re temporarily jobless, you don’t get worker’s comp if you’re injured, and you’re responsible for paying all the payroll tax,” McKay said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The company take\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, the justices struck down part of California state law that\u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1573_8p6h.pdf\"> authorized private attorneys to sue\u003c/a> on behalf of a group of employees, even though they had agreed to be bound by individual arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theane Evangelis, counsel for Uber, wrote in a statement to KQED, “While the Supreme Court did not take this opportunity to weigh in now, it should do so in the future, holding once again that the FAA preempts state efforts to undermine arbitration agreements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is also important to note that the Supreme Court is still considering our constitutional challenge to AB5,” she continued. “As we explained in detail in our complaint in that case — and to which a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit unanimously agreed — in enacting AB5, the California legislature unfairly targeted my clients out of animus rather than reason. We’re asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review and give us our day in court.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "some-gig-workers-say-they-are-seeing-little-of-prop-22-promises-and-lack-of-enforcement-from-state",
"title": "Gig Workers Are Seeing Little of Prop. 22 Promises — and Lack of Enforcement From State",
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"headTitle": "Gig Workers Are Seeing Little of Prop. 22 Promises — and Lack of Enforcement From State | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Nearly four years after California voters approved better wages and health benefits for ride-hailing drivers and delivery workers, no one is actually ensuring they are provided, according to state agencies, interviews with workers and a review of wage claims filed with the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters mandated the benefits in November 2020 when they approved \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/proposition-22/\">Proposition 22\u003c/a>. The ballot initiative was backed by gig-work companies that wanted to keep their workers classified as independent contractors and were resisting a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/06/ab-5-california-uber/\">2019 state law\u003c/a> that would have considered them employees. Prop. 22 stipulated that gig workers would remain independent contractors but be treated better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Industrial Relations Department, which handles wage claims, now tells CalMatters it does not have jurisdiction to resolve those related to Prop. 22, citing a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/07/prop-22-california-gig-work-law-upheld/\">July 25 California Supreme Court ruling\u003c/a> that upheld the law and therefore maintains that gig workers are not employees. That effectively passes enforcement responsibility on to the state attorney general, whose office was noncommittal when asked about its plans, saying that it does not adjudicate individual claims but does prosecute companies that systematically violate the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of enforcement leaves in limbo workers who in many cases have already been waiting for months or years for the state to resolve their complaints. Workers have filed 54 claims related to Prop. 22 since it went into effect in December 2020. At least 32 of them are unresolved, state records obtained by CalMatters show, although at least two of those are due to workers not following through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the unresolved claims, one goes back to 2021, several are from 2022 and 2023, and about half are from this year, through May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emails included with the claims show that the Industrial Relations Department told one worker it was severely understaffed, and seven others, starting in 2022, that it did not have jurisdiction to help them since they were independent contractors rather than employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the number of claims filed with the state represent just a fraction of the more than 1 million gig workers in California, they give a glimpse into what happens when workers turn to the state for help instead of the companies that backed Prop. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers say in the claims, and in interviews with CalMatters, that companies such as Uber, Lyft and Instacart failed to provide higher wages and health care stipends under the law, and that the companies’ representatives sometimes act confused or take a long time to handle their requests for Prop. 22 benefits. The gig companies have touted the law as something that has boosted pay and benefits, and have said it has helped gig workers hang on to work they can do whenever they want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laura Robinson is among the workers who have had to aggressively pursue what they believe they’re owed under the law. For the past year, she has filed claims with the state and fought two different gig-work companies for different benefits promised under Prop. 22. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12003065\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/052024_Laura-Robinson_ZS_CM_09-1-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"1000\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12003065\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura Robinson in her home in Irvine on May 20, 2024. Robinson, who was in a car accident last year while working for Instacart, was recently informed she will receive occupational accident insurance after months of effort. \u003ccite>(Laura Robinson in her home in Irvine on May 20, 2024. Robinson, who was in a car accident last year while working for Instacart, was recently informed she will receive occupational accident insurance after months of effort. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> She was making a delivery for Instacart a year ago, she said, when a driver making a U-turn hit her, totaling her car. Now, she said, she has lingering back pain, and has only been able to make a total of a few deliveries over the past several months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson, who lives in Irvine, tried to get Instacart to retroactively provide her with occupational accident insurance as required under Prop. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she first contacted Instacart about the collision, “four or five different (representatives) told me on chat ‘we don’t provide insurance,’ but I told them this is California,” Robinson said. “Finally someone said ‘oh yeah, I know what you’re talking about.’ ” Robinson had some difficulties documenting the accident, because, she said, the responding Torrance Police Department officer rode away on his motorcycle without writing a report. But after about seven months, she finally heard back from Zurich, Instacart’s insurance provider. She received a lump sum, and monthly payments for the time that she has been largely unable to work, according to bank statements and emails from Zurich to her, which she shared with CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instacart spokesperson Charlotte Healow said all the company’s shopper support agents should know about “shopper injury protection” and that there is information in the app about how to go about filing claims. But Robinson showed CalMatters several screenshots of her chats with support agents who either thought she was asking about health insurance or who told her someone would email her back about her situation — which eventually happened, though it took a few tries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson said she had also struggled to get a smaller gig platform, food delivery app Curri, to comply with the law. Under Prop. 22, ride-hailing and delivery gig companies are supposed to pay her 120% of minimum wage for the time she spends driving, making up for any shortfall in the pay she receives, but Curri had not done so, she said. Not knowing where to turn, she asked a few different state agencies for help, including the attorney general’s office. She even lodged a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s National Consumer Complaint Database. After several months, the Industrial Relations Department scheduled a hearing for her case for Aug. 29. Last week, the department told her the company decided to settle and pay her what it owed, according to emails and a release she signed that she shared with CalMatters. Curri’s marketing director referred CalMatters to the company’s legal department, which did not return three emailed requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson saw the upside of Prop. 22 after it passed. She liked being able to continue setting her own hours and saw a bump in her earnings delivering for Grubhub due to the law. But she is now frustrated about how tough it was to figure out who’s supposed to be upholding it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not helpful if it’s not enforced or applied,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson said the deputy labor commissioner she was in touch with throughout the process of pursuing her claim against Curri told her last week that because Prop. 22 was upheld by the state Supreme Court — effectively ensuring gig workers cannot be considered employees — the department would no longer be handling similar cases because it does not have jurisdiction over independent contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What gig workers are complaining about\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Prop. 22-related wage claims reviewed by CalMatters were part of a larger set of nearly 200 claims that gig workers filed with the Industrial Relations Department since the law took effect in December 2020. Citing the California Public Records Act, CalMatters sought all wage claims in that timeframe involving gig companies, but the state did not provide any claims against DoorDash, which is one of the biggest of the app-based gig companies. A department spokesperson could not explain why.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the claimants sought delayed or unpaid wages, including adjustments owed under Prop. 22. Others sought health care stipends required under the gig-work law, and one driver said he sought occupational accident insurance but did not receive it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The claims also shed light on the mechanics of how app companies are allegedly withholding wages. In them, some gig workers claimed that they were deactivated — kicked off or fired by the app — before receiving all their wages. [aside label=\"Related Stories\" tag=\"proposition-22\"]The records also indicate the state had trouble holding app companies to account in a timely fashion. In emails about the claims, some workers frequently asked for updates about their cases and complained about limited communications from the state. This prompted one supervisor in the Industrial Relations Department’s San Francisco office to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CM-1006930-PRA-HQ-46848.pdf\">respond by email\u003c/a> on May 30, 2024, seemingly noting that gig workers’ complaints were just a fraction of the array of worker complaints the state fields: “I am working with 40% staff shortage. There are over 3,000 cases, most of which are older than yours, and only seven people (total) to handle them.” The department did not respond to requests for comment on whether this shortfall persists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monetary wage claims ranged from about $2 to nearly $420,000. Most — 54% — were against ride-hailing and delivery giant Uber and 25% were against its rides competitor Lyft. There were 17 claims against grocery-delivery app maker Instacart, seven against food-delivery platform Grubhub, four against Target-owned delivery service Shipt and three against UPS-owned delivery service Roadie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Industrial Relations Department has long tried to resolve gig workers’ wage disputes. The labor commissioner, who heads the department’s Labor Standards Enforcement Division, still has pending \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Lawsuits-Uber-Lyft.html\">wage-theft lawsuits\u003c/a> against Uber and Lyft that it filed in 2020 on behalf of about 5,000 workers with wage claims going back to 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those cases predate Prop. 22, originating during a period when gig workers were misclassified and should have been considered employees under California law, the labor commissioner argues in the wage-theft suits. After Prop. 22 passed, opponents challenged it and the case ended up before the California Supreme Court, which upheld the law in July, effectively affirming that drivers are independent contractors, not employees. A department spokesperson, Peter Melton, said the ruling means the department can no longer handle claims about missing wage adjustments under the earnings guarantee, unpaid health care stipends or other aspects of the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Department representatives made similar statements to workers even before Prop. 22 was upheld, the claims records show. An email response, dated March 26, 2024, from the department to an Uber driver \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CM-1007106-PRA-HQ-46848.pdf\">stated\u003c/a>: “The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement enforces employment law. We cannot enforce Prop 22 earnings because they aren’t ‘wages’ earned by ‘employees’.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This echoes the position lawyers for Uber and Lyft took in some of the records when responding to wage claims. They asked the state to dismiss such claims, writing in \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CM-1003300-PRA-HQ-46848.pdf\">one email\u003c/a>: “As of December 16, 2020, drivers using Lyft’s platform are considered independent contractors by statute and, thus, cannot seek relief under the Labor Code.” [aside label=\"More Coverage\" tag=\"gig-economy\"]Now that the department has disavowed responsibility for Prop. 22 claims, the question remains: Who will enforce the law?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott Kronland, the attorney for Service Employees International Union California who unsuccessfully argued before the state Supreme Court that it should throw out Prop. 22, told CalMatters: “I’ve also heard from drivers that they’re not getting the things they’re promised by Prop. 22.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kronland said their recourse, after the ruling, is to press local prosecutors or the attorney general, who have the ability to hold companies liable for unlawful business practices under the state’s Unfair Competition Law. Still, he said “enforcement is something the Legislature could clarify.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an unsigned email response to CalMatters’ questions after the state Supreme Court decision, including whether it planned to pursue Prop.-22-related cases against gig-work companies, the attorney general’s office said gig workers can submit complaints at \u003ca href=\"http://oag.ca.gov/report\">oag.ca.gov/report\u003c/a>. The email added: “Although the Attorney General does not represent individual workers or adjudicate individual complaints by holding administrative hearings like (the Department of Industrial Relations), DOJ brings lawsuits to hold accountable companies that systematically break the law, for example through widespread violations of wage and hour standards. Reports or complaints of employer misconduct are an important part of our work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When CalMatters previously asked the attorney general’s office for copies of any wage complaints it had received from gig workers thus far, a spokesperson responded that the office was representing the state in its effort to defend \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/05/prop-22-oral-arguments/\">Prop. 22 before the California Supreme Court\u003c/a> — and referred CalMatters back to the Industrial Relations Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What gig companies share about Prop. 22’s impact\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Gig companies have said that, due in part to the initiative’s earnings guarantee, workers now make more than $30 an hour. But a May study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that, for California ride-hailing drivers, average earnings after expenses, not including tips, is about $7.12 an hour, and for delivery workers, $5.93. With tips, drivers’ average hourly earnings are $9.09 an hour, and $13.62 for delivery workers, the study found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To better understand the impact of Prop. 22, CalMatters asked each of the four largest gig companies — Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart — the following:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>How much they have spent on delivering on each of Prop. 22’s four main promises:\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>120% of minimum wage earnings guarantee\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Health care stipends\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Occupational accident insurance\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Accidental death insurance\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How many gig workers have received each of the promised benefits.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Whether they have passed on costs to consumers, and if so, where they account for those customer fees in their public financial filings.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How they handle complaints or issues related to their promises.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Lyft said 85% of California Lyft drivers who have driven for the company since Prop. 22 went into effect have received at least one wage “top up” — the additional money drivers receive under the earnings guarantee — through the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, though spokesperson Shadawn Reddick-Smith would not provide specific numbers of Lyft drivers in the state. None of the other companies would give any information on their delivery of the wage guarantee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instacart spokesperson Healow said the company has paid out about $40 million in health care subsidies to its delivery workers, which she said number in the tens of thousands in the state. She also said about 11% of California shoppers have become eligible for a health care stipend since Prop. 22 took effect, and that 28% of those eligible shoppers have redeemed their subsidy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To qualify for the health care stipends, workers must work at least 15 hours a week each quarter, and be enrolled in health insurance that is not provided by an employer or the government. Because the gig companies won’t share how many workers have received the stipends, CalMatters asked the state health insurance exchange, Covered California, if it had data that might help shed some light. Seven percent of the 1.6 million people who used Covered California reported doing gig work in a 2023 survey, said a spokesperson for the exchange, Jagdip Dhillon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DoorDash spokesperson Parker Dorrough said that just 11% of eligible couriers used the health care stipend in the fourth quarter of 2023 but that 80% of DoorDash’s delivery workers had health care coverage through another source, such as their full-time job or spouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the other companies would give any information on their delivery of the stipend. Lyft’s Reddick-Smith said 80% of California Lyft drivers already have health care coverage, including 13% who bought their own coverage (this second group is the set of drivers who qualified for the stipend).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12003067\" class=\"wp-caption center\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1721\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12003067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-1536x1033.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-2048x1377.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-1920x1291.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign is posted on a car as gig workers with the California Gig Workers Union stage a rally against Proposition 22 outside of the California First Appellate District Court of Appeal on December 13, 2022 in San Francisco, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>None of the four companies provided the numbers of workers who have used occupational accident or accidental death insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the companies would disclose how they account for the fees they charge customers for Prop. 22 expenses, nor are the fees included in their publicly available financial filings. Instacart said it does not charge customers for expenses associated with Prop. 22. Lyft said its per-ride service fee includes a 75-cent “California Driver Benefits Fee.” Uber charges customers a “CA Driver Benefits” fee for each ride and delivery in the state and spokesperson Zahid Arab said the company has “invested more than we collected in fees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber published a blog post after CalMatters’ questions, saying it has “invested” more than $1 billion in Prop. 22 benefits. Arab would not break down these benefits further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for complaints related to the promises, each of the companies said workers should contact support agents, whom they can usually get in touch with in the app; an Instacart spokesperson said workers can make some claims directly in the company’s app.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Seeing little from Prop. 22\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Ride-hailing driver Sergio Avedian last year helped raise public awareness of the lack of Prop. 22 enforcement. Specifically, he homed in on one narrow issue: Under the law, gig-work companies were supposed to adjust for inflation each year the reimbursement they pay to drivers for mileage. Avedian said no such adjustment had taken place for two consecutive years. And as a podcaster and contributor to the Rideshare Guy, a popular gig-work blog, he had a high profile. Avedian and a fellow eagle-eyed driver started pestering the state’s treasurer’s office, which had not published the adjusted rates as stipulated under Prop 22. The office eventually did so and, the Los Angeles Times reported, put the state’s gig workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-06-01/column-uber-david-and-goliath\">on track to get back pay for the mileage expenses\u003c/a> — pay potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a year later, Avedian is curious about gig-company math again. He has asked Uber some of the same questions CalMatters did — including how the company accounts for the driver-benefits fee it adds on to each ride or delivery. The company’s response to him was similar — it provided few specifics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides his concern about the issue as a driver, Avedian said “as a consumer who is paying into the Prop. 22 fund on every trip or delivery, I would like to know the accounting of where my money is going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the gig companies were campaigning for Prop. 22, they implored voters to “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7QJLgdQaf4\">help create a better path forward for drivers\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Avedian and other gig workers in California say their paths have not changed much. Many still complain about low wages, little transparency from the companies and lack of worker protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yasha Timenovich said he has worked as a ride-hailing driver for a decade, first with Uber, now with Lyft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I work 12, 13, 14 hours a day,” said Timenovich, who drives in the Los Angeles area. “But the time I sit and wait at LAX is not accounted for.” He said he has to work long hours to try to make sure he has enough earnings. “We’re not completely independent contractors. We’re not employees. We’re sort of a hybrid model of theirs. We’re pretty much nobody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also said he must obtain health insurance through Medi-Cal, California’s health care coverage for low-income residents — which in turn means he doesn’t qualify for the health care stipend. He said every driver he knows “is on Medi-Cal because they can’t afford health insurance. I don’t know anyone who has (the stipend).”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many drivers voted for Prop. 22, he said. But “what we were told was a lie.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles cm-manual-eoa-recirc wpnbha show-image image-alignleft ts-3 is-1 is-landscape cm-manual-eoa-recirc has-text-align-left\">\n\u003cdiv data-posts=\"\" data-current-post-id=\"438437\">\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Gig companies pushed for Prop. 22, promising improved pay and benefits for California workers. But when companies fail to deliver, the state isn’t doing much to help push back.",
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"title": "Gig Workers Are Seeing Little of Prop. 22 Promises — and Lack of Enforcement From State | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Nearly four years after California voters approved better wages and health benefits for ride-hailing drivers and delivery workers, no one is actually ensuring they are provided, according to state agencies, interviews with workers and a review of wage claims filed with the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters mandated the benefits in November 2020 when they approved \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/proposition-22/\">Proposition 22\u003c/a>. The ballot initiative was backed by gig-work companies that wanted to keep their workers classified as independent contractors and were resisting a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/06/ab-5-california-uber/\">2019 state law\u003c/a> that would have considered them employees. Prop. 22 stipulated that gig workers would remain independent contractors but be treated better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Industrial Relations Department, which handles wage claims, now tells CalMatters it does not have jurisdiction to resolve those related to Prop. 22, citing a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/07/prop-22-california-gig-work-law-upheld/\">July 25 California Supreme Court ruling\u003c/a> that upheld the law and therefore maintains that gig workers are not employees. That effectively passes enforcement responsibility on to the state attorney general, whose office was noncommittal when asked about its plans, saying that it does not adjudicate individual claims but does prosecute companies that systematically violate the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of enforcement leaves in limbo workers who in many cases have already been waiting for months or years for the state to resolve their complaints. Workers have filed 54 claims related to Prop. 22 since it went into effect in December 2020. At least 32 of them are unresolved, state records obtained by CalMatters show, although at least two of those are due to workers not following through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the unresolved claims, one goes back to 2021, several are from 2022 and 2023, and about half are from this year, through May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emails included with the claims show that the Industrial Relations Department told one worker it was severely understaffed, and seven others, starting in 2022, that it did not have jurisdiction to help them since they were independent contractors rather than employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the number of claims filed with the state represent just a fraction of the more than 1 million gig workers in California, they give a glimpse into what happens when workers turn to the state for help instead of the companies that backed Prop. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers say in the claims, and in interviews with CalMatters, that companies such as Uber, Lyft and Instacart failed to provide higher wages and health care stipends under the law, and that the companies’ representatives sometimes act confused or take a long time to handle their requests for Prop. 22 benefits. The gig companies have touted the law as something that has boosted pay and benefits, and have said it has helped gig workers hang on to work they can do whenever they want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laura Robinson is among the workers who have had to aggressively pursue what they believe they’re owed under the law. For the past year, she has filed claims with the state and fought two different gig-work companies for different benefits promised under Prop. 22. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12003065\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/052024_Laura-Robinson_ZS_CM_09-1-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"1000\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12003065\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura Robinson in her home in Irvine on May 20, 2024. Robinson, who was in a car accident last year while working for Instacart, was recently informed she will receive occupational accident insurance after months of effort. \u003ccite>(Laura Robinson in her home in Irvine on May 20, 2024. Robinson, who was in a car accident last year while working for Instacart, was recently informed she will receive occupational accident insurance after months of effort. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> She was making a delivery for Instacart a year ago, she said, when a driver making a U-turn hit her, totaling her car. Now, she said, she has lingering back pain, and has only been able to make a total of a few deliveries over the past several months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson, who lives in Irvine, tried to get Instacart to retroactively provide her with occupational accident insurance as required under Prop. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she first contacted Instacart about the collision, “four or five different (representatives) told me on chat ‘we don’t provide insurance,’ but I told them this is California,” Robinson said. “Finally someone said ‘oh yeah, I know what you’re talking about.’ ” Robinson had some difficulties documenting the accident, because, she said, the responding Torrance Police Department officer rode away on his motorcycle without writing a report. But after about seven months, she finally heard back from Zurich, Instacart’s insurance provider. She received a lump sum, and monthly payments for the time that she has been largely unable to work, according to bank statements and emails from Zurich to her, which she shared with CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instacart spokesperson Charlotte Healow said all the company’s shopper support agents should know about “shopper injury protection” and that there is information in the app about how to go about filing claims. But Robinson showed CalMatters several screenshots of her chats with support agents who either thought she was asking about health insurance or who told her someone would email her back about her situation — which eventually happened, though it took a few tries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson said she had also struggled to get a smaller gig platform, food delivery app Curri, to comply with the law. Under Prop. 22, ride-hailing and delivery gig companies are supposed to pay her 120% of minimum wage for the time she spends driving, making up for any shortfall in the pay she receives, but Curri had not done so, she said. Not knowing where to turn, she asked a few different state agencies for help, including the attorney general’s office. She even lodged a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s National Consumer Complaint Database. After several months, the Industrial Relations Department scheduled a hearing for her case for Aug. 29. Last week, the department told her the company decided to settle and pay her what it owed, according to emails and a release she signed that she shared with CalMatters. Curri’s marketing director referred CalMatters to the company’s legal department, which did not return three emailed requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson saw the upside of Prop. 22 after it passed. She liked being able to continue setting her own hours and saw a bump in her earnings delivering for Grubhub due to the law. But she is now frustrated about how tough it was to figure out who’s supposed to be upholding it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not helpful if it’s not enforced or applied,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson said the deputy labor commissioner she was in touch with throughout the process of pursuing her claim against Curri told her last week that because Prop. 22 was upheld by the state Supreme Court — effectively ensuring gig workers cannot be considered employees — the department would no longer be handling similar cases because it does not have jurisdiction over independent contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What gig workers are complaining about\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Prop. 22-related wage claims reviewed by CalMatters were part of a larger set of nearly 200 claims that gig workers filed with the Industrial Relations Department since the law took effect in December 2020. Citing the California Public Records Act, CalMatters sought all wage claims in that timeframe involving gig companies, but the state did not provide any claims against DoorDash, which is one of the biggest of the app-based gig companies. A department spokesperson could not explain why.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the claimants sought delayed or unpaid wages, including adjustments owed under Prop. 22. Others sought health care stipends required under the gig-work law, and one driver said he sought occupational accident insurance but did not receive it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The claims also shed light on the mechanics of how app companies are allegedly withholding wages. In them, some gig workers claimed that they were deactivated — kicked off or fired by the app — before receiving all their wages. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The records also indicate the state had trouble holding app companies to account in a timely fashion. In emails about the claims, some workers frequently asked for updates about their cases and complained about limited communications from the state. This prompted one supervisor in the Industrial Relations Department’s San Francisco office to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CM-1006930-PRA-HQ-46848.pdf\">respond by email\u003c/a> on May 30, 2024, seemingly noting that gig workers’ complaints were just a fraction of the array of worker complaints the state fields: “I am working with 40% staff shortage. There are over 3,000 cases, most of which are older than yours, and only seven people (total) to handle them.” The department did not respond to requests for comment on whether this shortfall persists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monetary wage claims ranged from about $2 to nearly $420,000. Most — 54% — were against ride-hailing and delivery giant Uber and 25% were against its rides competitor Lyft. There were 17 claims against grocery-delivery app maker Instacart, seven against food-delivery platform Grubhub, four against Target-owned delivery service Shipt and three against UPS-owned delivery service Roadie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Industrial Relations Department has long tried to resolve gig workers’ wage disputes. The labor commissioner, who heads the department’s Labor Standards Enforcement Division, still has pending \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Lawsuits-Uber-Lyft.html\">wage-theft lawsuits\u003c/a> against Uber and Lyft that it filed in 2020 on behalf of about 5,000 workers with wage claims going back to 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those cases predate Prop. 22, originating during a period when gig workers were misclassified and should have been considered employees under California law, the labor commissioner argues in the wage-theft suits. After Prop. 22 passed, opponents challenged it and the case ended up before the California Supreme Court, which upheld the law in July, effectively affirming that drivers are independent contractors, not employees. A department spokesperson, Peter Melton, said the ruling means the department can no longer handle claims about missing wage adjustments under the earnings guarantee, unpaid health care stipends or other aspects of the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Department representatives made similar statements to workers even before Prop. 22 was upheld, the claims records show. An email response, dated March 26, 2024, from the department to an Uber driver \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CM-1007106-PRA-HQ-46848.pdf\">stated\u003c/a>: “The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement enforces employment law. We cannot enforce Prop 22 earnings because they aren’t ‘wages’ earned by ‘employees’.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This echoes the position lawyers for Uber and Lyft took in some of the records when responding to wage claims. They asked the state to dismiss such claims, writing in \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CM-1003300-PRA-HQ-46848.pdf\">one email\u003c/a>: “As of December 16, 2020, drivers using Lyft’s platform are considered independent contractors by statute and, thus, cannot seek relief under the Labor Code.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now that the department has disavowed responsibility for Prop. 22 claims, the question remains: Who will enforce the law?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott Kronland, the attorney for Service Employees International Union California who unsuccessfully argued before the state Supreme Court that it should throw out Prop. 22, told CalMatters: “I’ve also heard from drivers that they’re not getting the things they’re promised by Prop. 22.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kronland said their recourse, after the ruling, is to press local prosecutors or the attorney general, who have the ability to hold companies liable for unlawful business practices under the state’s Unfair Competition Law. Still, he said “enforcement is something the Legislature could clarify.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an unsigned email response to CalMatters’ questions after the state Supreme Court decision, including whether it planned to pursue Prop.-22-related cases against gig-work companies, the attorney general’s office said gig workers can submit complaints at \u003ca href=\"http://oag.ca.gov/report\">oag.ca.gov/report\u003c/a>. The email added: “Although the Attorney General does not represent individual workers or adjudicate individual complaints by holding administrative hearings like (the Department of Industrial Relations), DOJ brings lawsuits to hold accountable companies that systematically break the law, for example through widespread violations of wage and hour standards. Reports or complaints of employer misconduct are an important part of our work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When CalMatters previously asked the attorney general’s office for copies of any wage complaints it had received from gig workers thus far, a spokesperson responded that the office was representing the state in its effort to defend \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/05/prop-22-oral-arguments/\">Prop. 22 before the California Supreme Court\u003c/a> — and referred CalMatters back to the Industrial Relations Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What gig companies share about Prop. 22’s impact\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Gig companies have said that, due in part to the initiative’s earnings guarantee, workers now make more than $30 an hour. But a May study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that, for California ride-hailing drivers, average earnings after expenses, not including tips, is about $7.12 an hour, and for delivery workers, $5.93. With tips, drivers’ average hourly earnings are $9.09 an hour, and $13.62 for delivery workers, the study found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To better understand the impact of Prop. 22, CalMatters asked each of the four largest gig companies — Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart — the following:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>How much they have spent on delivering on each of Prop. 22’s four main promises:\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>120% of minimum wage earnings guarantee\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Health care stipends\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Occupational accident insurance\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Accidental death insurance\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How many gig workers have received each of the promised benefits.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Whether they have passed on costs to consumers, and if so, where they account for those customer fees in their public financial filings.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How they handle complaints or issues related to their promises.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Lyft said 85% of California Lyft drivers who have driven for the company since Prop. 22 went into effect have received at least one wage “top up” — the additional money drivers receive under the earnings guarantee — through the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, though spokesperson Shadawn Reddick-Smith would not provide specific numbers of Lyft drivers in the state. None of the other companies would give any information on their delivery of the wage guarantee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instacart spokesperson Healow said the company has paid out about $40 million in health care subsidies to its delivery workers, which she said number in the tens of thousands in the state. She also said about 11% of California shoppers have become eligible for a health care stipend since Prop. 22 took effect, and that 28% of those eligible shoppers have redeemed their subsidy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To qualify for the health care stipends, workers must work at least 15 hours a week each quarter, and be enrolled in health insurance that is not provided by an employer or the government. Because the gig companies won’t share how many workers have received the stipends, CalMatters asked the state health insurance exchange, Covered California, if it had data that might help shed some light. Seven percent of the 1.6 million people who used Covered California reported doing gig work in a 2023 survey, said a spokesperson for the exchange, Jagdip Dhillon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DoorDash spokesperson Parker Dorrough said that just 11% of eligible couriers used the health care stipend in the fourth quarter of 2023 but that 80% of DoorDash’s delivery workers had health care coverage through another source, such as their full-time job or spouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the other companies would give any information on their delivery of the stipend. Lyft’s Reddick-Smith said 80% of California Lyft drivers already have health care coverage, including 13% who bought their own coverage (this second group is the set of drivers who qualified for the stipend).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12003067\" class=\"wp-caption center\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1721\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12003067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-1536x1033.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-2048x1377.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/GettyImages-1448862196-1-1920x1291.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign is posted on a car as gig workers with the California Gig Workers Union stage a rally against Proposition 22 outside of the California First Appellate District Court of Appeal on December 13, 2022 in San Francisco, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>None of the four companies provided the numbers of workers who have used occupational accident or accidental death insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the companies would disclose how they account for the fees they charge customers for Prop. 22 expenses, nor are the fees included in their publicly available financial filings. Instacart said it does not charge customers for expenses associated with Prop. 22. Lyft said its per-ride service fee includes a 75-cent “California Driver Benefits Fee.” Uber charges customers a “CA Driver Benefits” fee for each ride and delivery in the state and spokesperson Zahid Arab said the company has “invested more than we collected in fees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber published a blog post after CalMatters’ questions, saying it has “invested” more than $1 billion in Prop. 22 benefits. Arab would not break down these benefits further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for complaints related to the promises, each of the companies said workers should contact support agents, whom they can usually get in touch with in the app; an Instacart spokesperson said workers can make some claims directly in the company’s app.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Seeing little from Prop. 22\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Ride-hailing driver Sergio Avedian last year helped raise public awareness of the lack of Prop. 22 enforcement. Specifically, he homed in on one narrow issue: Under the law, gig-work companies were supposed to adjust for inflation each year the reimbursement they pay to drivers for mileage. Avedian said no such adjustment had taken place for two consecutive years. And as a podcaster and contributor to the Rideshare Guy, a popular gig-work blog, he had a high profile. Avedian and a fellow eagle-eyed driver started pestering the state’s treasurer’s office, which had not published the adjusted rates as stipulated under Prop 22. The office eventually did so and, the Los Angeles Times reported, put the state’s gig workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-06-01/column-uber-david-and-goliath\">on track to get back pay for the mileage expenses\u003c/a> — pay potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a year later, Avedian is curious about gig-company math again. He has asked Uber some of the same questions CalMatters did — including how the company accounts for the driver-benefits fee it adds on to each ride or delivery. The company’s response to him was similar — it provided few specifics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides his concern about the issue as a driver, Avedian said “as a consumer who is paying into the Prop. 22 fund on every trip or delivery, I would like to know the accounting of where my money is going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the gig companies were campaigning for Prop. 22, they implored voters to “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7QJLgdQaf4\">help create a better path forward for drivers\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Avedian and other gig workers in California say their paths have not changed much. Many still complain about low wages, little transparency from the companies and lack of worker protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yasha Timenovich said he has worked as a ride-hailing driver for a decade, first with Uber, now with Lyft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I work 12, 13, 14 hours a day,” said Timenovich, who drives in the Los Angeles area. “But the time I sit and wait at LAX is not accounted for.” He said he has to work long hours to try to make sure he has enough earnings. “We’re not completely independent contractors. We’re not employees. We’re sort of a hybrid model of theirs. We’re pretty much nobody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also said he must obtain health insurance through Medi-Cal, California’s health care coverage for low-income residents — which in turn means he doesn’t qualify for the health care stipend. He said every driver he knows “is on Medi-Cal because they can’t afford health insurance. I don’t know anyone who has (the stipend).”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many drivers voted for Prop. 22, he said. But “what we were told was a lie.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles cm-manual-eoa-recirc wpnbha show-image image-alignleft ts-3 is-1 is-landscape cm-manual-eoa-recirc has-text-align-left\">\n\u003cdiv data-posts=\"\" data-current-post-id=\"438437\">\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As soon as next year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uber\">Uber\u003c/a> users in certain cities could have the option of summoning one of Cruise’s driverless Chevy Bolts, an announcement both companies made this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The feature won’t be available in San Francisco — where both companies are based — or anywhere else in California after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965443/california-dmv-pumps-the-brakes-on-cruise-driverless-taxis-in-san-francisco\">Department of Motor Vehicles pulled Cruise’s testing permits\u003c/a> last October because it found the vehicles were “not safe for the public’s operation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California DMV first granted Cruise the authority to test autonomous vehicles with safety drivers in 2015, and last August, the company was cleared by the California Public Utilities Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/news-and-media/dmv-authorizes-cruise-to-test-driverless-vehicles-in-san-francisco/\">to operate without a driver in San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in October, a pedestrian who had been hit by a human driver in San Francisco became pinned under the tire of a Cruise vehicle after it dragged the pedestrian as it came to a stop. Cruise, at the time, called it an “extremely rare event” but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965752/cruise-suspends-driverless-robotaxi-service-nationwide\">suspended testing its driverless vehicles\u003c/a> across the country shortly after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s permits in California remain suspended indefinitely, according to the DMV. As of May, the agency said it had “provided Cruise with additional questions regarding the reinstatement of their permits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tiffany Testo, a spokesperson for Cruise, told KQED that the first cities to have the driverless option on Uber would likely be where Cruise is currently conducting supervised testing with safety drivers: Phoenix, Dallas or Houston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID=news_11993706 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Waymo-1020x601.jpg']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise resumed safety testing in those three cities in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The partnership brings together two companies that have fallen behind in the race for autonomous robotaxis to Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are excited to partner with Uber to bring the benefits of safe, reliable, autonomous driving to even more people, unlocking a new era of urban mobility,” Marc Whitten, CEO of Cruise, \u003ca href=\"https://www.getcruise.com/news/blog/2024/uber-and-cruise-to-deploy-autonomous-vehicles-on-the-uber-platform/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the joint statement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi cited the company’s position as “the largest mobility and delivery platform.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, Cruise agreed to \u003ca href=\"https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2022/INCLA-PE22014-10746.pdf\">recall nearly 1,200 robotaxis\u003c/a>, ending an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board over unnecessarily hard braking. The NTSB says those issues have since been “remedied through software updates that are intended to reduce the risk of unexpected braking maneuvers, including by improvements to perception, prediction, and planning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise’s safety issues also centered on the vehicles’ behavior around pedestrians in roadways, including crosswalks, in some situations. The NTSB previously raised concerns that Cruise’s vehicles didn’t exercise the right amount of caution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As soon as next year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uber\">Uber\u003c/a> users in certain cities could have the option of summoning one of Cruise’s driverless Chevy Bolts, an announcement both companies made this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The feature won’t be available in San Francisco — where both companies are based — or anywhere else in California after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965443/california-dmv-pumps-the-brakes-on-cruise-driverless-taxis-in-san-francisco\">Department of Motor Vehicles pulled Cruise’s testing permits\u003c/a> last October because it found the vehicles were “not safe for the public’s operation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California DMV first granted Cruise the authority to test autonomous vehicles with safety drivers in 2015, and last August, the company was cleared by the California Public Utilities Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/news-and-media/dmv-authorizes-cruise-to-test-driverless-vehicles-in-san-francisco/\">to operate without a driver in San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in October, a pedestrian who had been hit by a human driver in San Francisco became pinned under the tire of a Cruise vehicle after it dragged the pedestrian as it came to a stop. Cruise, at the time, called it an “extremely rare event” but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965752/cruise-suspends-driverless-robotaxi-service-nationwide\">suspended testing its driverless vehicles\u003c/a> across the country shortly after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s permits in California remain suspended indefinitely, according to the DMV. As of May, the agency said it had “provided Cruise with additional questions regarding the reinstatement of their permits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tiffany Testo, a spokesperson for Cruise, told KQED that the first cities to have the driverless option on Uber would likely be where Cruise is currently conducting supervised testing with safety drivers: Phoenix, Dallas or Houston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise resumed safety testing in those three cities in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The partnership brings together two companies that have fallen behind in the race for autonomous robotaxis to Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are excited to partner with Uber to bring the benefits of safe, reliable, autonomous driving to even more people, unlocking a new era of urban mobility,” Marc Whitten, CEO of Cruise, \u003ca href=\"https://www.getcruise.com/news/blog/2024/uber-and-cruise-to-deploy-autonomous-vehicles-on-the-uber-platform/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the joint statement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi cited the company’s position as “the largest mobility and delivery platform.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, Cruise agreed to \u003ca href=\"https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2022/INCLA-PE22014-10746.pdf\">recall nearly 1,200 robotaxis\u003c/a>, ending an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board over unnecessarily hard braking. The NTSB says those issues have since been “remedied through software updates that are intended to reduce the risk of unexpected braking maneuvers, including by improvements to perception, prediction, and planning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise’s safety issues also centered on the vehicles’ behavior around pedestrians in roadways, including crosswalks, in some situations. The NTSB previously raised concerns that Cruise’s vehicles didn’t exercise the right amount of caution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Uber Drivers Rally Outside Company's San José Facility to Protest 'Unfair' Deactivations",
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"content": "\u003cp>People who drive for Uber are demanding the popular ride-hailing app company increase transparency and support over what they call unfair driver “deactivations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About three dozen people, including drivers as well as advocates and organizers from Gig Workers Rising, rallied outside the Uber Greenlight driver support center in South San José on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You get up, you get ready for work, you go to turn on your app, and you’re completely deactivated from the application,” Marianna Porras, a driver and organizer with Gig Workers Rising, told KQED. “You’re not able to use the platform, and you can’t speak to anybody about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porras and other drivers said being deactivated costs them their livelihoods for days, weeks or months at a time, putting further financial and emotional strain on workers already feeling exploited by the gig economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rally on Tuesday was part of a multi-city effort launching a new campaign called \u003ca href=\"https://activaterespect.com/\">Activate Respect\u003c/a>, calling out the company for processes the group wants revamped and rebalanced so drivers are prioritized more equally with customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s one of the latest campaigns by gig workers to demand better treatment, benefits, pay and protections from the giant companies running these markets, as the companies have pushed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11987299/california-supreme-court-appears-hesitant-to-overrule-voters-on-controversial-gig-worker-law\">controversial legislation\u003c/a> to avoid spending more on employee overhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deactivations occur for a wide variety of reasons, drivers say, including minor customer complaints, which can sometimes be falsely filed by a rider seeking a discount or free ride from the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A driver could also be deactivated if the application’s facial recognition software isn’t able to match the driver’s face on a given day to their identification document on file.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drivers said one of the biggest issues they face is not being able to get clear information about why they are being deactivated. They often say they receive boilerplate or vague notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once deactivated, “it’s next to impossible to speak to a human being who can fix it,” the campaign’s website says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José City Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who spoke at the rally in support of the drivers, said workers at most jobs have more rights and clearer processes when mistakes are made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your boss has a conversation with you. There’s an opportunity to correct performance, there’s an opportunity to provide feedback, right? You’re not just fired out of nowhere,” Ortiz said. “You don’t just wake up, getting ready to make money for your family, to put food on the table, and find out that your job was stolen from you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said Uber is “essentially taking advantage of communities of color and immigrants,” including South Americans who often fill driver roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber declined an interview request from KQED on Tuesday, but in an emailed statement, a spokesperson said the company is “fully committed” to improving how it serves drivers and creating a safe and equitable platform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the years, we’ve implemented significant improvements based on driver feedback, including establishing an appeals process for deactivations and safeguarding drivers from false allegations,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a \u003ca href=\"https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/driver-app/deactivation-review/\">company webpage\u003c/a>, Uber said when deactivations occur, it “will make every effort to be clear, empathetic, and consistent in our communications and specific and transparent about the reasons behind our decision, except where doing so poses a risk to other users.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also notes that the company endeavors to give advance notice to drivers but that it’s not always possible, and drivers “should have the ability to request a review of any decision that removes access for more than 7 days and can’t be resolved by the driver or delivery person on their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11990750,news_11986533,forum_2010101905828\"]Activate Respect’s website said when customers experience problems with the app, Uber prioritizes addressing it, but that’s not always the case for drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While we struggle to get back into our accounts, Uber’s appeal process is confusing and ineffective for most of us,” the site said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porras said the problems around deactivations are another form of exploitation by Uber and other gig economy companies that, when taken together, make workers who create the company’s wealth feel like they have little control or job security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want investigations to be done before the drivers are deactivated,” Porras said. “Give a fair investigation without taking them off the platform before knowing the details of everything that is about the situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dora Manriquez, a driver and leader with Gig Workers Rising, said she came to the rally to stand up for fellow drivers who are afraid to speak up against the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Uber has made them believe that they don’t have rights,” Manriquez said. “We do have the rights even though they make us feel powerless. We do have power together, we have power by being united.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>People who drive for Uber are demanding the popular ride-hailing app company increase transparency and support over what they call unfair driver “deactivations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About three dozen people, including drivers as well as advocates and organizers from Gig Workers Rising, rallied outside the Uber Greenlight driver support center in South San José on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You get up, you get ready for work, you go to turn on your app, and you’re completely deactivated from the application,” Marianna Porras, a driver and organizer with Gig Workers Rising, told KQED. “You’re not able to use the platform, and you can’t speak to anybody about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porras and other drivers said being deactivated costs them their livelihoods for days, weeks or months at a time, putting further financial and emotional strain on workers already feeling exploited by the gig economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rally on Tuesday was part of a multi-city effort launching a new campaign called \u003ca href=\"https://activaterespect.com/\">Activate Respect\u003c/a>, calling out the company for processes the group wants revamped and rebalanced so drivers are prioritized more equally with customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s one of the latest campaigns by gig workers to demand better treatment, benefits, pay and protections from the giant companies running these markets, as the companies have pushed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11987299/california-supreme-court-appears-hesitant-to-overrule-voters-on-controversial-gig-worker-law\">controversial legislation\u003c/a> to avoid spending more on employee overhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deactivations occur for a wide variety of reasons, drivers say, including minor customer complaints, which can sometimes be falsely filed by a rider seeking a discount or free ride from the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A driver could also be deactivated if the application’s facial recognition software isn’t able to match the driver’s face on a given day to their identification document on file.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drivers said one of the biggest issues they face is not being able to get clear information about why they are being deactivated. They often say they receive boilerplate or vague notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once deactivated, “it’s next to impossible to speak to a human being who can fix it,” the campaign’s website says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José City Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who spoke at the rally in support of the drivers, said workers at most jobs have more rights and clearer processes when mistakes are made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your boss has a conversation with you. There’s an opportunity to correct performance, there’s an opportunity to provide feedback, right? You’re not just fired out of nowhere,” Ortiz said. “You don’t just wake up, getting ready to make money for your family, to put food on the table, and find out that your job was stolen from you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said Uber is “essentially taking advantage of communities of color and immigrants,” including South Americans who often fill driver roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber declined an interview request from KQED on Tuesday, but in an emailed statement, a spokesperson said the company is “fully committed” to improving how it serves drivers and creating a safe and equitable platform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the years, we’ve implemented significant improvements based on driver feedback, including establishing an appeals process for deactivations and safeguarding drivers from false allegations,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a \u003ca href=\"https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/driver-app/deactivation-review/\">company webpage\u003c/a>, Uber said when deactivations occur, it “will make every effort to be clear, empathetic, and consistent in our communications and specific and transparent about the reasons behind our decision, except where doing so poses a risk to other users.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also notes that the company endeavors to give advance notice to drivers but that it’s not always possible, and drivers “should have the ability to request a review of any decision that removes access for more than 7 days and can’t be resolved by the driver or delivery person on their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Activate Respect’s website said when customers experience problems with the app, Uber prioritizes addressing it, but that’s not always the case for drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While we struggle to get back into our accounts, Uber’s appeal process is confusing and ineffective for most of us,” the site said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porras said the problems around deactivations are another form of exploitation by Uber and other gig economy companies that, when taken together, make workers who create the company’s wealth feel like they have little control or job security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want investigations to be done before the drivers are deactivated,” Porras said. “Give a fair investigation without taking them off the platform before knowing the details of everything that is about the situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dora Manriquez, a driver and leader with Gig Workers Rising, said she came to the rally to stand up for fellow drivers who are afraid to speak up against the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Uber has made them believe that they don’t have rights,” Manriquez said. “We do have the rights even though they make us feel powerless. We do have power together, we have power by being united.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "uber-and-lyft-are-fighting-minimum-wage-laws-but-in-this-state-the-drivers-won",
"title": "Uber and Lyft Are Fighting Minimum Wage Laws. But in This State, the Drivers Won",
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"content": "\u003cp>In a windowless room, Uber driver Farhan Badel took the podium in front of a committee of Minnesota state legislators in early May. As Badel leaned into the microphone and started speaking, the room quieted. Testifying before lawmakers was something he’d done nearly a dozen times before, but he says this time felt like his last chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been fighting for two long years,” Badel stated, referencing ride-hail drivers’ battle to get a minimum wage law passed in the state. He said his message to lawmakers was this: “Uber and Lyft, especially Uber, notorious for their shady lobbying … should not be allowed to dictate what becomes law in this state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lobbying Badel referenced is part of a playbook Uber and Lyft have used in cities across the country to curb minimum wage laws for drivers. The San Francisco-based companies have barraged lawmakers with emails, sent warning messages to riders and drivers, and threatened to vacate states if they were forced to pay minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Minnesota, the campaign was particularly aggressive. Interviews with drivers and lawmakers, along with internal emails and documents obtained by NPR, show that Minnesota was the target of an intense operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hearing where Badel testified was the latest twist in a whiplash series of events. Over the last two years, ride-hail drivers had organized and grown into a more than 1,300-member group that marched at City Hall, met with lawmakers and brought national attention to their plight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They had seen wins and losses in dizzying succession: Three separate bills mandating minimum wage for ride-hail drivers passed at the state and city levels, only to get unexpectedly vetoed by Gov. Tim Walz or Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The drivers say it felt to them like a true David and Goliath situation, pitting them against multibillion-dollar corporations that seemed to hold far more power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990764\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990764\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farhan Badel, an Uber/Lyft driver and MULDA organizer, in Apple Valley, Minn., on May 25. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This spring it reached a boiling point. After gains by the drivers, Uber and Lyft stepped up their lobbying campaign and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238885721/uber-lyft-minneapolis-minimum-wage-law\">threatened to pull out of Minneapolis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is part of their corporate playbook,” says Laura Padin, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.datocms-assets.com/64990/1714149807-the-bullys-playbook-april-2024.pdf\">studies lobbying in the gig economy (PDF)\u003c/a> at the National Employment Law Project, a labor rights advocacy organization. “The fact that they can issue threats and say ‘We’re going to leave if you treat us like everyone else’ is a big problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spokespeople for Uber and Lyft say the proposed minimum wage would have left the companies unable to sustain their businesses in the state. Uber says it would have made Minnesota “one of the most expensive markets in the country,” and Lyft says it would have made “prices rise so much that we would have seen a 51% decrease in ride requests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walz and Frey, both labor-friendly Democrats, had been adamant that they wanted ride-hail drivers to make a livable wage. They also took the companies, and their warnings, seriously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the very beginning, I had two primary goals,” Frey told NPR in an interview. “To get a very significant pay increase for drivers and to keep this very important rideshare service, including Uber and Lyft, in our city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar scenarios have played out in New York and Seattle, which ultimately passed city minimum wage laws. But every state law governing driver pay and protections that has been crafted to date has included provisions backed by Uber and Lyft — through their \u003ca href=\"https://www.nybooks.com/online/2024/05/09/inside-uber-political-machine/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2024-05-09_Wells-Uber-1\">lobbying and public campaigns\u003c/a>. For example, in California, the companies \u003ca href=\"https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1422181&session=2019&view=received\">spent a combined $108.5 million\u003c/a> on a successful \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/11/05/931561150/california-voters-give-uber-lyft-a-win-but-some-drivers-arent-so-sure\">ballot measure campaign\u003c/a> to exempt them from a state labor law. Another statewide battle happened in Washington, and one is underway in Massachusetts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in Minnesota, something wholly unexpected happened last month — the drivers won.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The worst I’ve seen in eight years’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It all started in a small coffee shop in Minneapolis. In the summer of 2022, ride-hail driver Eid Ali gathered with about 20 Uber and Lyft drivers to talk about low pay, safety concerns and other issues that come with the job. Ali is a father of five and the sole provider for his family. Before he started driving for Uber and Lyft in 2014, Ali was a taxi driver and had done some organizing. He says this helped him and the other drivers come up with a game plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first step was to recruit more drivers. Ali and the others went to shopping malls and airport parking lots to speak with drivers. They also went to mosques — the majority of ride-hail drivers in Minneapolis are immigrants, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dli.mn.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/TNC_driver_earnings_analysis_pay_standard_options_report_030824.pdf\">state data (PDF)\u003c/a>, with many from East Africa, especially Somalia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drivers coalesced in a group called Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, or MULDA, and Ali became the president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990765\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990765\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eid Ali, president of Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA), at the organization’s offices in Bloomington, Minn., on May 25. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He says drivers reached out to him constantly about not being able to make ends meet. “Family folks raising kids, who depend on this income, are coming to me every day and telling me ‘I don’t know what to do,’” Ali says. “I was thinking that if I don’t do anything, if I don’t fight a few more days or maybe a few more weeks, who’s going to do that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft categorize drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. This means drivers pay their own expenses such as gas, car maintenance and cellphones, and they don’t have employee benefits, including health insurance, sick days and workers’ compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low pay is the top problem, drivers say, as their earnings have steadily shrunk and become harder to predict. In 2022, both Uber and Lyft \u003ca href=\"https://themarkup.org/working-for-an-algorithm/2022/03/01/secretive-algorithm-will-now-determine-uber-driver-pay-in-many-cities\">switched how they paid drivers\u003c/a>, going from a time-and-mileage calculation to an opaque algorithm. Uber and Lyft say the software helps drivers pick and choose trips, but drivers say since that change they’ve seen the companies take a bigger cut, while they’ve gotten less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sergio Avedian, a longtime ride-hail driver in Los Angeles and senior contributor to the popular blog the \u003ca href=\"https://therideshareguy.com/\">Rideshare Guy\u003c/a>, says thousands of drivers regularly send him their pay stubs. “This is the worst I’ve seen in eight years,” he says, estimating he often earns less than minimum wage after expenses. “But people are driving, they’re desperate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Twin Cities metro area, where 95% of all of Minnesota’s ride-hail trips happen, the median take-home wage for drivers is $13.63 per hour, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dli.mn.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/TNC_driver_earnings_analysis_pay_standard_options_report_030824.pdf\">report (PDF)\u003c/a> by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. That’s below the minimum wage for large businesses in St. Paul ($15) and Minneapolis ($15.57).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s spokesperson calls this report “\u003ca href=\"https://uberpubpolicy.medium.com/excessive-rates-and-their-negative-effects-a-review-of-minnesotas-proposed-pay-standard-9747c14d0254\">flawed\u003c/a>.” Lyft didn’t respond to questions about driver pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft have shaped minimum wage laws in their favor in other states. In Washington, for example, after Seattle passed a minimum wage for ride-hail drivers, the two companies \u003ca href=\"https://themarkup.org/news/2022/03/04/bill-in-washington-state-would-be-first-to-bar-uber-and-lyft-drivers-from-being-classified-as-employees\">lobbied legislators\u003c/a> to pass a state law. That law gives drivers a minimum pay floor but also grants a key concession to the companies: ensuring that the drivers remain classified as independent contractors, which exempts the companies from providing customary worker benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990766\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990766\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Symbols for Uber and Lyft adorn Farhan Badel’s vehicle in Apple Valley, Minn. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By the fall of 2022, hundreds of drivers had joined MULDA, with the campaign crystallizing around the push for a minimum wage. That October, they \u003ca href=\"https://minnesotareformer.com/2022/10/20/uber-and-lyft-drivers-press-lawmakers-to-address-long-standing-labor-complaints/\">held their first press conference\u003c/a> at the Minnesota state Capitol. “Drivers are at a breaking point,” Ali announced, alongside state lawmakers that day. From there, their cause quickly picked up steam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By March 2023, state legislators had introduced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=House&f=HF2369&ssn=0&y=2023\">bill\u003c/a> that set out minimum pay and other protections for ride-hail drivers. It swiftly passed the House and Senate and landed on Walz’s desk in late May 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All signs pointed to Walz signing the bill, Badel says. The drivers got ready to celebrate a victory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Insiders told us to come to the state Capitol the day when they signed all these bills,” Badel says. “They told us to come there dressed well — you know, look presentable, look happy. So, we were getting all these checkmarks that he was going to sign the bill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A lobbying blitz\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What Badel and Ali didn’t know was that Uber and Lyft’s lobbyists were hard at work behind the scenes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Days before the governor received the bill, the companies’ lobbyists sent a slew of emails to his staffers and colleagues, according to public records obtained by NPR. Those included “talking points and numbers” that said rider fares would skyrocket if the bill passed. In Minneapolis, they said fares would go up 70%, without citing specific data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/lyft-uber-playbook-20240610/aiTimeline.html?initialWidth=840&childId=responsive-embed-lyft-uber-playbook-20240610-aiTimeline&parentTitle=Uber%20and%20Lyft%20use%20lobbying%20to%20fight%20minimum%20wage%20law%20in%20Minnesota%20%3A%20NPR&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2024%2F06%2F17%2Fnx-s1-4942958%2Fuber-minimum-wage-minnesota-lyft-lobbying\" width=\"800\" height=\"2200\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brent Kent, a registered lobbyist for Lyft and the company’s director of public policy, sent a letter to Minnesota’s Senate president saying the bill would have a “catastrophic impact” and create “transportation deserts.” Rides in Minneapolis would go from $17 to $54, he said, also not citing specific data for that statistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As signing day neared, the lobbyists ramped up their efforts. They requested phone calls between Walz and the CEOs of both Uber and Lyft. At one point, Uber lobbyist Joel Carlson emailed the governor’s legislative assistant asking for an alternative email for the office, because he said he had a lot of people wanting to write in with opposition to the bill and didn’t want to “email bomb” her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carlson also fired off “veto request” letters he collected from 11 community groups — business and hospitality associations as well as organizations that work with people with disabilities, the elderly and domestic violence survivors. At least half of those groups have partnered with Uber or Lyft, but that wasn’t disclosed in their letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s spokesperson says it “engaged many organizations and local stakeholders to ensure they understood the impact of the legislation” and “many decided to express their concerns.” The spokesperson also confirmed that Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had spoken with the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990767\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990767\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew McGlory, a rideshare driver and active member of MULDA, in downtown Minneapolis. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We urged the governor to veto the bill publicly, as well, via issued statements and in emails to riders and drivers,” the spokesperson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyft didn’t respond to questions about its involvement with the letters from community groups or conversations between its CEO and the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Days before the anticipated signing, the companies rolled out a tactic they’d used in California, New York, Texas and other states: They \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uber-minnesota-rideshare-driver-bill-veto-tim-walz/\">threatened to leave the state\u003c/a> if the bill was signed into law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By May 25, 2023, Ali says he and the other drivers were anxious about the outcome. They gathered in front of Walz’s office chanting, “Governor sign the bill!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That afternoon, Walz issued his \u003ca href=\"https://www.house.mn.gov/NewLaws/story/2023/5502\">first and only veto\u003c/a> in four years as governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His veto letter started off saying the minimum wage bill “could make Minnesota one of the most expensive states in the country for rideshare.” It cited the need to maintain ride-hail services in the state and also referenced the letters from community groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman for Walz says that alongside the veto, the governor \u003ca href=\"https://mn.gov/governor/assets/EO%2023-07%20TNC_tcm1055-579270.pdf\">formed a task force (PDF)\u003c/a> to study the issue. She pointed NPR to a \u003ca href=\"https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/press-releases/#/detail/appId/1/id/579275\">press release\u003c/a> where he said, “Rideshare drivers deserve fair wages and safe working conditions … This is not the right bill to achieve these goals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ali says it was a big surprise and a major blow for MULDA. “That was my worst nightmare, because I didn’t know what to say to those drivers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘You’re our last resort’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the state bill made its way through the Legislature, the MULDA drivers were also simultaneously working with city council members in Minneapolis. After the governor’s veto, the drivers reorganized and went all in at the local level — becoming ever-present at City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They came to City Hall many, many times, saying: ‘Government officials, you’re our last resort,’” says Robin Wonsley, the Minneapolis council member for Ward 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The makeup of the workforce for the rideshare companies is predominantly Black, predominantly immigrant and also predominantly low income,” she added. “And many of these drivers, or a disproportionate number of these drivers, are \u003ca href=\"https://www.dli.mn.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/TNC_driver_earnings_analysis_pay_standard_options_report_030824.pdf\">actually on public assistance (PDF)\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990768\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990768\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robin Wonsley, Minneapolis council member for Ward 2, outside City Hall in Bloomington, Minn., on May 26. Wonsley and colleagues worked on a city ordinance to give ride-hail drivers a minimum wage in Minneapolis. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She joined fellow council members Jamal Osman, who’d introduced her to MULDA, and Jason Chavez to work on a city ordinance. They reached out to economists and experts to come up with a calculation that would be equivalent to the city’s minimum wage. Uber and Lyft only pay drivers when they’re giving rides and not when they’re waiting for a passenger, so a straight hourly wage wouldn’t work. The \u003ca href=\"https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/MetaData/31233/2023-052_Id_31233.pdf\">ordinance (PDF)\u003c/a> they introduced mandated that drivers be paid $1.40 per mile and 51¢ per minute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It \u003ca href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/08/17/minneapolis-approves-measure-to-boost-pay-for-uber-lyft-drivers\">passed the council\u003c/a> in August 2023 by a 7–5 vote. But behind the scenes, the companies’ lobbyists were leaning hard on Frey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As with the governor, Uber and Lyft’s lobbyists targeted the mayor, according to internal emails obtained by NPR through public records requests. Lyft’s Kent reached out to staffers saying the company had “grave concerns.” He sent the mayor and council members an opposition letter from a Lyft executive that had one sentence bolded and underlined: “Should this proposal become law, Lyft will be forced to cease operations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Uber’s Carlson called the ordinance “problematic.” On Aug. 21, Carlson emailed a senior aide at City Hall, saying he had spoken with the mayor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Uber understands the importance and optics to provide a thoughtful response to the council’s vote and have offered to him the opportunity to announce the following if he chooses,” the email reads. Carlson said the mayor could announce that Uber pledges to give drivers a minimum wage and a $5 minimum on all trips. He sent suggested language for the mayor’s announcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990769\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990769\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In Minneapolis, the median take-home wage for ride-hail drivers is nearly $2 less than the minimum wage. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The next day, Frey \u003ca href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/08/22/minneapolis-mayor-jacob-frey-vetoes-rideshare-bill\">vetoed the ordinance\u003c/a>. In his \u003ca href=\"https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/FileV2/32370/2023_052-Veto-Letter.pdf\">veto letter (PDF)\u003c/a>, he said he’d work on another ordinance that included all stakeholders. The mayor also wrote that he was “pleased to share” that he secured a commitment from Uber to provide drivers a minimum wage and a $5 minimum per ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s spokesperson says the minimum wage guarantee “was not part of any negotiations.” A spokesperson for Frey says the commitment from Uber “was not in exchange for a veto.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wonsley says she was outraged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why are we having city leaders now supporting a multibillion-dollar corporation and having an exemption from a city policy that hundreds of small businesses have been in compliance with?” she says, referring to the city’s minimum wage law. “And then he announced a nonbinding agreement with Uber, saying, ‘Look, we don’t need to change nothing, the company has made a commitment, a symbolic commitment to pay drivers more.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were like ‘Wait, what?’ ” Wonsley adds. “That makes absolutely no sense.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frey’s spokesperson says the commitment from Uber “was never intended to be a permanent solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Public pressure campaign\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The mayor’s veto, coming after the governor’s veto, could have been the end for MULDA drivers’ quest to get a minimum wage law. In other states that went through similar scenarios, such setbacks have taken the wind out of organizing efforts. But Ali and Badel say they came too close to give up. And council member Wonsley says she wasn’t ready to back down either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her colleagues introduced two more ordinances in October 2023. One focused on minimum wage, the other on worker protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than six months later, the council passed the new minimum wage \u003ca href=\"https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/FileV2/34129/Transportation-Rideshare-Compensation-Ordinance.pdf\">ordinance (PDF)\u003c/a> by a 9–4 vote. The next day, once again, Frey vetoed the ordinance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I asked the City Council to wait one day,” says Frey, until after the release of the statewide report on driver earnings. “Both times I vetoed it because it wasn’t supported by the data. And so, we should be listening to the data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, however, the council had enough votes to \u003ca href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/03/14/minneapolis-city-council-overrides-freys-veto-on-ordinance-boosting-rideshare-driver-pay\">override his veto\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With this go-round, Uber and Lyft kicked their pressure campaign up a notch. Instead of mostly working with lawmakers behind closed doors, the companies brought their lobbying to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a full-court press campaign,” Wonsley says. “Every single day there are several articles, interviews in the press, basically demonizing our actions and creating a lot of confusion for the public around what our policy actually accomplished.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day after the veto override, Uber and Lyft \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238885721/uber-lyft-minneapolis-minimum-wage-law\">announced they were leaving Minneapolis\u003c/a> as soon as the ordinance went into effect. It was around this time that Matthew McGlory, a MULDA member and longtime Uber and Lyft driver, started getting in-app messages and emails from the companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990770\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990770\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew McGlory, a rideshare driver and active member of MULDA, in downtown Minneapolis on May 26. McGlory says drivers in other states have been watching Minnesota, waiting to see what happened. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We know that this decision will have a huge negative effect,” a message from Uber read. “It will put thousands of drivers — like you — out of work.” Uber provided a link to email lawmakers urging them to pass statewide legislation that could preempt the city ordinance and be more favorable to the companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyft, meanwhile, sent an email to its riders saying the ordinance would make rides “unaffordable” for the majority of residents. Lyft’s spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about the in-app messages. Uber’s spokesperson says, “The message speaks for itself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was also a flurry of activity in the local news. Uber put an online ad in the \u003cem>Star Tribune\u003c/em> saying Minneapolis was “forcing” it to leave and offered a button to click to “save our rides.” Dan Meyers, a director at disability advocacy group Rise, \u003ca href=\"https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-rideshare-driver-pay-proposal-looks-at-only-one-side-of-equation/600348209/\">wrote an op-ed\u003c/a> saying the ordinance would be “devastating to the disability community.” Lyft and Rise are \u003ca href=\"https://rise.org/12858-2/\">longtime partners\u003c/a>, which wasn’t disclosed in the op-ed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for Rise says, “Our work with Lyft is well-known among our peers and partners.” Lyft didn’t respond to questions about any possible involvement with the op-ed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the ordinance set to go into effect in Minneapolis, MULDA drivers say they were still nervous. A statewide bill could preempt the city ordinance and undercut their pay. It was hard to tell which way it would go.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘No one else has been able to do this in the country’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The same day Farhan Badel took the podium in early May pleading with state lawmakers to not let the ride-hail companies dictate the law, Uber’s Carlson also spoke. They were discussing a compromise state bill that would preempt the Minneapolis ordinance — it offered drivers a rate of $1.27 per mile and 49¢ per minute. Carlson told the lawmakers this wouldn’t work for Uber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11986533,news_11987167,forum_2010101905828\"]“Uber has calculated that if you reasonably calculate the expenses you come up with a rate of 41¢ per mile and 68¢ per minute,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislators left that hearing without giving any indication\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>which way it would go. But a couple of weeks later, they made a move that stunned observers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the night of May 19, \u003ca href=\"https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/05/21/heres-whats-in-the-bill-regulating-uber-and-lyft-driver-pay-and-labor-standards/\">the state passed a new bill\u003c/a> giving drivers the minimum wage rate of $1.28 per mile and 31¢ per minute. Even though it was slightly lower and preempted the Minneapolis ordinance, Wonsley and the council backed it. Frey says he was opposed to the preemption, but that he ultimately supported the bill too since he says it was “nearly identical” to what he proposed months earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a major win for the MULDA drivers. After the bill’s passage, in a moment of jubilation in the Capitol’s hallways, they hoisted one of the state legislators in the air and chanted “MULDA” over and over. The legislator, Sen. Omar Fateh, who was instrumental in getting the bill passed, said, “It was Uber and Lyft versus MULDA and MULDA won.” The crowd erupted in cheers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990771\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990771\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rideshare vehicles share the road with other drivers in downtown Minneapolis. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Spokespeople for Uber and Lyft say the companies accepted the compromise, and that neither will shutter operations in the state. Unlike the minimum pay laws for ride-hail drivers in California and Washington state, Minnesota’s bill doesn’t mandate that drivers remain independent contractors — something Uber and Lyft had sought, but didn’t get.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 28, Walz signed the bill into law with Ali by his side wearing a white MULDA T-shirt. During a press conference announcing its passage, the governor congratulated state lawmakers. “No one else has been able to do this in the country,” Walz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The driver McGlory says MULDA has heard from drivers in other states who have been watching Minnesota over the past year and a half, waiting to see what happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m doing this not just for drivers in Minneapolis. I’m doing this for the drivers in Nashville, Tenn. I’m doing this for drivers in Jackson, Miss.,” McGlory says, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Because when we educate ourselves, when we organize ourselves and we mobilize ourselves, we can win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like my favorite physics teacher said, ‘We have to become an unstoppable force that meets an immovable object.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Uber and Lyft have lobbied in cities across the country to curb minimum wage laws for drivers, but drivers of the ride-hail companies in Minnesota scored a hard-fought victory after years of struggle.",
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"title": "Uber and Lyft Are Fighting Minimum Wage Laws. But in This State, the Drivers Won | KQED",
"description": "Uber and Lyft have lobbied in cities across the country to curb minimum wage laws for drivers, but drivers of the ride-hail companies in Minnesota scored a hard-fought victory after years of struggle.",
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"headline": "Uber and Lyft Are Fighting Minimum Wage Laws. But in This State, the Drivers Won",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a windowless room, Uber driver Farhan Badel took the podium in front of a committee of Minnesota state legislators in early May. As Badel leaned into the microphone and started speaking, the room quieted. Testifying before lawmakers was something he’d done nearly a dozen times before, but he says this time felt like his last chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been fighting for two long years,” Badel stated, referencing ride-hail drivers’ battle to get a minimum wage law passed in the state. He said his message to lawmakers was this: “Uber and Lyft, especially Uber, notorious for their shady lobbying … should not be allowed to dictate what becomes law in this state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lobbying Badel referenced is part of a playbook Uber and Lyft have used in cities across the country to curb minimum wage laws for drivers. The San Francisco-based companies have barraged lawmakers with emails, sent warning messages to riders and drivers, and threatened to vacate states if they were forced to pay minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Minnesota, the campaign was particularly aggressive. Interviews with drivers and lawmakers, along with internal emails and documents obtained by NPR, show that Minnesota was the target of an intense operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hearing where Badel testified was the latest twist in a whiplash series of events. Over the last two years, ride-hail drivers had organized and grown into a more than 1,300-member group that marched at City Hall, met with lawmakers and brought national attention to their plight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They had seen wins and losses in dizzying succession: Three separate bills mandating minimum wage for ride-hail drivers passed at the state and city levels, only to get unexpectedly vetoed by Gov. Tim Walz or Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The drivers say it felt to them like a true David and Goliath situation, pitting them against multibillion-dollar corporations that seemed to hold far more power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990764\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990764\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farhan Badel, an Uber/Lyft driver and MULDA organizer, in Apple Valley, Minn., on May 25. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This spring it reached a boiling point. After gains by the drivers, Uber and Lyft stepped up their lobbying campaign and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238885721/uber-lyft-minneapolis-minimum-wage-law\">threatened to pull out of Minneapolis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is part of their corporate playbook,” says Laura Padin, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.datocms-assets.com/64990/1714149807-the-bullys-playbook-april-2024.pdf\">studies lobbying in the gig economy (PDF)\u003c/a> at the National Employment Law Project, a labor rights advocacy organization. “The fact that they can issue threats and say ‘We’re going to leave if you treat us like everyone else’ is a big problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spokespeople for Uber and Lyft say the proposed minimum wage would have left the companies unable to sustain their businesses in the state. Uber says it would have made Minnesota “one of the most expensive markets in the country,” and Lyft says it would have made “prices rise so much that we would have seen a 51% decrease in ride requests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walz and Frey, both labor-friendly Democrats, had been adamant that they wanted ride-hail drivers to make a livable wage. They also took the companies, and their warnings, seriously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the very beginning, I had two primary goals,” Frey told NPR in an interview. “To get a very significant pay increase for drivers and to keep this very important rideshare service, including Uber and Lyft, in our city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar scenarios have played out in New York and Seattle, which ultimately passed city minimum wage laws. But every state law governing driver pay and protections that has been crafted to date has included provisions backed by Uber and Lyft — through their \u003ca href=\"https://www.nybooks.com/online/2024/05/09/inside-uber-political-machine/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2024-05-09_Wells-Uber-1\">lobbying and public campaigns\u003c/a>. For example, in California, the companies \u003ca href=\"https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1422181&session=2019&view=received\">spent a combined $108.5 million\u003c/a> on a successful \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/11/05/931561150/california-voters-give-uber-lyft-a-win-but-some-drivers-arent-so-sure\">ballot measure campaign\u003c/a> to exempt them from a state labor law. Another statewide battle happened in Washington, and one is underway in Massachusetts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in Minnesota, something wholly unexpected happened last month — the drivers won.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The worst I’ve seen in eight years’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It all started in a small coffee shop in Minneapolis. In the summer of 2022, ride-hail driver Eid Ali gathered with about 20 Uber and Lyft drivers to talk about low pay, safety concerns and other issues that come with the job. Ali is a father of five and the sole provider for his family. Before he started driving for Uber and Lyft in 2014, Ali was a taxi driver and had done some organizing. He says this helped him and the other drivers come up with a game plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first step was to recruit more drivers. Ali and the others went to shopping malls and airport parking lots to speak with drivers. They also went to mosques — the majority of ride-hail drivers in Minneapolis are immigrants, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dli.mn.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/TNC_driver_earnings_analysis_pay_standard_options_report_030824.pdf\">state data (PDF)\u003c/a>, with many from East Africa, especially Somalia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drivers coalesced in a group called Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, or MULDA, and Ali became the president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990765\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990765\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn2-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eid Ali, president of Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA), at the organization’s offices in Bloomington, Minn., on May 25. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He says drivers reached out to him constantly about not being able to make ends meet. “Family folks raising kids, who depend on this income, are coming to me every day and telling me ‘I don’t know what to do,’” Ali says. “I was thinking that if I don’t do anything, if I don’t fight a few more days or maybe a few more weeks, who’s going to do that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft categorize drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. This means drivers pay their own expenses such as gas, car maintenance and cellphones, and they don’t have employee benefits, including health insurance, sick days and workers’ compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low pay is the top problem, drivers say, as their earnings have steadily shrunk and become harder to predict. In 2022, both Uber and Lyft \u003ca href=\"https://themarkup.org/working-for-an-algorithm/2022/03/01/secretive-algorithm-will-now-determine-uber-driver-pay-in-many-cities\">switched how they paid drivers\u003c/a>, going from a time-and-mileage calculation to an opaque algorithm. Uber and Lyft say the software helps drivers pick and choose trips, but drivers say since that change they’ve seen the companies take a bigger cut, while they’ve gotten less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sergio Avedian, a longtime ride-hail driver in Los Angeles and senior contributor to the popular blog the \u003ca href=\"https://therideshareguy.com/\">Rideshare Guy\u003c/a>, says thousands of drivers regularly send him their pay stubs. “This is the worst I’ve seen in eight years,” he says, estimating he often earns less than minimum wage after expenses. “But people are driving, they’re desperate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Twin Cities metro area, where 95% of all of Minnesota’s ride-hail trips happen, the median take-home wage for drivers is $13.63 per hour, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dli.mn.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/TNC_driver_earnings_analysis_pay_standard_options_report_030824.pdf\">report (PDF)\u003c/a> by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. That’s below the minimum wage for large businesses in St. Paul ($15) and Minneapolis ($15.57).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s spokesperson calls this report “\u003ca href=\"https://uberpubpolicy.medium.com/excessive-rates-and-their-negative-effects-a-review-of-minnesotas-proposed-pay-standard-9747c14d0254\">flawed\u003c/a>.” Lyft didn’t respond to questions about driver pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft have shaped minimum wage laws in their favor in other states. In Washington, for example, after Seattle passed a minimum wage for ride-hail drivers, the two companies \u003ca href=\"https://themarkup.org/news/2022/03/04/bill-in-washington-state-would-be-first-to-bar-uber-and-lyft-drivers-from-being-classified-as-employees\">lobbied legislators\u003c/a> to pass a state law. That law gives drivers a minimum pay floor but also grants a key concession to the companies: ensuring that the drivers remain classified as independent contractors, which exempts the companies from providing customary worker benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990766\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990766\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn3-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Symbols for Uber and Lyft adorn Farhan Badel’s vehicle in Apple Valley, Minn. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By the fall of 2022, hundreds of drivers had joined MULDA, with the campaign crystallizing around the push for a minimum wage. That October, they \u003ca href=\"https://minnesotareformer.com/2022/10/20/uber-and-lyft-drivers-press-lawmakers-to-address-long-standing-labor-complaints/\">held their first press conference\u003c/a> at the Minnesota state Capitol. “Drivers are at a breaking point,” Ali announced, alongside state lawmakers that day. From there, their cause quickly picked up steam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By March 2023, state legislators had introduced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=House&f=HF2369&ssn=0&y=2023\">bill\u003c/a> that set out minimum pay and other protections for ride-hail drivers. It swiftly passed the House and Senate and landed on Walz’s desk in late May 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All signs pointed to Walz signing the bill, Badel says. The drivers got ready to celebrate a victory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Insiders told us to come to the state Capitol the day when they signed all these bills,” Badel says. “They told us to come there dressed well — you know, look presentable, look happy. So, we were getting all these checkmarks that he was going to sign the bill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A lobbying blitz\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What Badel and Ali didn’t know was that Uber and Lyft’s lobbyists were hard at work behind the scenes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Days before the governor received the bill, the companies’ lobbyists sent a slew of emails to his staffers and colleagues, according to public records obtained by NPR. Those included “talking points and numbers” that said rider fares would skyrocket if the bill passed. In Minneapolis, they said fares would go up 70%, without citing specific data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/lyft-uber-playbook-20240610/aiTimeline.html?initialWidth=840&childId=responsive-embed-lyft-uber-playbook-20240610-aiTimeline&parentTitle=Uber%20and%20Lyft%20use%20lobbying%20to%20fight%20minimum%20wage%20law%20in%20Minnesota%20%3A%20NPR&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2024%2F06%2F17%2Fnx-s1-4942958%2Fuber-minimum-wage-minnesota-lyft-lobbying\" width=\"800\" height=\"2200\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brent Kent, a registered lobbyist for Lyft and the company’s director of public policy, sent a letter to Minnesota’s Senate president saying the bill would have a “catastrophic impact” and create “transportation deserts.” Rides in Minneapolis would go from $17 to $54, he said, also not citing specific data for that statistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As signing day neared, the lobbyists ramped up their efforts. They requested phone calls between Walz and the CEOs of both Uber and Lyft. At one point, Uber lobbyist Joel Carlson emailed the governor’s legislative assistant asking for an alternative email for the office, because he said he had a lot of people wanting to write in with opposition to the bill and didn’t want to “email bomb” her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carlson also fired off “veto request” letters he collected from 11 community groups — business and hospitality associations as well as organizations that work with people with disabilities, the elderly and domestic violence survivors. At least half of those groups have partnered with Uber or Lyft, but that wasn’t disclosed in their letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s spokesperson says it “engaged many organizations and local stakeholders to ensure they understood the impact of the legislation” and “many decided to express their concerns.” The spokesperson also confirmed that Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had spoken with the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990767\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990767\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn4-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew McGlory, a rideshare driver and active member of MULDA, in downtown Minneapolis. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We urged the governor to veto the bill publicly, as well, via issued statements and in emails to riders and drivers,” the spokesperson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyft didn’t respond to questions about its involvement with the letters from community groups or conversations between its CEO and the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Days before the anticipated signing, the companies rolled out a tactic they’d used in California, New York, Texas and other states: They \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uber-minnesota-rideshare-driver-bill-veto-tim-walz/\">threatened to leave the state\u003c/a> if the bill was signed into law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By May 25, 2023, Ali says he and the other drivers were anxious about the outcome. They gathered in front of Walz’s office chanting, “Governor sign the bill!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That afternoon, Walz issued his \u003ca href=\"https://www.house.mn.gov/NewLaws/story/2023/5502\">first and only veto\u003c/a> in four years as governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His veto letter started off saying the minimum wage bill “could make Minnesota one of the most expensive states in the country for rideshare.” It cited the need to maintain ride-hail services in the state and also referenced the letters from community groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman for Walz says that alongside the veto, the governor \u003ca href=\"https://mn.gov/governor/assets/EO%2023-07%20TNC_tcm1055-579270.pdf\">formed a task force (PDF)\u003c/a> to study the issue. She pointed NPR to a \u003ca href=\"https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/press-releases/#/detail/appId/1/id/579275\">press release\u003c/a> where he said, “Rideshare drivers deserve fair wages and safe working conditions … This is not the right bill to achieve these goals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ali says it was a big surprise and a major blow for MULDA. “That was my worst nightmare, because I didn’t know what to say to those drivers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘You’re our last resort’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the state bill made its way through the Legislature, the MULDA drivers were also simultaneously working with city council members in Minneapolis. After the governor’s veto, the drivers reorganized and went all in at the local level — becoming ever-present at City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They came to City Hall many, many times, saying: ‘Government officials, you’re our last resort,’” says Robin Wonsley, the Minneapolis council member for Ward 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The makeup of the workforce for the rideshare companies is predominantly Black, predominantly immigrant and also predominantly low income,” she added. “And many of these drivers, or a disproportionate number of these drivers, are \u003ca href=\"https://www.dli.mn.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/TNC_driver_earnings_analysis_pay_standard_options_report_030824.pdf\">actually on public assistance (PDF)\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990768\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990768\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn5-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robin Wonsley, Minneapolis council member for Ward 2, outside City Hall in Bloomington, Minn., on May 26. Wonsley and colleagues worked on a city ordinance to give ride-hail drivers a minimum wage in Minneapolis. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She joined fellow council members Jamal Osman, who’d introduced her to MULDA, and Jason Chavez to work on a city ordinance. They reached out to economists and experts to come up with a calculation that would be equivalent to the city’s minimum wage. Uber and Lyft only pay drivers when they’re giving rides and not when they’re waiting for a passenger, so a straight hourly wage wouldn’t work. The \u003ca href=\"https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/MetaData/31233/2023-052_Id_31233.pdf\">ordinance (PDF)\u003c/a> they introduced mandated that drivers be paid $1.40 per mile and 51¢ per minute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It \u003ca href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/08/17/minneapolis-approves-measure-to-boost-pay-for-uber-lyft-drivers\">passed the council\u003c/a> in August 2023 by a 7–5 vote. But behind the scenes, the companies’ lobbyists were leaning hard on Frey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As with the governor, Uber and Lyft’s lobbyists targeted the mayor, according to internal emails obtained by NPR through public records requests. Lyft’s Kent reached out to staffers saying the company had “grave concerns.” He sent the mayor and council members an opposition letter from a Lyft executive that had one sentence bolded and underlined: “Should this proposal become law, Lyft will be forced to cease operations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Uber’s Carlson called the ordinance “problematic.” On Aug. 21, Carlson emailed a senior aide at City Hall, saying he had spoken with the mayor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Uber understands the importance and optics to provide a thoughtful response to the council’s vote and have offered to him the opportunity to announce the following if he chooses,” the email reads. Carlson said the mayor could announce that Uber pledges to give drivers a minimum wage and a $5 minimum on all trips. He sent suggested language for the mayor’s announcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990769\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990769\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn6-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In Minneapolis, the median take-home wage for ride-hail drivers is nearly $2 less than the minimum wage. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The next day, Frey \u003ca href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/08/22/minneapolis-mayor-jacob-frey-vetoes-rideshare-bill\">vetoed the ordinance\u003c/a>. In his \u003ca href=\"https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/FileV2/32370/2023_052-Veto-Letter.pdf\">veto letter (PDF)\u003c/a>, he said he’d work on another ordinance that included all stakeholders. The mayor also wrote that he was “pleased to share” that he secured a commitment from Uber to provide drivers a minimum wage and a $5 minimum per ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s spokesperson says the minimum wage guarantee “was not part of any negotiations.” A spokesperson for Frey says the commitment from Uber “was not in exchange for a veto.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wonsley says she was outraged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why are we having city leaders now supporting a multibillion-dollar corporation and having an exemption from a city policy that hundreds of small businesses have been in compliance with?” she says, referring to the city’s minimum wage law. “And then he announced a nonbinding agreement with Uber, saying, ‘Look, we don’t need to change nothing, the company has made a commitment, a symbolic commitment to pay drivers more.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were like ‘Wait, what?’ ” Wonsley adds. “That makes absolutely no sense.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frey’s spokesperson says the commitment from Uber “was never intended to be a permanent solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Public pressure campaign\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The mayor’s veto, coming after the governor’s veto, could have been the end for MULDA drivers’ quest to get a minimum wage law. In other states that went through similar scenarios, such setbacks have taken the wind out of organizing efforts. But Ali and Badel say they came too close to give up. And council member Wonsley says she wasn’t ready to back down either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her colleagues introduced two more ordinances in October 2023. One focused on minimum wage, the other on worker protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than six months later, the council passed the new minimum wage \u003ca href=\"https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/FileV2/34129/Transportation-Rideshare-Compensation-Ordinance.pdf\">ordinance (PDF)\u003c/a> by a 9–4 vote. The next day, once again, Frey vetoed the ordinance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I asked the City Council to wait one day,” says Frey, until after the release of the statewide report on driver earnings. “Both times I vetoed it because it wasn’t supported by the data. And so, we should be listening to the data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, however, the council had enough votes to \u003ca href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/03/14/minneapolis-city-council-overrides-freys-veto-on-ordinance-boosting-rideshare-driver-pay\">override his veto\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With this go-round, Uber and Lyft kicked their pressure campaign up a notch. Instead of mostly working with lawmakers behind closed doors, the companies brought their lobbying to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a full-court press campaign,” Wonsley says. “Every single day there are several articles, interviews in the press, basically demonizing our actions and creating a lot of confusion for the public around what our policy actually accomplished.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day after the veto override, Uber and Lyft \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238885721/uber-lyft-minneapolis-minimum-wage-law\">announced they were leaving Minneapolis\u003c/a> as soon as the ordinance went into effect. It was around this time that Matthew McGlory, a MULDA member and longtime Uber and Lyft driver, started getting in-app messages and emails from the companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990770\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990770\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn7-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew McGlory, a rideshare driver and active member of MULDA, in downtown Minneapolis on May 26. McGlory says drivers in other states have been watching Minnesota, waiting to see what happened. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We know that this decision will have a huge negative effect,” a message from Uber read. “It will put thousands of drivers — like you — out of work.” Uber provided a link to email lawmakers urging them to pass statewide legislation that could preempt the city ordinance and be more favorable to the companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyft, meanwhile, sent an email to its riders saying the ordinance would make rides “unaffordable” for the majority of residents. Lyft’s spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about the in-app messages. Uber’s spokesperson says, “The message speaks for itself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was also a flurry of activity in the local news. Uber put an online ad in the \u003cem>Star Tribune\u003c/em> saying Minneapolis was “forcing” it to leave and offered a button to click to “save our rides.” Dan Meyers, a director at disability advocacy group Rise, \u003ca href=\"https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-rideshare-driver-pay-proposal-looks-at-only-one-side-of-equation/600348209/\">wrote an op-ed\u003c/a> saying the ordinance would be “devastating to the disability community.” Lyft and Rise are \u003ca href=\"https://rise.org/12858-2/\">longtime partners\u003c/a>, which wasn’t disclosed in the op-ed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for Rise says, “Our work with Lyft is well-known among our peers and partners.” Lyft didn’t respond to questions about any possible involvement with the op-ed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the ordinance set to go into effect in Minneapolis, MULDA drivers say they were still nervous. A statewide bill could preempt the city ordinance and undercut their pay. It was hard to tell which way it would go.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘No one else has been able to do this in the country’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The same day Farhan Badel took the podium in early May pleading with state lawmakers to not let the ride-hail companies dictate the law, Uber’s Carlson also spoke. They were discussing a compromise state bill that would preempt the Minneapolis ordinance — it offered drivers a rate of $1.27 per mile and 49¢ per minute. Carlson told the lawmakers this wouldn’t work for Uber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Uber has calculated that if you reasonably calculate the expenses you come up with a rate of 41¢ per mile and 68¢ per minute,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislators left that hearing without giving any indication\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>which way it would go. But a couple of weeks later, they made a move that stunned observers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the night of May 19, \u003ca href=\"https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/05/21/heres-whats-in-the-bill-regulating-uber-and-lyft-driver-pay-and-labor-standards/\">the state passed a new bill\u003c/a> giving drivers the minimum wage rate of $1.28 per mile and 31¢ per minute. Even though it was slightly lower and preempted the Minneapolis ordinance, Wonsley and the council backed it. Frey says he was opposed to the preemption, but that he ultimately supported the bill too since he says it was “nearly identical” to what he proposed months earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a major win for the MULDA drivers. After the bill’s passage, in a moment of jubilation in the Capitol’s hallways, they hoisted one of the state legislators in the air and chanted “MULDA” over and over. The legislator, Sen. Omar Fateh, who was instrumental in getting the bill passed, said, “It was Uber and Lyft versus MULDA and MULDA won.” The crowd erupted in cheers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990771\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990771\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy.jpg 1700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/npr.brightspotcdn8-copy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rideshare vehicles share the road with other drivers in downtown Minneapolis. \u003ccite>(Jenn Ackerman for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Spokespeople for Uber and Lyft say the companies accepted the compromise, and that neither will shutter operations in the state. Unlike the minimum pay laws for ride-hail drivers in California and Washington state, Minnesota’s bill doesn’t mandate that drivers remain independent contractors — something Uber and Lyft had sought, but didn’t get.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 28, Walz signed the bill into law with Ali by his side wearing a white MULDA T-shirt. During a press conference announcing its passage, the governor congratulated state lawmakers. “No one else has been able to do this in the country,” Walz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The driver McGlory says MULDA has heard from drivers in other states who have been watching Minnesota over the past year and a half, waiting to see what happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m doing this not just for drivers in Minneapolis. I’m doing this for the drivers in Nashville, Tenn. I’m doing this for drivers in Jackson, Miss.,” McGlory says, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Because when we educate ourselves, when we organize ourselves and we mobilize ourselves, we can win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like my favorite physics teacher said, ‘We have to become an unstoppable force that meets an immovable object.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California School Districts Struggle To Build Out Classrooms For Transitional Kindergarten",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Tuesday, June 11, 2024…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When school starts in 2025, every four-year-old in the state will be able to attend public school. It’s a new grade known as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/07/09/california-roars-back-governor-newsom-signs-historic-education-package-to-reimagine-public-schools/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">transitional kindergarten\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But some districts are struggling to build or tweak classrooms to make them best fit for these young learners. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A federal appeals court \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/06/ab-5-california-uber/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">has ruled\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that a California law that set guidelines for classifying workers did not unfairly target Uber and other gig companies. In a lawsuit, Uber and the delivery company Postmates alleged that Assembly Bill 5 forced them to meet higher standards to classify their workers as independent contractors. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>25 pro-Palestinian protesters \u003ca href=\"https://dailybruin.com/2024/06/11/pro-palestine-protesters-arrested-following-protests-encampments-on-campus\">were arrested at UCLA \u003c/a>on Monday after the group set up at least three encampments on campus. The group was trying to call attention to Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war, reading out the names of those who were killed in Gaza. Law enforcement declared the encampments unlawful and took a group of protesters into custody.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989615/california-struggles-with-classroom-space-for-transitional-kindergarten\">\u003cb>California Struggles With Classroom Space For Transitional Kindergarten\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2021, California embarked on a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/07/09/california-roars-back-governor-newsom-signs-historic-education-package-to-reimagine-public-schools/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">$2.7 billion plan\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to offer transitional kindergarten to all four-year-olds by the 2025-2026 school year in what’s poised to be the largest free pre-K program in the country. But school districts across the state are struggling to build or modify the facilities most appropriate for these new young learners.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/title5regs.asp#:~:text=Kindergarten%20classroom%20size%20for%20permanent,all%20areas%20of%20the%20classroom.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">State requirements\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/kinderfaq.asp\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> new TK classrooms\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (and kindergarten classrooms) are different than those of typical classrooms. Four-year-olds can’t just sit at desks all day. They also need space to play, indoors and outdoors. They also need supervision when going to the bathroom, which means having a restroom inside the classroom, or close by.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/06/ab-5-california-uber/\">\u003cb>California Gig Worker Law Withstands Challenge From Uber At Federal Appeals Court\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uber has lost its long-running attempt to overturn a California law that would require it to provide employment rights to its drivers and delivery workers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ruling Monday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could have major implications, depending on what the state Supreme Court decides in a separate, but related case.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uber and Postmates, a food-delivery platform Uber now owns, alleged that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ab5\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Assembly Bill 5 \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">violated their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the state and U.S. constitutions. AB 5 requires ride-hailing and delivery companies to treat their workers as employees instead of independent contractors and codifies the so-called ABC test to determine which workers should receive benefits. Under the law, other gig companies are subject to a different test, which Uber and Postmates claimed was unfair.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>More Protesters Arrested At UCLA\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">25 pro-Palestinian protesters \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dailybruin.com/2024/06/11/pro-palestine-protesters-arrested-following-protests-encampments-on-campus\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">were arrested at UCLA on Monday \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">after the group set up three encampments on campus.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This follows two previous encampments that were organized by the UC Divest Coalition and Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA. The groups are demanding the University of California \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984845/pro-palestinian-protests-on-california-college-campuses-what-are-students-demanding\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">divest from companies associated with Israel\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The activists who were arrested Monday have been ordered to stay away from the UCLA campus for 14 days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Tuesday, June 11, 2024…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When school starts in 2025, every four-year-old in the state will be able to attend public school. It’s a new grade known as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/07/09/california-roars-back-governor-newsom-signs-historic-education-package-to-reimagine-public-schools/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">transitional kindergarten\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But some districts are struggling to build or tweak classrooms to make them best fit for these young learners. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A federal appeals court \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/06/ab-5-california-uber/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">has ruled\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that a California law that set guidelines for classifying workers did not unfairly target Uber and other gig companies. In a lawsuit, Uber and the delivery company Postmates alleged that Assembly Bill 5 forced them to meet higher standards to classify their workers as independent contractors. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>25 pro-Palestinian protesters \u003ca href=\"https://dailybruin.com/2024/06/11/pro-palestine-protesters-arrested-following-protests-encampments-on-campus\">were arrested at UCLA \u003c/a>on Monday after the group set up at least three encampments on campus. The group was trying to call attention to Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war, reading out the names of those who were killed in Gaza. Law enforcement declared the encampments unlawful and took a group of protesters into custody.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989615/california-struggles-with-classroom-space-for-transitional-kindergarten\">\u003cb>California Struggles With Classroom Space For Transitional Kindergarten\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2021, California embarked on a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/07/09/california-roars-back-governor-newsom-signs-historic-education-package-to-reimagine-public-schools/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">$2.7 billion plan\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to offer transitional kindergarten to all four-year-olds by the 2025-2026 school year in what’s poised to be the largest free pre-K program in the country. But school districts across the state are struggling to build or modify the facilities most appropriate for these new young learners.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/title5regs.asp#:~:text=Kindergarten%20classroom%20size%20for%20permanent,all%20areas%20of%20the%20classroom.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">State requirements\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/kinderfaq.asp\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> new TK classrooms\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (and kindergarten classrooms) are different than those of typical classrooms. Four-year-olds can’t just sit at desks all day. They also need space to play, indoors and outdoors. They also need supervision when going to the bathroom, which means having a restroom inside the classroom, or close by.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/06/ab-5-california-uber/\">\u003cb>California Gig Worker Law Withstands Challenge From Uber At Federal Appeals Court\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uber has lost its long-running attempt to overturn a California law that would require it to provide employment rights to its drivers and delivery workers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ruling Monday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could have major implications, depending on what the state Supreme Court decides in a separate, but related case.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uber and Postmates, a food-delivery platform Uber now owns, alleged that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ab5\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Assembly Bill 5 \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">violated their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the state and U.S. constitutions. AB 5 requires ride-hailing and delivery companies to treat their workers as employees instead of independent contractors and codifies the so-called ABC test to determine which workers should receive benefits. Under the law, other gig companies are subject to a different test, which Uber and Postmates claimed was unfair.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>More Protesters Arrested At UCLA\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">25 pro-Palestinian protesters \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dailybruin.com/2024/06/11/pro-palestine-protesters-arrested-following-protests-encampments-on-campus\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">were arrested at UCLA on Monday \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">after the group set up three encampments on campus.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This follows two previous encampments that were organized by the UC Divest Coalition and Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA. The groups are demanding the University of California \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984845/pro-palestinian-protests-on-california-college-campuses-what-are-students-demanding\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">divest from companies associated with Israel\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The activists who were arrested Monday have been ordered to stay away from the UCLA campus for 14 days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2020, California voters passed Proposition 22, which allowed app-based companies to classify their drivers as independent contractors and not employees with full benefits. It was a big win for companies like Uber and Lyft, who spent unprecedented amounts of money to get the measure passed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, the issue is back — this time before the California Supreme Court, which heard a case on Prop. 22 this Tuesday. KQED’s Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos explain in an episode of the Political Breakdown podcast.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5972510861\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nov, 13, 2020: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11847273/with-prop-22-approved-regulating-gig-companies-just-got-a-lot-harder\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With Prop. 22 Approved, Regulating Gig Companies Just Got a Lot Harder\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>More than 175 individual sexual assault cases against Uber were recently consolidated, each of which similarly claims the San Francisco-based ride-share company hasn’t done enough to protect passengers. And on Friday, the parties involved met for the first time before a federal judge in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s terms of use preclude class-action lawsuits against the company in cases of sexual assault. But, over the company’s objections, plaintiffs’ attorneys argued the current cases are similar enough to warrant “multidistrict litigation,” which brings together similar cases from multiple court districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer will hear pretrial matters that pertain to all the cases and ultimately decide whether to take on what’s called a “bellwether trial” or a smaller sampling of lawsuits from a larger group of similar cases. If he declines to do so, the individual cases will ultimately head back to their home states for trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes as another consolidated set of lawsuits was recently filed against Uber that also accuses the company of failing to adequately ensure the safety of its passengers in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think they’re putting profits over safety every day,” said Bret Stanley, a Houston-based personal injury lawyer, whose firm, Kherkher Garcia, is one of about 15 involved in Uber’s “multidistrict litigation” — or as he likes to calls it, “class action’s cousin.”[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"uber\"]In recent years, scores of passengers have alleged being sexually assaulted by drivers while riding with Uber and\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/business/lyft-sexual-assault-lawsuit.html\"> Lyft\u003c/a> — with allegations ranging from groping to rape to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-allegedly-kidnapped-by-fake-uber-driver-rescued-after-slipping-note-to-gas-station-customer-arizona/\">kidnapping\u003c/a> — and sued the companies for failing to provide adequate safeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber told KQED it could not comment on pending litigation. But it stressed that the vast majority — 99.9% — of the billions of trips it makes are completed without any reported safety incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Uber is going to say, ‘99% of the time, we’re good.’ Well, .1% of a billion is 1 million! Right? The numbers are so huge,” Stanley said. “We really do want to force change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said Uber is well aware of the steps it can take to make rides safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because they know more data about these drivers than anyone,” he said. “Uber collects data on drivers on every single trip. And they should not be exposing people to safety risks if they have reason to believe that this person is unsafe or has done, previously, sexually inappropriate things in the vehicle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, Uber introduced a number of safety features, including an in-app\u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/29/uber-adds-911-assistance-to-rider-app/#:~:text=As%20you%20can%20see%20below,shows%20it%20in%20the%20app.\"> 911 button\u003c/a> and location sharing. Last year, it announced a partnership with ADT, a security firm, and added the capacity for passengers to \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/02/uber-pilots-safety-feature-that-allows-users-to-record-audio-during-a-ride/\">record audio\u003c/a> in its app and request\u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/30/uber-partners-with-adt-to-let-riders-get-in-touch-with-a-life-safety-agent/\"> live help from an ADT safety agent\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Stanley and other parties suing Uber argue those steps don’t go far enough and say the company should implement stronger safeguards, like tougher background checks and video recordings of every ride. They also say Uber should immediately deactivate the accounts of drivers who have been recorded engaging in inappropriate behavior.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Uber has long resisted implementing stricter background checks, it launched last year a\u003ca href=\"https://www.uber.com/newsroom/safety-in-the-drivers-seat/\"> voluntary in-ride video recording pilot program\u003c/a> in a handful of cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some longtime Uber drivers, like Sergio Avedian, pay for their own dashcams as a personal safety measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s a huge deterrent,” Avedian said of his dashcam, which he claims has prevented some passengers from behaving inappropriately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re on your own as a driver and a passenger,” said Avedian, a senior contributor to \u003ca href=\"https://therideshareguy.com/\">The Rideshare Guy blog and the host of its podcast. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, roughly half of Uber’s sexual assault allegations involve \u003ca href=\"https://www.uber.com/us/en/about/reports/us-safety-report/\">passengers assaulting drivers\u003c/a>, the company reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Avedian said he thinks passengers should have to opt out of allowing video recordings during rides rather than opting in. The cost of installing dashcams in every car is nominal, he said, and in a world where people regularly overshare on social media anyway, the potential privacy concerns seem relatively negligible, particularly if it enhances safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My safety trumps privacy, and passenger safety should trump privacy,” Avedian said. “Because, again, you’re in a car with a stranger. All it takes is one of these instances to change your life forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Passengers can't file class-action lawsuits against Uber in cases of sexual assault. But plaintiffs successfully argued that the current cases, filed in multiple courts around the country, are similar enough to bring them together under one roof.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>More than 175 individual sexual assault cases against Uber were recently consolidated, each of which similarly claims the San Francisco-based ride-share company hasn’t done enough to protect passengers. And on Friday, the parties involved met for the first time before a federal judge in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s terms of use preclude class-action lawsuits against the company in cases of sexual assault. But, over the company’s objections, plaintiffs’ attorneys argued the current cases are similar enough to warrant “multidistrict litigation,” which brings together similar cases from multiple court districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer will hear pretrial matters that pertain to all the cases and ultimately decide whether to take on what’s called a “bellwether trial” or a smaller sampling of lawsuits from a larger group of similar cases. If he declines to do so, the individual cases will ultimately head back to their home states for trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes as another consolidated set of lawsuits was recently filed against Uber that also accuses the company of failing to adequately ensure the safety of its passengers in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think they’re putting profits over safety every day,” said Bret Stanley, a Houston-based personal injury lawyer, whose firm, Kherkher Garcia, is one of about 15 involved in Uber’s “multidistrict litigation” — or as he likes to calls it, “class action’s cousin.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In recent years, scores of passengers have alleged being sexually assaulted by drivers while riding with Uber and\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/business/lyft-sexual-assault-lawsuit.html\"> Lyft\u003c/a> — with allegations ranging from groping to rape to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-allegedly-kidnapped-by-fake-uber-driver-rescued-after-slipping-note-to-gas-station-customer-arizona/\">kidnapping\u003c/a> — and sued the companies for failing to provide adequate safeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber told KQED it could not comment on pending litigation. But it stressed that the vast majority — 99.9% — of the billions of trips it makes are completed without any reported safety incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Uber is going to say, ‘99% of the time, we’re good.’ Well, .1% of a billion is 1 million! Right? The numbers are so huge,” Stanley said. “We really do want to force change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said Uber is well aware of the steps it can take to make rides safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because they know more data about these drivers than anyone,” he said. “Uber collects data on drivers on every single trip. And they should not be exposing people to safety risks if they have reason to believe that this person is unsafe or has done, previously, sexually inappropriate things in the vehicle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, Uber introduced a number of safety features, including an in-app\u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/29/uber-adds-911-assistance-to-rider-app/#:~:text=As%20you%20can%20see%20below,shows%20it%20in%20the%20app.\"> 911 button\u003c/a> and location sharing. Last year, it announced a partnership with ADT, a security firm, and added the capacity for passengers to \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/02/uber-pilots-safety-feature-that-allows-users-to-record-audio-during-a-ride/\">record audio\u003c/a> in its app and request\u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/30/uber-partners-with-adt-to-let-riders-get-in-touch-with-a-life-safety-agent/\"> live help from an ADT safety agent\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Stanley and other parties suing Uber argue those steps don’t go far enough and say the company should implement stronger safeguards, like tougher background checks and video recordings of every ride. They also say Uber should immediately deactivate the accounts of drivers who have been recorded engaging in inappropriate behavior.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Uber has long resisted implementing stricter background checks, it launched last year a\u003ca href=\"https://www.uber.com/newsroom/safety-in-the-drivers-seat/\"> voluntary in-ride video recording pilot program\u003c/a> in a handful of cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some longtime Uber drivers, like Sergio Avedian, pay for their own dashcams as a personal safety measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s a huge deterrent,” Avedian said of his dashcam, which he claims has prevented some passengers from behaving inappropriately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re on your own as a driver and a passenger,” said Avedian, a senior contributor to \u003ca href=\"https://therideshareguy.com/\">The Rideshare Guy blog and the host of its podcast. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, roughly half of Uber’s sexual assault allegations involve \u003ca href=\"https://www.uber.com/us/en/about/reports/us-safety-report/\">passengers assaulting drivers\u003c/a>, the company reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Avedian said he thinks passengers should have to opt out of allowing video recordings during rides rather than opting in. The cost of installing dashcams in every car is nominal, he said, and in a world where people regularly overshare on social media anyway, the potential privacy concerns seem relatively negligible, particularly if it enhances safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My safety trumps privacy, and passenger safety should trump privacy,” Avedian said. “Because, again, you’re in a car with a stranger. All it takes is one of these instances to change your life forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Uber raised the minimum age requirement for most of its new drivers in California to 25 on Thursday under rules the company said are necessary because of the rising costs of commercial auto insurance in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule applies only to drivers signing up to transport passengers with Uber’s ride-hailing platform, and not to those delivering food with Uber Eats. Previously, people as young as 21 could sign up to drive customers, and the age limit for deliveries was 19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those under 25 who activated their accounts prior to Wednesday can also continue to drive for Uber, the company said.[aside postID=news_11944344,news_11907530 label='More on Uber']Insurance rates for Uber’s California drivers are significantly higher than for personal vehicles or taxi drivers, according to a company statement announcing the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a result of these lopsided requirements, personal injury attorneys have created a cottage industry specializing in suing rideshare platforms like ours, pushing Uber’s California state-mandated commercial insurance costs to rise by more than 65% in just two years,” the company said. “By increasing the age requirement for new drivers to 25, we hope to mitigate the growth of those costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All 50 states require commercial insurance for drivers to earn money with a ride-hailing service. Personal auto insurance typically doesn’t cover activity on ride-hailing apps. Uber maintains commercial auto insurance for drivers — including at least $1 million of liability coverage once a ride is accepted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The minimum age is already 25 for those driving for Lyft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting Thursday, drivers under 25 trying to sign up with Uber will receive an email explaining the new policy and providing a link to more information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new restriction coincides with a resurgence in passengers following a deep downturn due to the pandemic. Uber is now handling more rides than it did in 2019, raising the company’s hopes that it may finally realize its long-term goal of becoming consistently profitable. Realizing that objective has sharpened management’s focus on cost control, a factor that may have contributed to the decision to drop 25-and-under drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s food delivery service, which will continue to let that demographic work as drivers, accounts for one-third of the company’s revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber hopes to work with state lawmakers and industry experts “to discuss legislative and regulatory changes that will improve the experience for all California drivers,” according to its statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Uber raised the minimum age requirement for most of its new drivers in California to 25 on Thursday under rules the company said are necessary because of the rising costs of commercial auto insurance in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule applies only to drivers signing up to transport passengers with Uber’s ride-hailing platform, and not to those delivering food with Uber Eats. Previously, people as young as 21 could sign up to drive customers, and the age limit for deliveries was 19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those under 25 who activated their accounts prior to Wednesday can also continue to drive for Uber, the company said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Insurance rates for Uber’s California drivers are significantly higher than for personal vehicles or taxi drivers, according to a company statement announcing the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a result of these lopsided requirements, personal injury attorneys have created a cottage industry specializing in suing rideshare platforms like ours, pushing Uber’s California state-mandated commercial insurance costs to rise by more than 65% in just two years,” the company said. “By increasing the age requirement for new drivers to 25, we hope to mitigate the growth of those costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All 50 states require commercial insurance for drivers to earn money with a ride-hailing service. Personal auto insurance typically doesn’t cover activity on ride-hailing apps. Uber maintains commercial auto insurance for drivers — including at least $1 million of liability coverage once a ride is accepted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The minimum age is already 25 for those driving for Lyft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting Thursday, drivers under 25 trying to sign up with Uber will receive an email explaining the new policy and providing a link to more information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new restriction coincides with a resurgence in passengers following a deep downturn due to the pandemic. Uber is now handling more rides than it did in 2019, raising the company’s hopes that it may finally realize its long-term goal of becoming consistently profitable. Realizing that objective has sharpened management’s focus on cost control, a factor that may have contributed to the decision to drop 25-and-under drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s food delivery service, which will continue to let that demographic work as drivers, accounts for one-third of the company’s revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber hopes to work with state lawmakers and industry experts “to discuss legislative and regulatory changes that will improve the experience for all California drivers,” according to its statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "no-reward-for-loyalty-gig-companies-winning-fight-to-classify-drivers-as-independent",
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"content": "\u003cp>After a California appeals court \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/13/california-court-lets-gig-companies-keep-treating-workers-as-contractors-00086898\">upheld most of Proposition 22\u003c/a> last week, it’s widely expected the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will appeal to the state Supreme Court. That’s even though the union says it’s still considering its options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More California Coverage\" tag=\"california\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, wrote in an email to KQED, “Drivers have always led this movement, and we will follow their lead as we consider all options — whether that’s seeking review from the California Supreme Court — to ensure that rideshare drivers and delivery workers have access to the same rights and protections afforded to other workers in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/topl-prop22.pdf\">Prop. 22 (PDF)\u003c/a> is widely perceived as a major carve-out of California labor law, allowing Uber, Lyft and similar businesses to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. A lower court ruling \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketwatch.com/story/judge-shoots-down-landmark-law-that-kept-uber-and-lyft-drivers-from-being-employees-11629513964\">found the law unconstitutional\u003c/a>. But the \u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A163655.PDF\">two-judge majority on the state appeals panel disagreed (PDF)\u003c/a>, arguing state law has never provided generous labor protections to “all potentially eligible wage workers” in California. There are, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11939848/a-legacy-of-slavery-for-domestic-workers-californias-new-safety-guidelines-are-long-overdue-say-advocates\">long-standing carve-outs for domestic and agricultural workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rideshare industry reaction exultant\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a statement following the release of the decision, \u003ca href=\"https://www.lyft.com/blog/posts/lyft-statement-on-california-court-of-appeal-prop-22-decision\">Lyft officials wrote in a blog post\u003c/a>, “We are pleased that the court upheld the democratic will of the voters … We are excited to continue operating our service with no changes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944379\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A closeup shot of a black vehicle with a pink Lyft sticker and a black and white Uber sticker on the left side of its windshield. The vehicle sits idle waiting to pick up a customer.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Proposition 22 allows gig companies such as Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Uber’s chief legal officer, Tony West, wrote in an email to KQED, “Across the state, drivers and couriers have said they are happy with Prop 22, which affords them new benefits while preserving the unique flexibility of app-based work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco did invalidate Prop. 22’s most \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/post-it/2020/10/california-amendment-threshold-proposition-22/\">controversial provision\u003c/a>, one that required a close-to-impossible seven-eighths’ vote of the Legislature to pass any bills that modify Prop. 22. But experts don’t expect Uber or Lyft to appeal, lest they risk the possibility the California Supreme Court agrees with the lower court ruling, and/or strike down all of Prop. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford labor law professor William Gould, who served as chair of the National Labor Relations Board from 1994 to 1998, wrote in an email to KQED that he thinks it’s “more than likely that the California Supreme Court will reverse. Should it not do so, the Biden administration’s new wage and hour rule on who is an employee preempts state law and, if drawn inconsistently with Proposition 22, will trump it constitutionally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate but related decision, a unanimous 9th Circuit panel \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/legal/ubers-challenge-calif-contractor-law-revived-by-us-appeals-court-2023-03-17/\">reinstated Uber and Postmates’ constitutional claim\u003c/a> against California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ab5\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a> on Friday. The San Francisco-based appeals panel said the state must face claims that the law is unconstitutional because it singles out app-based transportation businesses while exempting many other industries from the need to justify why they classify some workers as contractors rather than employees.[aside label=\"More on Assembly Bill 5\" tag=\"ab5\"]Already, the success of Prop. 22 with California voters at the ballot box in 2020 has inspired a similar measure on the 2024 ballot, one that would \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ccrov/2023/january/23012jh.pdf\">overturn a new law (PDF)\u003c/a> designed to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/ca-divide-workplace/2022/08/fast-food-workers/\">improve wages and working conditions in fast food\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No question there are a lot of minimum labor law standards in California, and I understand why employers find them onerous to comply with, not to mention expensive,” said UC Berkeley law professor Catherine Fisk, who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a group of California labor and employment law professors opposed to Prop. 22. She added that she’s “disappointed” by the appeals court decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it’s really in the public’s best interest to have such a large group of workers who are carved out of the minimum protections of state law. That exists not only to benefit the workers and their families, but the communities that are affected by abject poverty,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Happy to be independent, unhappy about the pay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Scott from LA County,” who drives for Uber, says he didn’t even vote in 2020 when the measure was on the ballot. KQED is not sharing Scott’s last name because because he fears the company might retaliate against him for speaking to KQED; he is unaffiliated with either the SEIU or the industry-backed \u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/about/our-coalition/\">Protect App-Based Drivers and Services coalition\u003c/a> (PADS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a little nonchalant about Prop. 22 because I was just getting started, and things were surprisingly good back then,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott admitted his opinion changed after Prop. 22 took effect the following January, and he watched the measure’s promised 120% of minimum wage become a ceiling for him, rather than a floor. In other words, he makes about $18.60 an hour these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944396\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944396\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg\" alt='A man stands with his back to the camera wearing a black T-shirt with yellow writing that reads \"Drivers Union Now.\" In the background, two people hold a large white sign that reads, \"Gig Workers Are Essential.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gig workers, including rideshare and delivery drivers, with We Drive Progress and Gig Workers Rising demonstrate outside DoorDash headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2021, demanding fair pay and employee rights. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“But that’s not what independent contractors got into Uber for, to make 120% of minimum wage,” he said. “In the past, I was making $30, $40, $50 an hour.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Scott, rideshare driver\"]‘There’s no reward for loyalty. You just kind of always feel like you’re replaceable.’[/pullquote]That said, Scott still loves choosing his own hours, 20 to 25 a week, and he’s not really bothered by the fact that independent contractors, as defined by Prop. 22, don’t have the same protections as employees under California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said what bothers him most, aside from making less money, is his sense that the company is driving out gig workers like him — who remember the days before Prop. 22 and can see the work is becoming less profitable — and relying on high turnover to pull in new people who can’t remember when drivers made more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no reward for loyalty. You just kind of always feel like you’re replaceable,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Side hustle or livelihood?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The percentage of rideshare drivers who are full time versus part time has been a point of contention between union-friendly Democratic lawmakers in California and the rideshare companies. A report published last year by UC Riverside’s Center for Economic Forecasting and Development for the industry-backed drivers’ coalition found “\u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/UCR_CEFD_CA_AppDrivers_Analysis_2_17_2022-41.pdf\">only 23% of drivers report working with platforms on what would conventionally be considered a full-time basis\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944401\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1704\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A demonstrator holds a sign that says ‘Prop 22 Is Unconstitutional’ during a protest outside DoorDash headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a recent talk before The Economic Club of Chicago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2131&v=HFKrv9Ub9WI&feature=youtu.be\">Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the weakening economy is bringing more drivers — he calls them “earners” — online\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 70% of our earners are saying inflation is actually one of the reasons why they’re coming on to the platform, because they can earn flexibly. And they can, you know, earn another $500 a week for groceries or whatever else they need to live,” Khosrowshahi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If drivers are only making a little extra money with the platforms versus relying on the driving for their livelihoods, labor lawyers say, it’s easier for gig companies to argue they aren’t exploiting the drivers by refusing to provide them the benefits employees would receive — or exploiting taxpayers by socializing the costs drivers can’t afford to cover on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw this during the pandemic, right after Proposition 22 was enacted,” said Fisk, of UC Berkeley. “Every other employer had paid into the unemployment system. So when their workers became unemployed, they could file a claim for unemployment and be compensated. Uber and Lyft exempted themselves from the unemployment system. Their drivers were left penniless. So what did the companies say? ‘Congress has created a system for independent contractors. You should apply to that.’ Who was paying for that? \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11812496/uber-and-lyft-arent-paying-for-drivers-unemployment-you-are-confirms-newsom\">The taxpayers\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Labor advocates are mulling their options after a California appeals court reversed most of a ruling invalidating Prop. 22, the state's 2020 voter-approved gig economy law allowing ride-hailing and delivery companies to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees.",
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"title": "'No Reward for Loyalty': Gig Companies Winning Fight to Classify Drivers as Independent | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After a California appeals court \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/13/california-court-lets-gig-companies-keep-treating-workers-as-contractors-00086898\">upheld most of Proposition 22\u003c/a> last week, it’s widely expected the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will appeal to the state Supreme Court. That’s even though the union says it’s still considering its options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, wrote in an email to KQED, “Drivers have always led this movement, and we will follow their lead as we consider all options — whether that’s seeking review from the California Supreme Court — to ensure that rideshare drivers and delivery workers have access to the same rights and protections afforded to other workers in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/topl-prop22.pdf\">Prop. 22 (PDF)\u003c/a> is widely perceived as a major carve-out of California labor law, allowing Uber, Lyft and similar businesses to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. A lower court ruling \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketwatch.com/story/judge-shoots-down-landmark-law-that-kept-uber-and-lyft-drivers-from-being-employees-11629513964\">found the law unconstitutional\u003c/a>. But the \u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A163655.PDF\">two-judge majority on the state appeals panel disagreed (PDF)\u003c/a>, arguing state law has never provided generous labor protections to “all potentially eligible wage workers” in California. There are, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11939848/a-legacy-of-slavery-for-domestic-workers-californias-new-safety-guidelines-are-long-overdue-say-advocates\">long-standing carve-outs for domestic and agricultural workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rideshare industry reaction exultant\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a statement following the release of the decision, \u003ca href=\"https://www.lyft.com/blog/posts/lyft-statement-on-california-court-of-appeal-prop-22-decision\">Lyft officials wrote in a blog post\u003c/a>, “We are pleased that the court upheld the democratic will of the voters … We are excited to continue operating our service with no changes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944379\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A closeup shot of a black vehicle with a pink Lyft sticker and a black and white Uber sticker on the left side of its windshield. The vehicle sits idle waiting to pick up a customer.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Proposition 22 allows gig companies such as Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Uber’s chief legal officer, Tony West, wrote in an email to KQED, “Across the state, drivers and couriers have said they are happy with Prop 22, which affords them new benefits while preserving the unique flexibility of app-based work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco did invalidate Prop. 22’s most \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/post-it/2020/10/california-amendment-threshold-proposition-22/\">controversial provision\u003c/a>, one that required a close-to-impossible seven-eighths’ vote of the Legislature to pass any bills that modify Prop. 22. But experts don’t expect Uber or Lyft to appeal, lest they risk the possibility the California Supreme Court agrees with the lower court ruling, and/or strike down all of Prop. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford labor law professor William Gould, who served as chair of the National Labor Relations Board from 1994 to 1998, wrote in an email to KQED that he thinks it’s “more than likely that the California Supreme Court will reverse. Should it not do so, the Biden administration’s new wage and hour rule on who is an employee preempts state law and, if drawn inconsistently with Proposition 22, will trump it constitutionally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate but related decision, a unanimous 9th Circuit panel \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/legal/ubers-challenge-calif-contractor-law-revived-by-us-appeals-court-2023-03-17/\">reinstated Uber and Postmates’ constitutional claim\u003c/a> against California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ab5\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a> on Friday. The San Francisco-based appeals panel said the state must face claims that the law is unconstitutional because it singles out app-based transportation businesses while exempting many other industries from the need to justify why they classify some workers as contractors rather than employees.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Already, the success of Prop. 22 with California voters at the ballot box in 2020 has inspired a similar measure on the 2024 ballot, one that would \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ccrov/2023/january/23012jh.pdf\">overturn a new law (PDF)\u003c/a> designed to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/ca-divide-workplace/2022/08/fast-food-workers/\">improve wages and working conditions in fast food\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No question there are a lot of minimum labor law standards in California, and I understand why employers find them onerous to comply with, not to mention expensive,” said UC Berkeley law professor Catherine Fisk, who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a group of California labor and employment law professors opposed to Prop. 22. She added that she’s “disappointed” by the appeals court decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it’s really in the public’s best interest to have such a large group of workers who are carved out of the minimum protections of state law. That exists not only to benefit the workers and their families, but the communities that are affected by abject poverty,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Happy to be independent, unhappy about the pay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Scott from LA County,” who drives for Uber, says he didn’t even vote in 2020 when the measure was on the ballot. KQED is not sharing Scott’s last name because because he fears the company might retaliate against him for speaking to KQED; he is unaffiliated with either the SEIU or the industry-backed \u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/about/our-coalition/\">Protect App-Based Drivers and Services coalition\u003c/a> (PADS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a little nonchalant about Prop. 22 because I was just getting started, and things were surprisingly good back then,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott admitted his opinion changed after Prop. 22 took effect the following January, and he watched the measure’s promised 120% of minimum wage become a ceiling for him, rather than a floor. In other words, he makes about $18.60 an hour these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944396\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944396\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg\" alt='A man stands with his back to the camera wearing a black T-shirt with yellow writing that reads \"Drivers Union Now.\" In the background, two people hold a large white sign that reads, \"Gig Workers Are Essential.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gig workers, including rideshare and delivery drivers, with We Drive Progress and Gig Workers Rising demonstrate outside DoorDash headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2021, demanding fair pay and employee rights. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“But that’s not what independent contractors got into Uber for, to make 120% of minimum wage,” he said. “In the past, I was making $30, $40, $50 an hour.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘There’s no reward for loyalty. You just kind of always feel like you’re replaceable.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That said, Scott still loves choosing his own hours, 20 to 25 a week, and he’s not really bothered by the fact that independent contractors, as defined by Prop. 22, don’t have the same protections as employees under California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said what bothers him most, aside from making less money, is his sense that the company is driving out gig workers like him — who remember the days before Prop. 22 and can see the work is becoming less profitable — and relying on high turnover to pull in new people who can’t remember when drivers made more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no reward for loyalty. You just kind of always feel like you’re replaceable,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Side hustle or livelihood?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The percentage of rideshare drivers who are full time versus part time has been a point of contention between union-friendly Democratic lawmakers in California and the rideshare companies. A report published last year by UC Riverside’s Center for Economic Forecasting and Development for the industry-backed drivers’ coalition found “\u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/UCR_CEFD_CA_AppDrivers_Analysis_2_17_2022-41.pdf\">only 23% of drivers report working with platforms on what would conventionally be considered a full-time basis\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944401\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1704\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A demonstrator holds a sign that says ‘Prop 22 Is Unconstitutional’ during a protest outside DoorDash headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a recent talk before The Economic Club of Chicago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2131&v=HFKrv9Ub9WI&feature=youtu.be\">Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the weakening economy is bringing more drivers — he calls them “earners” — online\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 70% of our earners are saying inflation is actually one of the reasons why they’re coming on to the platform, because they can earn flexibly. And they can, you know, earn another $500 a week for groceries or whatever else they need to live,” Khosrowshahi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If drivers are only making a little extra money with the platforms versus relying on the driving for their livelihoods, labor lawyers say, it’s easier for gig companies to argue they aren’t exploiting the drivers by refusing to provide them the benefits employees would receive — or exploiting taxpayers by socializing the costs drivers can’t afford to cover on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw this during the pandemic, right after Proposition 22 was enacted,” said Fisk, of UC Berkeley. “Every other employer had paid into the unemployment system. So when their workers became unemployed, they could file a claim for unemployment and be compensated. Uber and Lyft exempted themselves from the unemployment system. Their drivers were left penniless. So what did the companies say? ‘Congress has created a system for independent contractors. You should apply to that.’ Who was paying for that? \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11812496/uber-and-lyft-arent-paying-for-drivers-unemployment-you-are-confirms-newsom\">The taxpayers\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Court Upholds Prop. 22 in Big Win for Gig Firms Like Lyft and Uber",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the winding story of California’s gig-worker laws, another chapter has come to a close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Justices in a California court of appeals on Monday ruled that Proposition 22 — a 2020 ballot measure that allowed Uber, Lyft and other \"gig\" companies to classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees — is largely constitutional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The distinction between employees and contractors is important: Unlike independent contractors, employees have the right to a host of benefits and protections like minimum wage, sick leave and family leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three court of appeals judges in San Francisco, who heard oral arguments in the case in December, disagreed with two of the three points of a lower court's ruling that had largely \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-08-20/prop-22-unconstitutional\">invalidated Prop. 22\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the judges on Monday did agree with the lower court that a clause in the measure — requiring collective bargaining to occur through an amendment to the proposition — “violates separation of powers principles,” and ordered it be removed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, the appeals court ruling leaves most of Prop. 22 intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the measure were quick to celebrate the decision, with the Protect App-Based Drivers and Services coalition, which includes Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart, calling it “a victory for the nearly 1.4 million drivers” in California.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"proposition-22\"]“Voters knew what they were voting on,” said Jennifer Barrera, president of the California Chamber of Commerce. “They wanted to maintain the flexibility for these gig workers and provide them the opportunity to do this work. And I think that’s ultimately what the judge did — is to uphold that flexibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while this chapter has drawn to a close, the story probably isn’t over. The Service Employees International Union is challenging the constitutionality of the measure and may appeal the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drivers have always led this movement, and we will follow their lead as we consider all options — including seeking review from the [California] Supreme Court — to ensure that gig drivers and delivery workers have access to the same rights and protections afforded to other workers in California,” Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, an umbrella organization for labor unions, which opposed Prop. 22, lambasted the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today the Appeals Court chose to stand with powerful corporations over working people, allowing companies to buy their way out of our state’s labor laws and undermine our state constitution,” she said in a statement. “Our system is broken. It would be an understatement to say we are disappointed by this decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview earlier this month, \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/our-faculty/faculty-profiles/catherine-fisk/\">UC Berkeley Law professor Catherine Fisk\u003c/a> said she’d be “stunned” if whichever side lost didn’t appeal the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s just too much money at stake — for both sides,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judicial system moves slowly, so it could be months before the California Supreme Court decides on whether or not to hear an appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case has ramifications beyond this initiative, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.nmgovlaw.com/team/kurt-oneto/\">Kurt Oneto, an attorney with Nielsen Merksamer\u003c/a>, the firm representing the coalition of gig companies, and is defending the ballot measure in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenges to the initiative “would drastically undercut and restrain the initiative power of California voters,” he told CalMatters earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But ultimately at stake are the kinds of pay, benefits and legal protections that drivers are entitled to, said \u003ca href=\"https://altshulerberzon.com/attorneys/stacey-leyton/\">Stacey Leyton, attorney with Altshuler Berzon\u003c/a>, the law firm representing SEIU and workers in challenging the ballot measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the effects will extend beyond drivers, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When companies exploit their workers and misclassify their workers, it has the effect of harming all workers,” said Leyton.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How did we get here?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s battle over the classification of workers began in 2018, when the state Supreme Court issued a ruling that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2018/08/companies-beg-for-relief-from-pro-labor-gig-worker-ruling/\">established a new standard for who can be counted as an independent contractor\u003c/a>. That decision spurred a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2019/09/whos-in-whos-out-of-ab-5/\">new state law\u003c/a> that classified workers in many sectors — including truckers, commercial janitors, nail salon workers, physical therapists and gig economy workers — as employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After failing to get the ride-share industry exempted from the new law, Uber and Lyft upped the ante, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2019-08-29/ab5-uber-lyft-newsom-lorena-gonzalez-ballot-tony-west\">threatening to write a ballot measure\u003c/a> to do so unless they could negotiate another deal. They argued that changing the employment status of drivers would reduce workers’ flexibility and “\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Open-Forum-Uber-Lyft-ready-to-do-our-part-for-13969843.php?\">pose a risk to our businesses\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, the companies forged ahead with Prop. 22, which became a pitched battle between labor and business, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/projects/props-california-2020-election-money/\">breaking state campaign finance records\u003c/a> in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/election-2020-guide/proposition-22-gig-workers-ab-5/\">classifying workers as independent contractors\u003c/a>, the measure offered gig workers \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=22&year=2020\">certain incentives\u003c/a>, in lieu of standard employee benefits, including 120% of minimum wage for “active” driving time (but not time waiting), a partial health care subsidy for those who clocked enough hours per week, and on-the-job injury coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/election-2020-guide/proposition-22-gig-workers-ab-5/\">measure passed\u003c/a> with 58% of the vote in November 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after Prop. 22 passed, SEIU and a group of drivers mounted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2021-01-12/prop-22-faces-first-legal-challenge-from-ride-share-drivers-seiu\">legal challenge\u003c/a>, arguing that it violated California’s constitution. Their case was eventually heard by a judge in Alameda County Superior Court, who in 2021 struck down \u003ca href=\"https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/c5/f5/7bba477c4a839d1edd9f5b5a75e9/prop-22-alameda-superior-ct.%208-20-21.pdf\">Prop. 22 (PDF)\u003c/a> as unconstitutional. But attorneys representing the state and the coalition representing gig companies appealed that decision, sending it to the appeals court.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-what-s-happened-since-prop-22-went-into-effect\">What's happened since Prop. 22 went into effect\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What has changed — for better or worse — since the measure took effect depends somewhat on who you ask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jose Pineda, a driver for DoorDash in Northridge who was referred to CalMatters by the industry coalition, says his hourly pay has increased from about $23–$25 (before costs) to $27–$30. After switching from Medi-Cal to an insurance plan through Covered California, he receives a health stipend of about $75 every two weeks, he said. He supported Prop. 22, and said, “I think it’s good. I think we need it. I mean, what else is out there?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contrast that with the experience of Daryush Khodadadi-Mobarakeh, who was referred to CalMatters by SEIU. Khodadadi-Mobarakeh, who drives 35 to 40 hours a week for several companies, including Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, and is a leader with the California Gig Workers Union, said his pay has consistently decreased since he began working in 2014, and particularly after Prop. 22 went into effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now it takes him about 12 hours to make the same amount he used to earn in eight hours before Prop. 22, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How drivers’ wages have been affected by Prop. 22 depends in part on how working hours and expenses are calculated (and who's doing the research). A \u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/UCR_CEFD_CA_AppDrivers_Analysis_2_17_2022-41.pdf\">study paid for by the industry coalition \u003c/a>and conducted by researchers at UC Riverside found that in late 2021, drivers for DoorDash, Instacart, Lyft and Uber earned $34.46 in gross pay per hour of “engaged” time — the time between accepting a ride or delivery and dropping off the order or rider. That was up from $27.34 in late 2019, before the measure passed. Those wages don’t account for the time workers spend waiting between rides, or costs like fuel, car maintenance and insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a \u003ca href=\"https://nationalequityatlas.org/prop22-paystudy\">study of Uber and Lyft drivers\u003c/a> conducted by National Equity Atlas, in partnership with Rideshare Drivers United, which opposed Prop. 22, found that drivers on average earned $26.30 in gross wages per hour in late 2021. But the study then calculated the cost of employee benefits that gig workers don't receive — including reimbursement for total miles driven and employer contributions to programs including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance and paid sick time. When figured into the equation, drivers' net wages dropped to $6.20 per hour, the study found.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the winding story of California’s gig-worker laws, another chapter has come to a close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Justices in a California court of appeals on Monday ruled that Proposition 22 — a 2020 ballot measure that allowed Uber, Lyft and other \"gig\" companies to classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees — is largely constitutional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The distinction between employees and contractors is important: Unlike independent contractors, employees have the right to a host of benefits and protections like minimum wage, sick leave and family leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three court of appeals judges in San Francisco, who heard oral arguments in the case in December, disagreed with two of the three points of a lower court's ruling that had largely \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-08-20/prop-22-unconstitutional\">invalidated Prop. 22\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the judges on Monday did agree with the lower court that a clause in the measure — requiring collective bargaining to occur through an amendment to the proposition — “violates separation of powers principles,” and ordered it be removed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, the appeals court ruling leaves most of Prop. 22 intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the measure were quick to celebrate the decision, with the Protect App-Based Drivers and Services coalition, which includes Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart, calling it “a victory for the nearly 1.4 million drivers” in California.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Voters knew what they were voting on,” said Jennifer Barrera, president of the California Chamber of Commerce. “They wanted to maintain the flexibility for these gig workers and provide them the opportunity to do this work. And I think that’s ultimately what the judge did — is to uphold that flexibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while this chapter has drawn to a close, the story probably isn’t over. The Service Employees International Union is challenging the constitutionality of the measure and may appeal the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drivers have always led this movement, and we will follow their lead as we consider all options — including seeking review from the [California] Supreme Court — to ensure that gig drivers and delivery workers have access to the same rights and protections afforded to other workers in California,” Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, an umbrella organization for labor unions, which opposed Prop. 22, lambasted the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today the Appeals Court chose to stand with powerful corporations over working people, allowing companies to buy their way out of our state’s labor laws and undermine our state constitution,” she said in a statement. “Our system is broken. It would be an understatement to say we are disappointed by this decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview earlier this month, \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/our-faculty/faculty-profiles/catherine-fisk/\">UC Berkeley Law professor Catherine Fisk\u003c/a> said she’d be “stunned” if whichever side lost didn’t appeal the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s just too much money at stake — for both sides,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judicial system moves slowly, so it could be months before the California Supreme Court decides on whether or not to hear an appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case has ramifications beyond this initiative, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.nmgovlaw.com/team/kurt-oneto/\">Kurt Oneto, an attorney with Nielsen Merksamer\u003c/a>, the firm representing the coalition of gig companies, and is defending the ballot measure in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenges to the initiative “would drastically undercut and restrain the initiative power of California voters,” he told CalMatters earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But ultimately at stake are the kinds of pay, benefits and legal protections that drivers are entitled to, said \u003ca href=\"https://altshulerberzon.com/attorneys/stacey-leyton/\">Stacey Leyton, attorney with Altshuler Berzon\u003c/a>, the law firm representing SEIU and workers in challenging the ballot measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the effects will extend beyond drivers, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When companies exploit their workers and misclassify their workers, it has the effect of harming all workers,” said Leyton.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How did we get here?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s battle over the classification of workers began in 2018, when the state Supreme Court issued a ruling that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2018/08/companies-beg-for-relief-from-pro-labor-gig-worker-ruling/\">established a new standard for who can be counted as an independent contractor\u003c/a>. That decision spurred a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2019/09/whos-in-whos-out-of-ab-5/\">new state law\u003c/a> that classified workers in many sectors — including truckers, commercial janitors, nail salon workers, physical therapists and gig economy workers — as employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After failing to get the ride-share industry exempted from the new law, Uber and Lyft upped the ante, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2019-08-29/ab5-uber-lyft-newsom-lorena-gonzalez-ballot-tony-west\">threatening to write a ballot measure\u003c/a> to do so unless they could negotiate another deal. They argued that changing the employment status of drivers would reduce workers’ flexibility and “\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Open-Forum-Uber-Lyft-ready-to-do-our-part-for-13969843.php?\">pose a risk to our businesses\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, the companies forged ahead with Prop. 22, which became a pitched battle between labor and business, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/projects/props-california-2020-election-money/\">breaking state campaign finance records\u003c/a> in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/election-2020-guide/proposition-22-gig-workers-ab-5/\">classifying workers as independent contractors\u003c/a>, the measure offered gig workers \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=22&year=2020\">certain incentives\u003c/a>, in lieu of standard employee benefits, including 120% of minimum wage for “active” driving time (but not time waiting), a partial health care subsidy for those who clocked enough hours per week, and on-the-job injury coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/election-2020-guide/proposition-22-gig-workers-ab-5/\">measure passed\u003c/a> with 58% of the vote in November 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after Prop. 22 passed, SEIU and a group of drivers mounted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2021-01-12/prop-22-faces-first-legal-challenge-from-ride-share-drivers-seiu\">legal challenge\u003c/a>, arguing that it violated California’s constitution. Their case was eventually heard by a judge in Alameda County Superior Court, who in 2021 struck down \u003ca href=\"https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/c5/f5/7bba477c4a839d1edd9f5b5a75e9/prop-22-alameda-superior-ct.%208-20-21.pdf\">Prop. 22 (PDF)\u003c/a> as unconstitutional. But attorneys representing the state and the coalition representing gig companies appealed that decision, sending it to the appeals court.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-what-s-happened-since-prop-22-went-into-effect\">What's happened since Prop. 22 went into effect\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What has changed — for better or worse — since the measure took effect depends somewhat on who you ask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jose Pineda, a driver for DoorDash in Northridge who was referred to CalMatters by the industry coalition, says his hourly pay has increased from about $23–$25 (before costs) to $27–$30. After switching from Medi-Cal to an insurance plan through Covered California, he receives a health stipend of about $75 every two weeks, he said. He supported Prop. 22, and said, “I think it’s good. I think we need it. I mean, what else is out there?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contrast that with the experience of Daryush Khodadadi-Mobarakeh, who was referred to CalMatters by SEIU. Khodadadi-Mobarakeh, who drives 35 to 40 hours a week for several companies, including Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, and is a leader with the California Gig Workers Union, said his pay has consistently decreased since he began working in 2014, and particularly after Prop. 22 went into effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now it takes him about 12 hours to make the same amount he used to earn in eight hours before Prop. 22, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How drivers’ wages have been affected by Prop. 22 depends in part on how working hours and expenses are calculated (and who's doing the research). A \u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/UCR_CEFD_CA_AppDrivers_Analysis_2_17_2022-41.pdf\">study paid for by the industry coalition \u003c/a>and conducted by researchers at UC Riverside found that in late 2021, drivers for DoorDash, Instacart, Lyft and Uber earned $34.46 in gross pay per hour of “engaged” time — the time between accepting a ride or delivery and dropping off the order or rider. That was up from $27.34 in late 2019, before the measure passed. Those wages don’t account for the time workers spend waiting between rides, or costs like fuel, car maintenance and insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a \u003ca href=\"https://nationalequityatlas.org/prop22-paystudy\">study of Uber and Lyft drivers\u003c/a> conducted by National Equity Atlas, in partnership with Rideshare Drivers United, which opposed Prop. 22, found that drivers on average earned $26.30 in gross wages per hour in late 2021. But the study then calculated the cost of employee benefits that gig workers don't receive — including reimbursement for total miles driven and employer contributions to programs including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance and paid sick time. When figured into the equation, drivers' net wages dropped to $6.20 per hour, the study found.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
},
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},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
"title": "Science Friday",
"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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