Uber, Lyft Drivers In Massachusetts Form First US Ride-Share Union (usnews.com)
- Reference: 0183417534
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/05/26/1825246/uber-lyft-drivers-in-massachusetts-form-first-us-ride-share-union
- Source link: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-05-26/uber-lyft-drivers-in-massachusetts-form-first-us-ride-share-union
> Ride-share drivers for app-based companies such as Uber and Lyft have unionized in Massachusetts, forming what state officials and labor leaders said was the [1]first officially recognized organization in the U.S. to represent such gig workers . The newly formed [2]App Drivers Union received certification from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations on Friday to represent nearly 70,000 ride-share drivers operating as independent contractors in the state.
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> "It changes the game for ride-share workers across this country," Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat, said at a rally with drivers and labor activists in Boston on Tuesday. The certification occurred after voters in November 2024 approved a [3]ballot measure that created a novel framework to allow drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft to organize and bargain collectively over pay and benefits. That vote followed a years-long, nationwide battle over whether ride-share drivers should be considered independent contractors or employees entitled to benefits and wage protections.
[1] https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-05-26/uber-lyft-drivers-in-massachusetts-form-first-us-ride-share-union
[2] https://www.appdriversunion.org/
[3] https://www.mass.gov/info-details/rideshare-driver-unionization
In other words (Score:2)
It's a taxi union.
Congratulations.
When do costs become problematic? (Score:2)
Much like with the food delivery services, when costs rise, usage tends to decrease, which in itself is a kind of dislocation, i.e. increased costs, results in decreased demand, which results in need for less supply -- so fewer will make more while supply (number of workers) is decreased inline with demand. Folks should be free to decide their own business arrangements, but as with everything else, that freedom applies to both sellers AND buyers and there will be no "free lunch" where more (or even the same
It just means people drop out (Score:2)
That balance goes both ways. If there's not enough work people won't do it and supply will drop.
Meanwhile pay was getting so bad you couldn't get drivers. Uber punishes you for refusing unprofitable rides
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed. Freedom all around I say. Although I will also say that my usage of food delivery services has taken a nose dive (paying $30+ for 15$ worth of food is just a very poor use of funds, especially when I can jump in the car and get it for myself in less time). To each his own, although I suspect gig work will likely price itself out of some of the market -- which as you note, was probably an unproductive expenditure of everyone's time and money anyways.
Why is public transit so abysmal? (Score:1)
I don't understand the obsession with overpaying for a ride on a hipster app controlled by a seedy corporation that mistreats its gig workers.
In my day we walked home from a bar at 2am. If it was across town we caught the all night Friday/Saturday night bus service.
Re: (Score:3)
The problem is that public transit is full of the public. And people with money don't want to be around them.
Here you're quite likely to end up sitting next to a meth-head who's been riding the bus all day because it's warm and the drivers let them on even when they won't pay the fare.
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bars are full o public also, that's why all drinking should be done home alone
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No, bars will throw out scumbags. Public transit, at least around here, will not.
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Europe has plenty of meth-heads too, yet public transportation there does not suck. The public transportation in the US sucks because the government doesn't want to do what is necessary to overcome the cold start problem. To be useful, a mass transit needs to have a lot of busses. If you have to wait 30 minutes for a bus, nobody will use it. But to have a lot of busses you need a lot of riders to cover the cost. The only way to break this vicious cycle is for the government to subsidize it heavily in the be
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> Europe has plenty of meth-heads too, yet public transportation there does not suck
Then maybe they keep the meth-heads off the buses. But in America that's raxist or something.
There is never going to be a case where it's better to walk to where you have to wait for a bus which takes you to somewhere you have to walk home from than to just get in your car and drive there, which is why European governments concentrate on making travel worse for drivers.
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> In my day we walked home from a bar at 2am. If it was across town we caught the all night Friday/Saturday night bus service.
This is meaningless without stating *where* you did this. Many, if not most American cities are pretty much car dependent with scant public transportation and worse, they just were not designed for it or have molded their city layout for the past decades around highways and cars and not busses or god forbid trains.
NYC is really the only American city with a truly robust public transit system. DC, Chicago and maybe a couple others have decent systems but the rest? Especially a city that was really built up
Good luck to them! (Score:2)
Have @ Unions in the private economy, things may get rocky in the short term but they will reach an equilibrium eventually.
Uber and Lyft drivers - a 2020s thing (Score:2)
I don't foresee that there will be any Uber and Lyft drivers by 2030, except a small and diminishing subset to serve the niche of people who won't get in a self-driving taxi.
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Hey, ya idiot... there's not an Epstein class (very small class... and, considering he's dead, I doubt that there's many knocking on his door)
I always laugh when rsilvergun's alter-egos post.
For @rsilvergun... maybe don't post stuff from your AC alter-ego (just so you can avoid getting modded down) constantly. A big plus would be if you started posting stuff without ever mentioning your AC or trying to force the story about your kid on people.
To everyone else: If the post has fark.com in it somewhere, it'
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, actually. [1]https://koreajoongangdaily.joi... [joins.com]
[1] https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2026-05-25/world/world/Not-just-Samsung-Workers-at-TSMC-also-questioning-bonus-system-in-wake-of-record-profits-/2600235
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Did they get health benefits like in the Canadian Union?
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> ...absolutely no downsides for anyone anywhere!
Yes, downsides to ride-sharing companies and their profits, which can impact their executives.
Not saying "wont someone please think of the..." but you are factually incorrect.