A group of Minnesota ride-hailing service drivers is now pushing for the right to unionize after winning a minimum wage increase at the state Capitol last year.
Drivers for services like Uber and Lyft are working with state lawmakers on legislation to allow them to vote on forming a union — something they currently can’t do because they are considered independent contractors under federal law.
New minimum wages for ride-hailing drivers went into effect in December last year after a 2024 bill went into effect.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers and others backing the new unionization bill, including the SEIU Local 26, say allowing drivers to organize will keep future wage disputes from ending up at the Legislature.
“The best way to hold these companies accountable is to give drivers a seat at the table,” said Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis. “Are these folks going to come every year and ask for us to do a pay increase or are we giving them power to negotiate with companies?”
Increasingly vocal
Ride-hailing service drivers, who are overwhelmingly immigrants and people of color, have become increasingly vocal in state and local politics in recent years over concerns about wages and treatment by companies.
Some drivers claim they have been locked out of the application due to complaints from customers, and that it is difficult to appeal suspensions. Uber can suspend drivers over reports of safety concerns.
Mohamed and Rep. Samakab Hussein, DFL-St. Paul, plan to introduce a bill to allow drivers to unionize, though it’s still being drafted. Mohamed said she expects the bill to get a Senate hearing once it has been filed.
It’ll face a steep climb in a legislature where a House split 67-67 between the parties will mean at least one Republican will have to support it — an unlikely prospect. And DFLers haven’t necessarily been unified behind past ride-hailing wage bills either.
Drivers had been pushing for minimum wages and other protections since 2023, but Gov. Tim Walz vetoed the first version of a wage bill that passed that year.
Uber statement
In a statement responding to the unionization bill push, Uber said the current minimum wage for drivers is among the country’s highest, and that it has been working with the Confederation of Somali Community and driver organizations to help drivers with any concerns they have with wages and access to their platform.
“Over the last few years, drivers, rideshare companies, and legislators worked collaboratively on addressing what drivers themselves established as their own priorities,” said Freddi Goldstein, a spokesperson for Uber. “It is not constructive to have late-to-the-game parties show up to risk what’s been achieved to advance their own interests.”
Drivers for services like Uber and Lyft are considered independent contractors, meaning they can’t form a union under federal law. Still, one other state has moved forward with a measure to grant ride-hailing service drivers the ability to organize.
In November, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure allowing drivers to form a union. Drivers can now organize if they want, and companies can negotiate as a group, the Associated Press reported.
The measure came after a wage win for drivers earlier in the year. Massachusetts’ attorney general settled with Uber and Lyft in June guaranteeing Uber and Lyft drivers a minimum pay standard of $32.50 an hour, according to the Associated Press.
Wage increase measure
Walz signed Minnesota’s minimum ride-hailing wage bill into law last year and it went into effect on Dec. 1, 2024.
The state now requires a wage of $1.28 per mile and $0.31 per minute — a compromise that came after Uber and Lyft threatened to pull out of the state when the Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance setting the wage at $1.40 and $0.51, respectively.
A Minnesota study published in March 2024 — before the new wages took effect — found Twin Cities metro Uber and Lyft drivers made about $14.48 per hour on average after expenses like gas, insurance and wear-and-tear. That was below the Minneapolis minimum wage of $15.57.
The per-mile compensation rate would have to be $0.89 per mile and $0.49 per minute in order to reach Minneapolis minimum wage, according to the study from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. When accounting for sick time, health insurance and retirement, the mileage rate needed to rise to at least $1.20.
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