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Seattle City Council member Mike O’Brien's proposal would
provide the drivers with a path to collective bargaining.
It was believed that the Seattle bill, if passed, would be the
first in the United States that would allow collective
bargaining rights for drivers of such services.
The legislation would also apply to taxi drivers and other
for-hire transportation providers.
The council was to vote on the legislation after testimony from
drivers for the services and other interested parties.
"All workers deserve the basic rights to organize and to bargain
collectively," the Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council
said in a letter posted on the city council's website.
"This is an opportunity for Seattle to once again play a leading
national role in promoting workers’ rights," it said, in a
reference to the northwest U.S. city's progressive history.
Uber operates in more than 300 cities in 67 countries and has
raised $7.4 billion from investors. Its war chest has helped
fund legal and regulatory battles across the world, and lobbying
efforts at the state and national levels.
The Seattle bill is just one of several legal battles being
fought by the ride service across the United States.
State legislators in Ohio and Florida are moving ahead with
regulations governing Uber and other ride services that would
designate all drivers as independent contractors, bolstering a
critical but much-disputed aspect of Uber's business model.
Uber has built its business on the contractor model, arguing
that its smartphone app simply connects riders and drivers, who
own their cars and pay their own expenses.
Last week, a U.S. judge ruled that many more Uber drivers in
California could participate in a class action against the ride
service over their employment status, even if they did not opt
out of an arbitration clause in their contracts.
(Reporting by Chris Michaud)
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