Background: Taking a stand against wage theft
In 2020, RDU organized over 5,000 members to file charges with the California Department of Labor, alleging over $1.3 Billion in wage theft. The state agreed with our position that prior to Prop 22, we were misclassified as independent contractors, and are therefore owed all benefits and pay that are due employees in California, including: minimum wage; overtime; mileage; paid breaks and missed break penalties; and expenses. Due to the massive scale of wage theft, the Labor Commissioner, California Attorney General’s office, and the city attorneys for Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego jointly filed suit against Lyft and Uber, rolling these 5,000+ claims into a statewide case to recover these stolen wages on behalf of all Californians who drove between 2016-2020. Looking at the original numbers of 5,000+ drivers being owed $1.3 billion (see above), a simple calculation shows that the damages in this suit now covering all California rideshare drivers should easily reach tens of billions of dollars.
Current Status
After years of resistance and seemingly endless appeals by Uber and Lyft, RDU drivers hit a major breakthrough in the campaign this year, and the case is now progressing through the courts! In an effort to avoid additional penalties and negative media attention, Uber and Lyft have entered talks with the state to settle this suit. Because of the massive scale of the wage theft, Uber and Lyft likely owe far more than they can afford to pay out. RDU members are taking action to bring accountability to this process in order to both right the wrongs of the past, and also improve the horrendous conditions we face today and hope to avoid in the future. Drivers have conducted major statewide protests in conjunction with settlement talks as a show of strength to make our demands. After the most recent protest on May 20th and settlement talks on May 21st, RDU is focusing on growing our strength in preparation for upcoming opportunities to act.
Our Demands
The practice of cheating drivers needs to stop. We demand that, if the companies are granted a request to pay reduced amount for wages stolen from drivers, they must meet 4 conditions:
1. Uber and Lyft must still pay a substantial portion of the back pay they owe, but also moving forward, must
2. Pay drivers $1.75/mile and $0.60/minute;
3. Ensure drivers receive at least 80% of all fares; and
4. Administer a fair, transparent process for deactivations.