GIG ECONOMY FIGHT REVS UP — Gig-economy giants pumped more than $200 million into a campaign last year to persuade California voters to allow companies like Uber and Lyft to keep their drivers as independent contractors and exempt them from certain employee benefits.
Now a new group of app-based Massachusetts drivers, labor unions and civil rights groups — the Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights — is looking to get a jumpstart on fighting what they expect could be a similarly pricey ballot brawl here.
At issue is whether drivers for apps like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash should be classified as employees or independent contractors — a designation that carries major differences for workers’ pay and benefits.
Rideshare companies and other major gig-economy players associated with the Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work have been pushing a bill on Beacon Hill that would keep their drivers as independent contractors and provide a “portable benefits account” that companies would pay into and drivers would draw from to pay for things like retirement or independent health insurance.
Workers’ rights advocates are confident they could defeat the bill, which they argue would remove employee protections and benefits, and particularly harm Black, brown and immigrant workers. But they’re also anticipating the big-tech companies will turn to a ballot initiative in 2022 similar to California’s — and are proactively gearing up to fight it ahead of the Bay State’s Aug. 4 petition-filing deadline.
“We care about workers’ rights in Massachusetts — hard-earned, extremely important rights — and we’re not going to let these companies come in from elsewhere and just decide to buy the law here,” said labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who will be at the coalition’s launch today.
State Attorney General Maura Healey is already suing Uber and Lyft for allegedly denying workers certain benefits and protections by misclassifying them as independent contractors rather than employees, in violation of state law. The workers’ rights coalition also has a poll showing the majority of Massachusetts voters oppose the industry-backed legislation.
But the industry coalition maintains drivers want flexibility — and has a poll of app-based drivers that shows 64% prefer to be independent contractors, compared to just 23% who want to be classified as employees, to back it up.
“App-based drivers in Massachusetts have made it abundantly clear that they want to maintain the flexibility they value as independent contractors while gaining access to new benefits and protections,” the Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work said in a statement. “We hope that all Massachusetts leaders will stand with workers.”
The two sides will fire their opening salvos today, as gig-workers themselves remain split on the issue. The Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights — which includes ACLU Massachusetts, Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the NAACP, New England Area Conference and is being led by former Healey chief of staff Mike Firestone — will hold a 10 a.m. press conference at the State House. The Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work will hold a virtual press conference at 1 p.m.