(The Center Square) – An Illinois bill allowing thousands of ride-share drivers to unionize made some motion in an Illinois House committee Thursday, despite opposition from some stakeholders.
The bill sets a structure for how drivers would begin to unionize and negotiate with industry leaders.
House Bill 4743 would allow the more than 100,000 contract employees of ride-share services – such as Uber and Lyft – in the state to organize, requiring a minimum of 10% of active drivers to begin the process. The bill also sets a threshold of 30% of active drivers signing union authorization cards to begin any negotiations with the ride-share industry.
The bill would also add a new 20 cent fee to each ride conducted in the state, something the Illinois Labor Relations Board opposes. Kimberly Stevens from the Board said the fee creates a conflict of interest for her organization.
“Our major concerns about this bill with regard to the fee imposed on rides, that would, in the current form, come to the board to administer and to make discretionary grants to unions that we also regulate,” Stevens said.
Genie Kastrup, president of SEIU local 1, said the low threshold is because roughly 86% of rides are done by about 20% of active drivers, indicating that many work intermittently.
The passing of the bill continues a trend of bills being passed by numerous committees, despite being incomplete, as representatives aimed to meet a legislative deadline.
“They are not joining a traditional union. They will still be contract workers,” Morris said. “So they’ll still have their independent contract, we just want to make sure that they have fair wages and a voice. So it’s just strictly for Uber drivers.”
Of the new fee, Ronnie Gonzalez with the Illinois Drivers Alliance said it wouldn’t make sense to impose a fee on ride-share companies as a whole, adding that a fee on each ride is more transparent.
“You can say that you put it on the company, but where’s it going to go? It’s going to come out of the driver’s pocket, it’s going to come out of the consumer’s pocket,” Gonzalez said. “There’s no way to argue that that’s actually what happens in any scenario. So, at least we’re being honest.”
In questioning the bill, Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, asked if the bill would return with an amendment after a second reading on the floor and negotiations, highlighting a week-long trend of bills being passed by numerous committees, despite negotiations with stakeholders largely being incomplete.
“All of us, all week long – in all of our various committees – have heard various versions of holding it on second [reading],” said Spain.
The House’s deadline to pass bills out of committees was Friday, meaning a large sum of incomplete bills moved forward after representatives made verbal agreements to bring amendments to the committees as the legislative session continues.
Gonzalez also said that similar legislation has passed in other states, such as Massachusetts and New York, which have provided some guidance for the Illinois policy.
“This isn’t a brand new idea. There’s been a lot of trial and error that’s happened in New York and Massachusetts. There is law on the books in Massachusetts for this exact same thing and the same parties that built that are coaching us through this,” Gonzalez said.
