The Independent Driver’s Guild is a Non-Profit Machinists Union Affiliate fighting for app-based For Hire Vehicle Drivers in New York City. We are over 60,000 Uber, Lyft, Via, and Juno workers united for a fair for For-Hire Industry. Leave your stories, comments, and questions for us at (844) 554-4015. Contact the guild directly at info@drivingguild.org or IDG Legal Helpline: (800) 576-7806. Become a member at IDG.ms/Join
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Tomorrow, the TLC is meeting to hear testimony on an unfair and impractical Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) rule. While we support wheelchair accessibility, and we know our fellow workers support getting more Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles on the road, we cannot support a rule so severe, and on such an unrealistic timeline that it will endanger the public by drastically cutting our income.
Tomorrow’s hearing isn’t one New York’s 100,000 FHV workers can afford to ignore.
Already, we’re struggling to make a living while balancing vehicle maintenance, out-of-pocket medical care, and wages that seem to drop every time Uber and Lyft feel like tweaking their algorithms. Now, we’re staring down the barrel of a new Wheelchair Accessibility rule that will decimate our ability to make a living.
We have been trying to make contact with the advocates for people with disabilities to get them to meet with For-Hire Vehicle workers so we can work hand in hand to create a fair rule, but we’re having difficulty getting them to listen, which is why we have to mobilize.
Quick facts about this rule:
This rule would require that for-hire vehicle bases like Uber, Lyft, Via, and Juno dispatch non-black car vehicles to meet the WAV requirements. So, starting January 2018, 10% of all trips that would normally be dispatched to vehicles like yours would be dispatched to current wheelchair accessible vehicles instead, and 25% of all trips by 2020.
The current supply of accessible vehicles is not nearly enough to cover 10 percent of all trips, most drivers cannot switch to WAV, and there aren’t even enough accessible vehicles in the vicinity to purchase if workers could afford it.
This rule would slash the business and earnings of New York’s 100,000 FHV drivers deeply and force most mom-and-pop bases to shut down entirely.
FHV workers and the Guild were not consulted on this rule before its proposal despite enormous impacts.
The TLC is requiring FHV drivers to do in a few months what took the taxi industry more than a decade to accomplish. All without the 70 million dollars in funding provided to taxi garages through the Taxi Improvement Fund.
This rule would make it more difficult to survive by owning and operating your own car, and would likely make leasing more expensive, without any dedication to an increase in pay.
This rule would allow Uber, Lyft, and the other big bases to push all of the costs of converting to Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles onto the workers.
We support getting more WAVs on the road, and people in wheelchairs need a better service. But getting more WAVs on the road by cutting the income of 100,000 workers in half is unacceptable. Tell the TLC you oppose this rule. If you have contacts with any advocates for people with disabilities, please tell them we want to work together to build a future that works for people in wheelchairs and hard working drivers alike.
For the past year, IDG members like yourself have been fighting for a tipping option. Here is the timeline of our campaign:
May 2016 IDG launched as a Machinists Union affiliate representing and advocating for app-based drivers.
June 2016 Guild surveyed drivers on priorities and drivers selected tipping as top issue to bring to the first Uber works council meeting, but the company resisted.
July 2016 Guild launched a public campaign to pressure the company (online petition over 11,000 signatures, flyers, bar napkins, social media ads, stickers in cars).
July 2016 Guild first gave public comment to TLC in support of pay regulations.
February 2017 Uber still refused to budge on tipping, so IDG petitioned the TLC for tipping option rule and called for broader pay protection.
Feb-April 2017 Guild intensified the advocacy campaign driving 800 calls and thousands of emails to TLC; won the support of elected officials including a sign on letter with elected officials and community organizations. Finally, we produced twovideos comparing the lack of a tipping option to other industries. Those videos were viewed by over 50,000 people.
April 2017 TLC hearing – IDG members made a case for tipping and pay protection regulation (60 drivers attended to address TLC and flyer the event).
April 2017 VICTORY TLC responded that it sides with IDG in favor of tipping rule and also agreed broader pay regulation should be taken up.
May 30, 2017 TLC officially proposed rule language requiring tipping option.
June 6, 2017 NYC City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez introduced legislation to require in-app tipping option with hearing scheduled for June 22.
June 15, 2017 Along with Long Haul Fares and a raise, workers voted for the tipping option to be a top-three issue for the June Works Council meeting.
June 20, 2017 Uber announced it would enable in-app tipping nationwide by the end of July.
June 21, 2017 Works Council meeting. Guild members told Uber $1, $2, $5 option is unacceptable.
June 22, 2017 IDG testified at New York City Council hearing on tipping legislation.
July 6, 2017 Uber added tipping option in NYC.
The campaign isn’t over yet. We still want to win the taxi-style rules where the tipping options have to be 20%, 25%, 30% or “other.” Join us on Sunday to get organized for the TLC hearing about the tipping rule on July 13th.
The new JFK bathrooms are a result of a coordinated push that included working closely with Port Authority, in conjunction with an all out media and grassroots effort. This victory came after months of stalling and navigating a difficult bureaucratic process, but a few weeks ago we decided we were tired of waiting.
We sent out press releases, text messages, and emails asking members to call the port authority to demand the basic dignity of a place to use the bathroom.
To be clear, porta potties are only a temporary solution. We demand bathrooms with running water and shade. We are also pushing to get more FHV stands in Manhattan to prevent tickets for stopping at taxi stands. If you want to take action, here’s what you do. After we get the final locations accepted by the Department of Transportation, we’re going to push for public bathrooms.
We deserve to drive with dignity. Join us as a dues-paying member at http://IDG.ms/JOIN to keep the wins coming.
We may have suffered a setback, but with so many uninsured IDG members, the issue isn’t lack of need. By no means are we giving up this battle. Here’s what you can do right now:
Join Us at the Next General Meeting
Healthcare and pay regulations will be the centerpieces of our July 9th meeting. We’ll discuss details of where we go from here, and more you can do to push healthcare over the finish line.
Cost is a barrier and as a result, we’re redoubling our efforts to win pay regulations and New York Council’s Intro 1301. These measures will put more money in your pocket and help ease the cost of healthcare. Throughout the summer, we’ll be asking members to fill out this survey to evaluate interest in healthcare and collect the necessary data to push forward the argument for pay regulations.
In a cellphone parking lot on the fringe of Kennedy Airport, nearly every spot is taken, with drivers waiting to hear from the internet about being hired. A man on a prayer rug makes his devotions. As the summer day comes toward its end, the air stirs and shifts on an evening breeze.
Good Morning Chairman Rodriguez and Members of the Committee, my name is Ryan Price and I am the Executive Director of the The Independent Drivers Guild. The IDG is a nonprofit affiliate of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) that represents 50,000 working drivers throughout the for-hire vehicle industry. The IAMAW has been the only union to successfully organize black car workers in New York City, and has been doing so for twenty years. The IDG started in May of 2016. We focus on organizing workers of the app-based for-hire vehicle industry to win a more fair for-hire vehicle industry. In the past year, we’ve heard from tens of thousands of workers on how to improve the for-hire vehicle industry, and organize to realize those improvements.
On behalf of our membership, first and foremost, we thank you Mr. Chairman for your leadership and support of this very important issue that will have a significant and meaningful impact on the lives of thousands of drivers and their families. We also want to thank the the Taxi and Limousine Commission for accepting our petition to mandate a tipping option across the for-hire vehicle industry, as well as Council Member Espinal, Chin, Lander, Menchaca, Public Advocate Tish James and Comptroller Scott Stringer and many other city and state officials for supporting our long-run campaign and proposing a local law to cement our proposal to make tipping standard again.
We support Intro 1646 which mandates a gratuity option for black car and luxury limousine services. We stand in strong support of this legislation, which will provide a desperately needed raise to thousands of New York families who are struggling to make ends meet after years of pay cuts. We also urge the adoption of four essential amendments for the economic well-being of our members—91% of whom are US immigrants from more than 150 countries, 56% of whom care for a dependent, and 27% of whom lack and are seeking health insurance—and stress how vital it is that workers and regulators continue work hand-in-hand to protect New Yorkers by implementing pay regulation.
Labor platform companies like Uber, Lyft, Juno, Gett, and Via all know how important it is to have a tipping option, but those companies seem incapable of developing a policy that workers are actually asking for. Those companies know Americans are struggling to pay their debts and often feel fortunate to just have a job—so when companies slash pay, the workers are pressured to both perform more trips per hour and work dangerously long shifts just to feed their families and keep up—and the company profits more than ever.
New York City can be the global leader and be a part of curbing the culture of driver exploitation. A strong tipping regulation is potentially a $300 million dollar issue for New York City for-hire vehicle workers and their families. We urge New York’s City Council Members and the Taxi and Limousine Commission to strengthen the driver protections they have proposed and ensure fair and consistent application of the tipping option for all for hire vehicle drivers through these four actions:
Mandate parity with the Taxi industry by requiring the tip options be 20%, 25%, 30%, or other—and offer customers the option to select a preset tip percentage to be automatically applied across all trips on that platform.
Bar any additional hurdles to tipping or notification of the tipping option. For example, companies should be prohibited from requiring customers to rate a driver’s service at a certain level before being able to give gratuity.
The option to tip must be available for a minimum of twenty-four hours.
Gratuity must be classified as completely separate from a worker’s pay. That way companies cannot take a cut of a worker’s gratuity, and gratuity cannot count toward “incentives”—therefore acting as an effective tipped wage. This will also ensure the estimated $300 million in gratuities per year would stay in the hands of New Yorkers rather than being raided by multinational corporations.
We again thank you for your support and request the swift passage of Intro 1646 and thank you for supporting New York City for-hire vehicle workers.
Thank you and I am available for any questions the committee may have
The Independent Drivers Guild is a Machinists Union affiliate representing app-based drivers. We are Uber, Lyft, Via, Juno, Gett workers united for a fair for-hire vehicle industry.
We work to bring working drivers together to build power. One of our early wins was forcing Uber to give workers a direct line to Uber management to discuss the collective issues that are important to IDG members like you. We call the group of workers that meet with Uber the “Works Council.”
Tipping: Add the tipping option to the app before the TLC mandates it. Put an added feature after the ride to give, 20%, 25%, 30% or other—and riders should be able to choose a flat tip (like 25%) across all rides so they don’t have to choose.
Mile/Minute/Base pay rates must be increased.
Long Haul Fare: Fare should double when leaving NYC.
UberPOOL: workers should be able to opt-out, POOL rating shouldn’t go against general rating, pickups are often on the bus lane side of the street.
Seniority bonus: Give the drivers a $1,000 bonus for every 1,000 rides and give drivers a bonus on rides already completed in the past when you institute this policy.
Destination Filter: Increase the number of destination trips we can do in a day, count destination trips towards promotions.
These issues were chosen openly and with the steward council over the last few weeks. The survey closes Sunday, June 18 at 9AM. Only New York City TLC licensed drivers’ votes will count.
The Independent Drivers Guild is a Machinists Union affiliate representing app-based drivers. We are Uber, Lyft, Via, Juno, Gett workers united for a fair for-hire vehicle industry.
New York, NY — New York State Assembly Member Robert Rodriguez and the Independent Drivers Guild (IDG) are calling for the state to launch a full investigation into ride-hail app Lyft’s billing and payment practices on interstate trips. In a letter to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Executive Deputy Commissioner Nonie Manion of New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance, Assembly Member Robert Rodriguez requested the investigation, writing that, “Lyft appears to have engaged in a large-scale deception of the very drivers and customers it claims to benefit.”
New York State’s sales tax is only supposed to be charged to passengers for rides that begin and end in New York State. However, IDG members who drive for Lyft found that the company is improperly deducting this charge as well as the Black Car Fund surcharge (BCF) from their pay on interstate trips originating in New York City. When IDG members notified Lyft of the two wrongful charges, totaling 11.4% of the fare, company representatives claimed these were not taxes but two other administrative costs that happen to mimic the rates of the NYS sales tax (8.875% in New York City) and the BCF (2.5% for the injured workers’ compensation and safety fund). At least 16,000 IDG members drive for Lyft in a given week and the service completes about 60,000 New York City trips each day per the latest TLC data from March 2017.
“On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers affected by Lyft’s tax scam, I am calling for a full investigation into the company’s practices with regard to its billing of interstate trips,” said NYS Assembly Member Robert Rodriguez, who represents Assembly District 68, comprising East Harlem and Randalls and Wards Islands. “New York must act swiftly to stop this deceit and return these ill-gotten gains to drivers and consumers. When businesses add fake taxes to wages and services, they are not just cheating workers and consumers out of hard earned dollars, they are undermining the public trust. Lyft must be held accountable”
“This is an egregious and deliberate tax scam that amounts to wage theft affecting thousands of our members. By disguising these pay deductions as state taxes, Lyft willfully deceived drivers in order to rob them of their earnings and further enrich the company,” said Ryan Price, Executive Director of the IDG, a Machinists Union affiliate which represents and advocates for 50,000 ride hail drivers in New York City. “We urge riders and workers to sign our petition calling for new rules to protect New Yorkers from this exploitation once and for all, and call on Lyft to come to the table to negotiate with our members for basic rights and a dialogue with management.”
“We are calling on New York State to investigate the taxation and interstate billing practices of Lyft, Uber, Juno and other ride hail apps as well,” added Price. “From shady tax schemes to upfront pricing, Uber, Lyft and Juno all seem to be deploying underhanded accounting tactics that are robbing hard working drivers and riders of millions in hard earned wages. Assembly Member Rodriguez has been fighting for consumer protections to combat deceptive business practices for years and we are thankful to him for standing with New York’s drivers and consumers.”
In April, the Independent Drivers Guild called on New York City regulators to enact pay protections across the ride hail industry, including to protect driver pay from taxes and surcharges and to grant drivers the right to appeal when a company underpays or steals money from a worker for a completed service. The Guild’s petition for these rules has garnered more than 800 signers. IDG members sent the TLC over 1500 emails calling for these pay protections and 60 members attended an April TLC hearing to demand these protections.
Nine in ten New York City ride-hail drivers are immigrants and most IDG members report driving full time. The majority of our members report household incomes of less than $50,000 per year before expenses (gas, lease, insurance and licensing fees etc.) all while working to support their families in one of the most expensive areas of the country.
The New York State sales tax and BCF surcharge are listed as “surcharge” deductions from the driver’s pay on interstate trips — the exact same way they are listed on New York City to New York City trips:
The New York State sales tax and BCF surcharge are listed the exact same way on New York City to New York City trips:
The Guild is an IAMAW affiliate representing app-based drivers. We are Uber, Lyft, Via, Juno, Gett workers united for a fair for-hire vehicle industry.
For any media inquiries, please contact Moira Muntz at press@drivingguild.org
When Ibraheem Ibraheem signed up to drive for Uber in 2014, it was as a side gig while he earned a computer science degree at New York City’s Brooklyn College. He never thought of himself as the kind of guy who, 18 months in, would be sitting across the room from Uber management, angrily telling them they were in “a race to the bottom to see who’s going to bleed out financially first.” It was June 2016, and six months earlier, the 33-year-old’s relatively easy side hustle had turned into something significantly more demanding when Uber cut fares in New York City by 15 percent. Frustrated drivers had protested outside of Uber’s offices and called for a strike on Super Bowl Sunday — but nothing had changed.
