Lyft has already splashed out $14.4 million in direction of a probable November poll measure in Massachusetts which might cement its drivers as contractors, somewhat than workers — and the overwhelming majority of these funds had been paid in a single, $13 million donation, the most important within the state’s historical past by a substantial margin. It’s an unambiguous opening salvo in what’s going to doubtless be a bitter and protracted battle, the playbook for which Lyft and its gig work friends efficiently tested in California two years in the past. 

As the Boston Globe reports, Lyft has so far contributed the lion’s share of the Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers committee’s $17.2 million warfare chest, which is meant to fund the forthcoming poll measure. The rest comes from Uber, DoorDash and Instacart proprietor Maplebear. The earlier file for largest single donation was almost a 3rd the dimensions: a $5.1 million contribution from General Motors in 2020. 

Currently Lyft and Uber are engaged in a lawsuit, filed by the Attorney General of Massachusetts, which contends that the businesses have been misclassifying their driver workforce as contractors. Leveraging contractor standing relieves them of most of the prices and obligations related to workers — comparable to minimal wage, healthcare and time beyond regulation pay — however true contractors sometimes management how and once they work, and what they cost for his or her providers. Whether or not ridershare drivers even have that degree of autonomy has turn into a degree of authorized competition in a number of of the states and countries wherein these corporations function.

California so far has prosecuted its protection of gig-workers-as-employees most vociferously, first by means of a state Supreme Court ruling in 2018, then by means of AB5, a successfully-passed bill that (nevertheless briefly) enshrined these sorts of drivers as workers. It went into impact on January 1, 2020 and was overturned by poll measure Proposition 22 that November. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates dumped a historic $224 million into the proposition — outspending their opposition, which largely consisted of labor unions, by more than 10-to-1 — the most costly poll measure in California historical past. 

Although Prop 22 was ultimately dominated unconstitutional, the technique has so far been profitable for gig work corporations. Legislative adjustments have been tied up in courtroom, and nowhere within the United States are Lyft or Uber drivers at the moment entitled to all the slate of advantages loved by full-time workers.

In making their case for Prop 22, gig corporations primarily employed two strains of assault. The first, towards its personal employees, was a facile try to tie the idea of “flexibility” to contractor standing, an totally false dichotomy perpetuated by the businesses themselves. The second was to persuade voters in California that the prices related to a fleet of worker drivers would both drive them to reduce service or elevate costs. 

After Prop 22 handed, each single firm that backed it raised prices anyway. Uber’s CEO additionally not too long ago contended on a name with traders that, within the face of potential employee-status rules within the European Union, Uber can, in truth, afford to “make any model work” financially. We’ve reached out to Lyft to ask if it is in an identical place.

Given this a lot publicized bait-and-switch, it appears unlikely the Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers committee will be capable of efficiently argue the identical case concerning price to customers. Still, the $17.2 million already amassed has paid for, because the Globe reviews, a slew of big-name political consultancies who had been behind what’s at the moment the most costly (and more likely to quickly the be the second-most costly) ballot measure in Massachusetts historical past, which sought to stymie a proper to restore regulation.

Are you a gig work driver or courier working in Massachusetts? Download Signal messenger for iOS or Android and textual content me confidentially at 646 983 9846 and let’s be in contact.