Several months ago, The Sun published a column from a rideshare driver in Colorado who claimed to be representing a group of other drivers. The author of that piece seemed to be expressing the views of the “Big Gig” companies like Uber and Lyft, and not the views of me or other drivers.

He said Colorado should follow Washington State and California where the Big Gig companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support laws and ballot measures that carve Uber and Lyft drivers out of protections like the standard minimum hourly wage that covers other workers. This is necessary, according to the columnist, because we need to protect drivers’ “flexibility” and “independence.”

I am a rideshare driver and member of Colorado Independent Drivers United, a group of transportation and delivery workers in Colorado that actually represents drivers, not the companies, and that is working to build collective power to respond to the companies’ abuses of power. Everyone wants flexibility and independence. But we are writing to raise our voices and tell Coloradans that the flexibility and independence the companies say they give us is a lie.

The companies control virtually everything about my work including how, where, and when I pick up rides. I can’t set my fares and I often do not even know how much money I am going to make on a ride before I am effectively forced to accept it. What kind of independent business is that?

My boss isn’t sitting in an office watching me punch...

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