Uber Drivers In California Sue To Stop Pro-Proposition 22 Messages Aimed At Drivers

Topline

Two Uber drivers on Thursday accused Uber of illegally pressuring drivers to support Proposition 22, a California ballot measure that would allow ridesharing companies to avoid classifying drivers as employees that Uber and other gig companies have spent millions backing.

Key Facts

Crucial Quote

 “Uber has embarked upon a campaign of deceit, coercion, and manipulation by spreading false information about Prop 22 in dozens of postings on the drivers’ ride-sharing app that the drivers cannot avoid seeing whenever they open the app, and by threatening the drivers with loss of their jobs and other adverse consequences if Prop 22 does not pass,” a statement announcing the lawsuit reads.

Chief Critic

In a statement, an Uber spokesman called it “an absurd lawsuit, without merit, filed solely for press attention and without regard for the facts.”

“It can’t distract from the truth: that the vast majority of drivers support Prop 22 and have for months because they know it will improve their lives and protect the way they prefer to work,” the spokesman added.

Key Background

Ridesharing companies have spent more than $115 million in seemingly non-stop ads supporting Prop 22, which would keep drivers as independent contracts while offering some wage protections and benefits. If required to make drivers employees, Uber says it would have to limit the number of drivers on the platform, raise prices for customers between 25% and 100%, institute mandatory shifts and working hours for drivers and decrease service in suburban and rural areas.

Labor activists say Uber is failing to provide drivers basic protections only offered to employees, such as healthcare and the ability to unionize. They also say the protections outlined in Prop 22 are inadequate, pointing to an analysis from the Labor Center at the University of California Berkeley that found the minimum wage under Prop. 22 would only be $5.64 due to loopholes and hidden costs

Tangent

Hector Castellanos, a plaintiff in the suit, told KQED this week he opposes Prop 22 because he wasn’t eligible for workers compensation after he got into a car accident while driving for Lyft a few years ago. Castellanos couldn’t work for eight months, and his daughter had to drop out of college to help his family pay the bills, according to KQED. “Threatening that most of us will lose our jobs if Prop 22 passes is a scare tactic, pure and simple. It’s not right,” he said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.