Last November, rideshare drivers in Massachusetts won the right to unionize.
The ballot initiative that secured this right, Question 3, attempts to solve a fundamental problem posed by the nature of gig work. As independent contractors, rideshare drivers do not enjoy the rights and protections that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) grants to employees.
In a way, these workers are living out of time, subject to the same anti-union legal regime as workers in the early twentieth century. Because the great strides in unionization in this country occurred after, and as a result of, the NLRA, it’s no wonder that rideshare drivers, excluded from the NLRA, have not been able to unionize. Until now.
But Question 3 raises fundamental disagreements about the best way out of this situation. The Massachusetts law does not reclassify drivers as employees, making them beneficiaries of the NLRA. Under Question 3, rideshare drivers remain independent contractors—only now they have collective bargaining rights, “blur[ring]” the familiar distinction between independent contractors and employees.
For some, this is a mistake. “Workers are either employed by a company or they aren’t,” said Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien. “There is no ‘third way.’” On this view, solutions that stop short of reclassification for the purpose of NLRA coverage needlessly accommodate the interests of rideshare companies. “We should not be changing our laws in support of greedy corporations that want...
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