TLC – Give Uber drivers min wage
The city Taxi & Limousine Commission is proposing a minimum wage for drivers, addressing rock-bottom wages among Uber and other for-hire operators, officials said Monday.
The proposal would set a minimum trip standard that’ll work out to a $17.22-an-hour minimum wage, which for an independent contractor would be the same as $15 an hour with paid time off.
A study on the proposal found that a majority of the city’s for-hire drivers work full-time and 85% of drivers make less than the proposed wage. Drivers who take carpool trips would get a $1 bonus for each pickup.
The higher wage would boost drivers’ income $6,345 a year on average, or a 22.5% increase, after expenses, according to the Center for New York Affairs at the New School, which studied the proposal for the TLC.
“Pay is among the lowest of all sectors in the city economy, despite the fact that New York City profits are in the hundreds of millions, money that gets siphoned out of New York City’s economy,” said James Parrott, economic and fiscal policy director at the Center for New York City Affairs.
TLC Chairwoman Meera Joshi said the report will help the agency and the City Council draft new regulations for the for-hire car industry.
“Although there’s fear a floor becomes a ceiling, the reality is today that floor is not even being met by the vast majority of drivers,” Joshi told the Daily News. “It’s important that they have a pay level the city can stand behind, and if 85% of them are below what we consider a minimum wage, then it’s time for us as a city to take action.”
Still, Joshi’s boss — Mayor de Blasio — walked back the proposal, with his spokesman Eric Phillips calling the TLC’s decision to act on it “very premature.”
“The mayor and City Council will be working together on this issue and reviewing the report before making any decisions on the path to take. Help for yellow drivers is a big focus of ours right now,” Phillips wrote.
In response, Joshi said that it’s an indication that City Hall wants a comprehensive approach to reforming the forhire car industry, rather than a piecemeal approach.
The policy prompted more questions than relief from Uber and app drivers.
“We need TLC to help us at least get paid like yellow cab drivers or Uber should pay us reasonably,” said Inder Parmar, 54, an Uber driver who makes $400 a week, before his expenses are paid. “They keep on taking our profits down and down.”
Sonam Lama, 34, was concerned about changes Uber could make in answer to the new wage policy. He was concerned that changes in how drivers are paid would limit his flexibility to drive when he wants.
“They’re going to respond according to what minimum they can pay the driver," Lama said.
The report details the economic struggles for app-based drivers. About 40% of them make so little money they qualify for Medicaid, while 16% have no health insurance at all. Nearly a fifth of them can qualify for federal food assistance.
They are largely immigrant, full-time drivers who support their families, which goes against the narrative that Uber drivers are young people who want to make cash on the side part-time, the study authors said.
“They came here for a better future but instead they