New York delivery and ride-share workers at companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Instacart Inc. would have a straightforward ability to unionize and collectively bargain en masse—without being classified as employees—under the terms of a groundbreaking draft state bill poised for introduction next week.
The bill continues to undergo last-minute changes but is largely settled thanks to a deal reached between gig-economy corporations and New York unions. The state’s gig-economy workers would be labeled “network drivers” rather than employees, who receive a wider suite of worker protections, and they’d be divided into two industry units—one for ride-share drivers and one for delivery couriers—according to a draft copy of the legislation obtained by Bloomberg Law.
Anyone classified as an employee wouldn’t be covered by the bill. The text is silent on whether workers are independent contractors, who are generally carved out of worker-rights laws—which calls into question whether the measure could withstand antitrust law restrictions on collective bargaining by contractors.
Recent Comments