New York State lawmakers are working to impose a new tax—as much as $5 per trip—to fund the MTA, and Uber is working hand-in-hand with them to make it happen.
We’ve seen this before. We know Uber and the gang will pass the cost of the taxes on to drivers who are already working longer and longer hours just to survive. Just like they do on interstate trips with the Black Car Sales Tax, Uber and the gang will find a way to underhandedly profit from the additional tax—and leave workers the crumbs.
The city’s problems will not be solved by taxing Uber, Lyft, and Juno drivers. This new tax has nothing to do with congestion: it’s about taking hard-earned money from those who need it most. It’s essential a law is passed to protect our profession and our income before any new taxes.
Workers win when we unite and fight. Last year, IDG members organized and won a New York City law and a Taxi and Limousine Commission rule which forced Uber and Via to add a tipping option to their apps, resulting in another $10-$50 in drivers pockets per week. Now we must come together to win a For-Hire Vehicle-specific minimum wage that’s high enough to provide for our families.
The Pay Organizing Committee—the group of workers organizing to win fair pay—approved a proposal to ensure workers can provide for our families. These are our key demands of the proposal:
The IDG demands a minimum pay raise to driver pay—what drivers are paid per trip, per minute and per mile after fees and surcharges—by 37% across all platforms including Uber, Lyft, Juno, and Via.
The IDG demands a maximum commission. We must prevent Uber from charging our passengers more than double what a worker is paid. We demand that Uber and other companies must not charge our passengers over 20% what a worker is paid.
The IDG demands workers receive deadhead pay—getting paid for our trip back to New York City while no passenger is in the car.
You may find the full proposal how to improve pay here. If you support our demands, sign our petition, join the Pay Organizing Committee, and tell your fellow drivers.
Join the first ever IDG Opportunity Fair! We are partnering with nonprofits, the IAM, and universities to offer a variety of FREE services accessible to you. At the fair, you will find:
Job recruiters
Free college courses and programs
New York State Health Insurance Representatives to offer free help learning about your health care options and signing up
English as A Second Language program providers
Job training professionals that will train in IT, CDL licensing, Customer Service, and more!
All organizations attending will be offering free services to IDG members. You’re welcome to bring your family, friends, and children to take advantage of this career advancement opportunity. Let us know if you’re coming below:
The Independent Drivers Guild has started a fight for fair pay, and we intend to finish it. Huge companies have pushed drivers into poverty for too long. New York drivers are demanding their city protect them, not the corporations that have won out in the race to the bottom. Become an IDG member at idg.ms/join, and call 718-841-7330 to learn more about organizing. Season Finale.
This episode of “Behind the Wheel” is brought to you by Fare Pilot, a free driver assistance app that helps you save time and find passengers by identifying hot spots across the city.
Join us for a strategy meeting to plan how we’re going to win a more fair deactivation appeals process. RSVP now to confirm you’re attendance at this important meeting!
Last year, workers came together to win the tipping option. It took about a year and 12,000 signatures, but we forced corporate giants Via and Uber to add a tipping option to their apps.
Do you remember these videos from the tipping campaign?
We would like to make similar videos about the pay campaign to tell the story of struggling Uber, Lyft, Juno, and Via drivers—but good videos are not cheap or easy. The above video along with its second video cost the IDG about $10,000.
New York City drivers and IDG members come from all over the world; Victor has seen a lot of it. Listen in as he describes his path to finding a place in the IDG, and his views on the industry as it is today.
This episode of “Behind the Wheel” is brought to you by Fare Pilot, a free driver assistance app that helps you save time and find passengers by identifying hot spots across the city.
Every day, drivers face a flawed ratings system and unfair deactivations. Since negotiating with Uber, IDG is now able to provide drivers with a more fair hearing process to help get them back on the road. Listen to these drivers describe the challenges they face in an industry where the customer isn’t always right.
This episode of “Behind the Wheel” is brought to you by Fare Pilot, a free driver assistance app that helps you save time and find passengers by identifying hot spots across the city.
New IDG Analysis Exposes How Ride Hail Apps Are Gouging Riders and Drivers
New York, NY — After years of pay cuts, New York’s ride-hail drivers are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. The Independent Drivers Guild, a Machinists Union affiliate which represents and advocates for more than 60,000 of these drivers, has garnered over 8,000 signatures on a petition to increase driver pay and end price gouging in the ride hail industry.
The Guild also released a new analysis of driver pay which found that drivers are making significantly less than they were just a few years ago — and companies are pocketing more. The Guild also found that drivers are working longer and longer hours in an attempt to make up the difference, but are still unable to make ends meet. The Guild report proposes corrective policies to end price gouging and raise driver compensation by 37 percent to levels to promote safe driving and bring income in line with prior pay rates.
“After offering attractive rates at the outset, Uber and Lyft repeatedly reduced driver pay and hiked their cut of each fare, violating and voiding rider and driver agreements again and again. They have slashed the earning potential for drivers dramatically and redirected the profits from New Yorkers’ labor out of our community and into the coffers of privately held multinational corporations,” said Ryan Price, Executive Director of the Independent Drivers Guild.
“Uber and Lyft really pulled a bait and switch on riders and drivers alike. Riders are being overcharged and drivers who already invested their savings and took out loans to join the industry have been left with little choice but to work longer and longer hours to try to make ends meet. Action is needed for the protection of our community and the safety of our streets,” said Sohail Rana, a driver and member of the Guild’s Pay Organizing Committee.
A recent Independent Drivers Guild (IDG) survey of New York City drivers found that 73 percent of workers who had been in the industry for at least a year reported their financial well being was worse now than had been previously and 73 percent of drivers worked more than 10 hours on their most recent shift.
More than 8,000 drivers have signed on to a petition in support of the three major tenets of the Guild’s proposal:
1. A minimum pay raise for New York City drivers of 37 percent across all platforms including Uber, Lyft, Juno, and Via. That would make the pay rates for UberX minimally: $2.3526 per trip, $1.6145 per mile, $0.3229 per minute.
Currently, drivers’ mean work day of 11 hours is 37 percent above 8 hours: the basic right of a maximum work day. A minimum pay scale based on a 37 percent increase over current rates would also return driver compensation to be nearer the rates offered a few years ago.
Here is a side by side comparison of a sample five mile, thirty minute Uber ride in New York City in 2013, today and under the IDG’s proposal:
Rider Pays
Driver Pay
2013
$28.50
$20.25
2017
Varies*
$14.68
IDG Proposal
$27.42
$20.11
*Passenger fare is no longer bound to actual mileage or minutes traveled.
2. A maximum commission. Currently, apps can charge passengers more than double what a worker is paid, and the Guild’s report has examples of just that. Uber and other companies must not charge passengers over 25 percent more than the worker is paid. This would prevent price gouging and return commissions to the maximum rates previously detailed in user agreements.
3. Return trip to NYC pay (known in the industry as “deadhead pay”)—drivers must be paid for the trip back to New York City while no passenger is in the car. Failure to pay drivers for return trips is unfair and costly to workers and puts workers’ compensation insurance and other insurance coverage in jeopardy.
The Guild’s pay proposal comes on the heels of its victory winning a tipping option for all for hire vehicle drivers in New York City. As a first step to addressing years of pay cuts, members of the Independent Drivers Guild organized and won a New York City law and a Taxi and Limousine Commission rule which forced Uber, Via and all black car companies to offer a tipping option to their apps or other payment methods. The Guild’s proposed rule was greenlighted by the city in April 2017 and by the end of July Uber added a tipping option to the app for drivers in New York City (its largest U.S. market) and across the nation. In the Guild’s tipping rule proposal, the IDG also called for broader pay protection rules and the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission noted its agreement that regulatory pay protections were needed in its official response.
Since its launch in May 2016, drivers with the Guild have won important protections and app improvements. Ongoing efforts include an open enrollment outreach campaign to help drivers sign up for health coverage as well as efforts to improve restroom access for drivers in Manhattan and at area airport lots.
Drivers who wish to learn more about the IDG can visit DrivingGuild.org or text DRIVE to 64336 to learn more (msg and data rates may apply).
The Independent Drivers Guild is a Machinists Union affiliate representing more than 60,000 app-based drivers in New York City. We are Uber, Lyft, Via, and Juno workers united for a fair for-hire vehicle industry.
Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles aren’t as common in New York as they should be, and both public and private transit services continue to fail people with disabilities. The TLC was on its way to increasing access to NYC’s yellow cab fleet, but the app-based driver boom tampered with their approach. The FHV industry must be accessible to all New Yorkers, but new proposals would force working people to front the cost. IDG members joined some of New York’s most prominent Accessibility Advocates to share perspectives and work toward a policy solution for passengers and drivers alike.
This episode of “Behind the Wheel” is brought to you by Fare Pilot, a free driver assistance app that helps you save time and find passengers by identifying hot spots across the city.