Winter Skyline, Boston, by Massachusetts Office of Tourism, licensed under CC
Question 3 on the November ballot would permit rideshare workers to unionize, disregarding their status as independent contractors. Really, the measure would force companies to collectively bargain with workers – who never asked for this – with the state government playing referee.
Enacting such a policy would hurt the very people the measure is ostensibly claiming to support.
“We really feel like we have no choice. We have to do this for these drivers and get them the right to a union.” said a representative of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
“They want a voice in all those changes going forward. They want to have a voice in improving their working conditions going forward.” said another coalition leader.
One would assume, when hearing these statements, that drivers are steadfastly united on the issue. This is not the case. In fact, Massachusetts rideshare drivers remain solidly split on unions, and they should be.
This discrepancy is reflected in the polls. Massachusetts voters are more in favor of allowing rideshare workers to unionize than the drivers themselves. As it turns out, people chose to drive for companies like Uber and Lyft precisely because of the flexibility independent contract work affords.
Around 70% of rideshare drivers work another job, and only use driving as a side gig – hence the term “gig work” – an etymological fact that democrats are constitutionally opposed to reckoning with. 50% of drivers only do so 10 hours a week or less. These are not full-time employees – they’re hardly even part-time employees. Their interests are different than the 30% who work full-time, and yet they’ll be represented by the same union, whether they like it or not.
Luckily, Question 3 cannot override drivers’ independent contractor status, but not because Democrats care about rideshare drivers. Democrats are still fighting to get them classified as employees. However, a 2022 court case filed by Massachusetts’s then-attorney general, protected Uber and Lyft’s right to classify drivers as such.
Even as independent contractors, however, unions still threaten drivers’ flexibility. Unions might negotiate standardized rates, mandatory breaks, or limits on working hours, which, while beneficial in some industries, could restrict a driver’s ability to capitalize on peak demand periods or adjust their work hours to fit personal schedule.
The risk of such changes only magnifies when one considers that the Ballot Measure only requires a 25% vote from drivers to form a union that would represent them as a whole. This means that the 30% of drivers working full-time, who would benefit most from being treated like employees, might be able to dictate policy for all rideshare drivers.
Even drivers who vote against a union would still have to pay union dues.
Drivers, for a variety of reasons, have already been granted many of the benefits that a union would negotiate. “They have forms of paid sick leave, they have forms of paid family and medical leave, they have health care stipends, they have on the job injury insurance… They have anti-discrimination protections. They have domestic violence leave. Anti-retaliation protections” said Paul Craney, a spokesman for the nonprofit Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
Moreover, proponents don’t outline any benefits that drivers would need beyond those that they already have, except for one, and that’s pay. The overwhelming purpose of unionizing, according to those who support it, is securing more than the $32 an hour minimum wage already negotiated in the courtroom.
This figure will not easily be supported by customers, and the viability of rideshare companies could be threatened. The hours available to drivers certainly will be slashed as demand declines.
On top of all of this, the measure would grant special privileges to unionize only to rideshare drivers, a carve out that could violate NLRA rules.
If Question 3 were approved, lawyers, labor organizers, and government officials would all be in your way when you next use Uber or Lyft in Boston.
