Seattle City Council: Give Drivers a Voice

All over Seattle, passengers and drivers for on-demand services like Uber and Lyft, as well as other supporters are standing up to say: It's time to make sure drivers for companies like Uber & Lyft get the same access to workers' rights as everyone else. We all have the right to organize with other workers and bargain over our pay and our work.

Seattle City Council: Drivers and passengers deserve rights in the Uber economy. It's time to pass the "Voice for Drivers" legislation.

Who's supporting this bill, and why? Here are some of our voices:

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Uber Forgets to be Innovative, Uses Same Old Excuse for Retaliating Against Driver Who Spoke Out About Low Pay

This story from San Francisco will sound awfully familiar to anyone who read about Seattle Uber driver Takele Gobena, who was kicked off Uber's system in August the same day he spoke out at a press conference about Uber's low wages. From the San Francisco Examiner this week:

An Uber driver who critiqued the company’s top-brass at a highly publicized event now tells the San Francisco Examiner he’s facing backlash from the tech company.

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It's time to move forward on drivers' rights

On October 2, the Seattle City Council has an opportunity to vote on innovative new legislation that takes an important step in the fight for driver and passenger rights in the Uber economy: It would give drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft the right to organize and collectively bargain with the multibillion-dollar companies they drive for.

CITY COUNCIL: IT'S TIME TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS LEGISLATION

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Why Uber & Lyft drivers need the right to organize

Seattle City Council is considering an innovative proposal to address the fact that Uber & Lyft take advantage of a loophole to classify their drivers as “independent contractors” rather than employees — even though the app companies have total control over access to customers, they get to set the minimum payment for a ride, the pay per mile and per minute, and the price of insurance. (And even though the companies can change the pay whenever they want.) Uber & Lyft offer extraordinary convenience — but passengers have a right to know that their fare dollars are going to support good jobs and living wage for drivers, not just multi-billion-dollar valuations for investors in the app-based economy. 

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An Uber driver speaks publicly about the extremely low pay he and other drivers are working for, gets deactivated by Uber that day

Uber and Lyft driver Takele Gobena joined in a press conference at City Hall on Monday to tell his story: After driving 55 hours a week to put himself through school, he brought his earnings, mileage, and hours to an accountant last year for help with his taxes. It turns out his hourly wage came to less than $3 an hour...

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