Comments from Tyler Roth Included in SHRM Article About Unionizing by Ride-Booking Drivers
Tyler Roth, a Quarles & Brady partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Group, was quoted in a SHRM article about the significance of the move toward unionization by some contract workers for companies such as Uber and Lyft.
Ride-booking drivers in California and Massachusetts have joined unions in recent months, seeking better pay and working conditions. Under federal law, such contract workers normally wouldn’t be able to unionize, but that’s changing at the state level in some places. This could have significant implications for independent contractors across many industries, especially as the gig economy continues to grow.
Roth explained that the companies with unionizing contract workers may face new requirements in the states where this happens. An excerpt:
The unionizing efforts for drivers who provide services for ride-booking companies have been unique, said Tyler Roth, an attorney with Quarles & Brady in Milwaukee. “The unionization effort is important because it signals a willingness by unions to organize — notwithstanding the workers’ classification as independent contractors under federal law.” If the drivers are unionized, the ride-booking companies will likely have additional obligations under state law, including a requirement to meet and bargain with the union over a contract that covers drivers’ wages, benefits, and other working conditions.
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The union organizing campaigns have therefore made automated driving a key concern for all drivers nationwide and have signaled that they see it as a bargaining subject for negotiations with ride-booking companies.
Ride-booking drivers, and the unions seeking to organize the drivers, have said that rising gas prices and autonomous driving vehicles may result in ride-booking companies relying less and less on people to provide driving services, and that there will be fewer drivers needed as a result, Roth said.