Drivers may see low wages under measure
Study damning for rideshare salaries
Rideshare drivers could take home a wage equivalent to under a third of the future state minimum wage of $15, according to a University of California, Berkeley study examining a Bay State ballot measure that would classify them as independent contractors instead of employees.
“Minimum wage and other labor standards laws set a floor for worker earnings. The company-sponsored ballot proposition significantly lowers that floor for drivers, well below the current requirements of Massachusetts law,” said Ken Jacobs, one of the authors of the study and chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, in a statement. “The companies are looking to legalize paying a subminimum wage.”
The ballot measure proposed by the big techbacked Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work would classify Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other rideshare drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. The question passed an initial screen by Attorney General Maura Healey’s office and could appear on ballots next year.
The Berkeley study found that, counter to the coalition’s claims that these drivers would make $18 per hour on the job, the “actual wage equivalent” could be as low as $4.82.
Starting from $18, the study subtracted a $5.94 estimated cost from unpaid waiting time before, between or after passenger rides, which make up a third of drivers’ work time.
It also subtracted $2.90 for underpayment to drivers for expenses like gas, car wear and tear and insurance, $3.70 for waiting time expenses and $0.64 in unpaid payroll taxes and employee benefits, leaving $4.82 in take-home pay. For drivers who work at least 15 hours per week and would qualify for a health care stipend, they could earn as little as $6.74 an hour.
“The Uber/Lyft measure contains hidden costs that drivers can’t avoid. These hidden costs ravage drivers’ pay,” said Michael Reich, the other author of the study, in a statement.
The Coalition for Independent Work shot back in a series of statements Wednesday. “These numbers are completely ridiculous – I wouldn’t be doing this job if I wasn’t making well above minimum wage,” said Luis Ramos, a Lyft driver from Worcester, in a statement from the group.
But Beth Griffith, an Uber driver and spokesperson for the opposition Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights, said “workers can’t live on $4.82/hr. Big Tech companies should contribute to Social Security, not fund a lobbying campaign to eliminate the minimum wage.”
The coalition backing the ballot question also pointed out that the Berkeley research group is partially union-funded.
Jacobs, of Berkeley, told the Albany Times-Union that “all the work we do is quality academic research” and peer-reviewed, he said. “Anyone can check that method. The results are the results.”