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Seattle Taxi and Uber Drivers Seek To Unionize

Ted S. Warren
/
AP
Yellow Cab vehicles drive past City hall in downtown Seattle , Monday, March 17, 2014.

Transportation network companies Uber and Lyft have made it easier to catch a ride in Seattle. It’s also changed the landscape for drivers of traditional taxis. In fact, the competition has become so fierce that drivers see a need to organize.

At a rally outside city hall, Fasil Teeka says he used to be a cabbie. That was a job that paid a family wage. Then he says, transportation network companies like Uber came on the scene, creating more competition.

“For a long time, we didn’t like each other. Now we know we’re both getting hurt by it, so we’re all coming together as one,” said Teeka.

Coming together as one so they can negotiate their pay and working conditions.

“Drivers have to work every day,” said Teeka. “12 hours, seven days a week to make a living, just a living.”

As independent contractors they have no mechanism to talk about these issues with their employer. Adding to the difficulty, many drivers are immigrants and face language barriers. Many also live in fear of losing their jobs for reasons they aren’t often told.

Most drivers say they make less than minimum wage. Uber driver Peter Kuel says it’s hard to say how much he makes these days because it’s based on luck.

“You can make $30 dollars; you can make $10; you can make $4 — there is no estimate per hour,” he said.

Kuel hopes a bill that’s before the Seattle city council will allow drivers to effectively unionize.

Cities around the globe -- including Seattle -- have struggled with regulating app-based transportation companies. And if what’s happened with Uber in the past is any indication of what’s to come, legal challenges are likely.