Drivers Demand Dignity at historic rally in Denver

Drivers came together last week to make our voices heard at the capitol and inside the PUC! In the early morning drivers went to the Uber and Lyft offices to ask for their algorithms as required under law. They sadly gave us an email to reach out to their legal team on a sticky note, which we found fairly sad and pathetic. Nonetheless, we put the corporations on blast and will be pursuing contacting them to make sure they follow the law and end their criminal practices!

In the afternoon over a hundred drivers and protesters descended on the capitol to demand: 25% max take rate. $2 per ride gas surcharge for delivery and rideshare. An end to racist and discriminatory deactivations. Finally, to demand the government enforces the TNC Act of 2014 that requires Uber and Lyft to disclose to the driver and passenger how much they are paying and how much the driver is receiving. We had some amazing speakers, including drivers and from our coalition allies. We then marched over to the PUC building and sent a delegation of drivers to ask them to start enforcing the TNC Act after 8 years!!! But apparently “everyone” was at lunch at the same time and the office was locked! The delegation waited for about 10 minutes for someone to come, while David Seligman of Towards Justice spoke about what exactly does the TNC Act require of Uber and Lyft to disclose to drivers and passengers along with chanting and general enthusiasm for radical change within this type of work.

We marched back to the Capitol where many drivers enthusiastically were signing up to join the union! We view this action as a major success and we have a lot more struggle to engage in, in the future. (Pictures of the action are at the bottom of this article)

Social Media: For more pictures of the action and beyond please go to our social media pages and follow

https://www.facebook.com/CODriversUnited/

https://www.instagram.com/codriversunited/

https://twitter.com/CODriversUnited

TNC Act next steps

Here is a quick overview of the TNC Act:

Colorado law explicitly gives the Public Utilities Commission the authority to require the app companies to provide transparency. Under the TNC Act, a law your agency enforces, TNCs must “make available to prospective riders and drivers the method by which the transportation network company calculates fares or the applicable rates being charged and an option to receive an estimated fare.” CRS § 40-10.1-605(1)(b).

Under the TNC Act of 2014, Uber and Lyft can set their prices and wages however they want, but they must disclose to drivers and customers how they set them and they must tell us an estimated fare before they assign us a ride.

We have reached out to the PUC and have asked them to enforce the TNC Act of 2014. We are also offering to assist them in doing so. We will need drivers to volunteer to hand over certain information to the PUC, this could include screenshots of your rides and receipts, etc. If you are interested in providing that information please reach out to unionmade@live.com.

The Elections are Coming! Let's Elect Worker Champions!

We are proud to have two CIDU members running for office (their campaign websites will be listed below). We need to get driver champions elected this year and let's start with our own members. But as we look forward to the end of the election season we must also get prepared for the 2023 legislative season. We as rideshare and delivery drivers rely on what happens legislatively to direct our work, given the very nature of the type of work we do. Unfortunately these app companies spend millions of dollars on lobbyists to ensure that they can get what they need from politicians. This means we must be active countering their profit led lobbying with our people led lobbying!!! As a union we have direct experience with their lobbyists as well as defeating their snaky and sneaky motives. A positive example of CIDU making change through legislation was our ability to pass HB22-1089  https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb22-1089. This bill protects drivers when we are hit by an uninsured driver, Uber and Lyft used to provide this insurance but given their hate for us as drivers they took it away, we fought them hard at the capitol and were able to get this bill passed and now we are covered, driver and passengers, up to $400k in these instances.

We need to build our CIDU Legislative team, which will educate our representatives, participate at the capitol and build our political strategy! If you are interested in joining this team please email unionmade@live.com. 

https://www.stephanievigil.com/

https://koltenmontgomery.com/

Join Your Union Today

We must build our resources and POWER! Get in the drivers seat and join the movement today at www.CIDU-CWA7777.org

Blitz and Rally Photos

Author: Brian Winkler
Published on: 2022-10-12, 6:06 PM UTC