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Gig News: 14,000 New York Uber & Lyft Drivers Sign ATU Union Cards

Jon Weinberg

Jon Weinberg is a student at Harvard Law School.

A major union is mounting a high-profile effort to represent gig economy workers in New York.  Crain’s reports that this week, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 delivered union cards signed by 14,000 New York Uber and Lyft drivers to New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission.  The union also held a rally outside the TLC’s headquarters.  Gothamist and the New York Daily News have more.

The ATU’s campaign comes after an IBEW local filed a petition to represent some New York Uber drivers, the Teamsters announced an intent to form an Uber “drivers’ association” in California, and Seattle passed an ordinance allowing independent contractors to unionize.  Uber and Lyft drivers are presently classified as independent contractors without collective bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act, but the National Labor Relations Board could find that drivers are misclassified and are in fact employees.

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