Connecticut Rideshare Drivers Ask Labor Committee To Require Apps To Provide Better Pay, More Rights

by Hudson Kamphausen CTNewsJunkie

HARTFORD, CT – Connecticut Drivers United, a nonprofit representing a collection of rideshare and delivery drivers, rallied Wednesday morning at the state Capitol to urge lawmakers to pass legislation providing them with more transparency and better pay from the companies for which they work.
The group (CDU) delivered a letter to the office of the Labor and Public Employees Committee asking its members to pass a bill requiring companies like Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and GrubHub to be more consistent and transparent with their drivers.
Minimum pay standards, assurance of transparency on the part of companies, protections from undeserved driver deactivation, and the option to work across state borders, are the requests made in the letter.

Carlos Gomez, Founder and Senior Organizer of CDU, said through a translator that drivers should be given the rights of full-time employees. Gomez said he has been driving for Uber for seven years.
Tolls, Reciprocity, Transparency
One of the issues rideshare drivers in Connecticut are facing is called “reciprocity.” Unlike drivers based in other states, Connecticut-based rideshare drivers can’t pick up customers in other states for return trips.
Several drivers at the Capitol on Wednesday said that if they take a customer to New York for a fare, the rideshare company pays the tolls on the way to the out-of-state destination. However, the driver must then return to Connecticut before they can take another customer, including paying tolls out of their own pocket on the trip back.

According to Hamza Karama, who said he works hours equivalent to a full-time employee as a delivery driver for Uber and serves as one of CDU’s organizers, rideshare companies can take an undisclosed percentage from any fare. In addition, CDU members said rideshare companies can take a percentage of a driver’s tips without disclosing how much will be taken.

Rideshare drivers with Connecticut Drivers United, a nonprofit that is advocating for more pay and rights for rideshare drivers, stand for a group photo Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024, in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Credit: Hudson Kamphausen / CTNewsJunkie

The group is asking the legislature to set a 20% limit on the amount that companies can take from a given fare, regardless of the total fare. Some drivers lamented the decline in their rate of pay, and the lack of reimbursement for expenses like gas. 
Attorney James Bhandary-Alexander, serving an advisor to CDU, said that he along with many rideshare drivers does not fully understand all of the terms of service offered by the rideshare apps. The documents, he said, are far too long and complicated for workers to understand.

Karama said that all that the drivers are looking for is fair compensation. Drivers, he said, need to speak up for themselves.
“We are here – we are trying to educate drivers,” he said. “We are trying to say that you have rights. You should talk.” 
CJ Macklin, Senior Manager of Policy Communications for Lyft, sent the following statement: 

“We are constantly working to improve the driver experience, which is why just yesterday we released a series of new offers and commitments aimed at increasing driver pay and transparency,” the statement read. “This includes a new minimum earnings guarantee and an improved deactivation appeals process. Now, drivers will always make at least 70% of the weekly rider fares after external fees. It’s all part of our new customer-obsessed focus on drivers, and we look forward to continuing to engage lawmakers on these improvements and others for our industry.”
Sen. Julie Kushner, Co-Chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee, was not immediately available for comment.