New legislation creating collective bargaining rights for gig-economy workers is poised to be introduced in New York State in the coming weeks, according to the president of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), reported Bloomberg.
If passed, the proposal would represent the fulfillment of a long-sought goal for companies like Uber Technologies and Lyft: a compromise that stops short of making workers into full employees.
TWU President John Samuelsen said the union is backing the proposal after criticizing past deal-making efforts elsewhere. “I had every intention of staying away from it, and now after seeing how much it’ll advance gig workers, I’m fully supporting it,” Samuelsen said Monday, May 17. “I actually think it becomes a national model.”
Gig companies like Uber and Lyft have won skirmishes against labor advocates in recent months, including Proposition 22, a major ballot proposal in California. But the industry has still faced calls to offer more employment benefits and the danger that the Biden administration will try to blow up their business model by backing rules that would make workers into employees instead of contractors. A compromise with labor groups could alleviate some of that pressure.
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