A NEW law that is coming on January 1 will be a major boost to Uber and Lyft drivers.
In a bill signed by Governor Tim Walz on Tuesday, drivers for the two rideshare giants will now have set minimum wages.
A new law coming in January will be a major boost to Uber and Lyft drivers[/caption]
As reported by KARE 11, drivers will be guaranteed at least $1.28 cents per mile plus 31 cents per minute while carrying passengers, with a minimum payment of $5, from January 1, 2025.
The agreement, set between lawmakers, drivers, rideshare companies, and members of the Minneapolis City Council, has rumbled on in recent times.
Representative Hodan Hassan of Minneapolis said: “When we started this fight two years ago, we knew it was going to be a hard fight.
“We knew it was going to be a lot of challenge because it was everyday average Minnesotans fighting corporate America, and that fight was, we knew it would be hard.
“We just didn’t know how hard it was going to be.”
The new ruling also includes other protections, laid out by Labor and Industry Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach: “It has pay transparency, has minimum compensation, has an insurance section, and also has protections related to deactivation.
“That deactivation has protections moving forward, but it also has some process and protections for some people who’d been previously deactivated.”
Back in May, both Uber and Lyft threatened to leave its operations in the Midwest state by July 1, after biting back on the wage agreement.
It was previously recommended that drivers would receive 89 cents per mile and 49 cents per minute – roughly equivalent to the state minimum wage – plus some of the driver’s work-related expenses.
However, these rates compare with the Minneapolis ordinance, that would’ve guaranteed drivers $1.41 per mile plus 51 cents per minute and other benefits.
The companies even warned that lower rates would potentially drive fares up, but Walz said a balance was needed.
He added: “I think a lot of people don’t want to take a ride knowing that the person that’s driving them can’t afford to pay their bills, or their children can’t eat.
“That’s not what people want to do. They want fairness in this.”
Republican opponents to the legislation argued that it was not the state’s role to come between independent contractors and private companies.
They also argued that drivers usually worked for the companies as ‘side gigs’, instead of in full-time employment.
But Eid Ali, the head of the Minnesota Uber and Lyft Drivers Association said:”Maybe for some people, it’s a gig work, but the community I’m a member of depends on this as their livelihood, and it’s like a 100 percent full-time job for them.
“So, it’s not a gig. It’s a full-time job. So that’s why we need to make sure that these drivers that are putting 12, 14 hours of time make enough so they can afford their families.”
This comes as self-driving cars backed by Uber and Softbank are set to come to the US.
Wayve, a British-based AI company, are to begin testing their vehicles in San Francisco and in California’s Bay Area – their first on-road trials outside of the UK.
