Uber and Lyft Fund $60 Million Ballot Initiative to Preserve Driver Contractor Status
Uber and Lyft each commit $30 million to a 2020 ballot initiative aimed at keeping California drivers as independent contractors in response to Assembly Bill 5.
Uber and Lyft each contribute $30 million to fund a 2020 ballot initiative designed to keep their drivers classified as independent contractors. This joint $60 million effort emerges as a direct response to California's Assembly Bill 5, legislation that forces rideshare companies to reclassify their drivers as W-2 employees. While Uber and Lyft currently lead the campaign committee, they are actively in talks with other companies to join the initiative.
The proposed ballot measure promises to provide drivers with new benefits while preserving their flexible work schedules. Uber and Lyft propose establishing a minimum wage of $21 per hour during trips, paid time off, sick leave, and injury compensation. Additionally, the initiative explores worker-directed portable benefits and industry-wide sectoral bargaining to give drivers a collective voice without officially making them company employees.
Gig worker advocacy groups strongly criticize this aggressive maneuver by the rideshare giants. Organizations like Gig Workers Rising view the $60 million campaign as an insulting attempt to undermine their ongoing statewide actions that support AB-5 and demand unionization rights. These advocates argue that the companies' timing on the final day of their legislative action demonstrates a clear effort to distract from the drivers' core demands for full employee protections.