Not all Uber, Lyft drivers will have seat at bargaining table
Uber and Lyft drivers will decide this spring on whether to form a union. This week, the city of Seattle finalized which drivers will get to voice their opinion.
Uber officials aren't happy.
The city's new rules will allow only certain drivers to vote. Those who only give a few rides a week or started driving in the last two months will be disqualified.
Officials with Uber, Seattle's largest ride-hailing company, wanted all drivers to vote. Uber's Northwest General Manager, Brooke Steger, says the city's decision leaves thousands of part-time drivers without a voice.
Steger: "Those drivers are still very reliant on the income that comes from platforms like Uber. We want to make sure that their voice is heard because they're a very important part of the platform and a very important part of our city."
But union organizers at Teamsters Local 117 support giving full-time drivers a bigger voice at the bargaining table.
They say allowing all drivers to vote, like Uber wanted, could make it difficult for drivers to come to consensus.
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Paige Browning
Newscaster
Paige hosts midday newscasts and monitors news of significance to the Puget Sound region. She hopped over Washington’s mountains to join KUOW, after hosting news and reporting at Spokane Public Radio since 2011. She began her start in radio while a journalism student at University of Montana, by sharing stories with KUFM. Paige was raised in the mountains and rivers around Spokane. In her spare time she cheers on the Mariners in the summer, and hopes for snow in the winter.
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