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The App Drivers Union received state certification Monday to represent roughly 70,000 rideshare drivers in Massachusetts, marking the first recognized union for Uber $UBER -1.49% and Lyft $LYFT -1.04% drivers in the United States.
According to NBC News, no private-sector workforce has seen its union formally acknowledged on this scale since Ford $F +1.81% employees became members of the United Auto Workers back in 1941. State labor officials determined that 32% of active drivers had backed the union — exceeding by seven percentage points the minimum support level the law requires for certification.
"It's one of the biggest organizing union victories in the last century," said App Drivers Union executive director Autumn Weintraub.
The union, backed by the Service Employees International Union and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, can now collectively bargain on behalf of drivers with Uber, Lyft, and several smaller platforms. No collective bargaining agreement between drivers and rideshare companies has ever been reached, the union said. Under the terms set by the law, if the two sides have not reached a deal within six months, either party may call in mediators and arbitrators to resolve the impasse. Ratification requires a majority vote among every driver in the state who has logged at least 100 rides over the preceding three months, and the agreement cannot take effect unless the labor secretary also gives approval.
