U.S. Senator Warren calls on Big Tech CEOs to drop the anti-worker, anti-consumer ballot question in Massachusetts
Workers and allies joined Senator Warren to defend worker, consumer, and civil rights, demand Uber/Big Tech drop their Proposition 22-copycat ballot measure and follow Massachusetts law
Boston, MA – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren joined grocery workers, app-based workers, and advocates in Allston on Wednesday, September 8 at 10:00 a.m. to demand that Big Tech companies, like Uber and Lyft, follow the law and abandon their expected $100 million ballot measure to undermine the rights, benefits, and legal protections of consumers and workers.
“Instead of following the law like thousands of Massachusetts employers do every day, giant tech companies like Uber, Lyft, and Instacart are trying to use their money and power to exploit their workers and shield themselves from liability,” said U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. “Let me say it loud and clear: these Silicon Valley employers need to follow the law, pay their taxes, and abandon their $100 million lobbying campaign.”
Senator Warren announced her endorsement for the Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights and called on Uber and Lyft to withdraw their recently filed ballot initiative that seeks to deliberately mislead voters, shield companies from liability, and continue exploitation of growing, app-based workforce.
The event also featured app-based and grocery workers who are demanding that the big corporations simply follow the law and treat their workers with dignity and respect.
“I wish these companies would take the millions of dollars they are spending on the campaigns and use it to pay their workers,” said Jeena Patel, paralegal and app-based worker.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, over the past year, this work has become essential work to all those who are in need of our services. Everyone working in these stores, from the meat counter to the checkout, and to delivery deserve to earn a fair pay and benefits. These companies must follow the law,” said Stephen Levine, an app-based worker with Instacart.
The rally at the Allston Stop and Shop underscored the threat of the copycat ballot measure to the livelihoods of grocery workers and other essential workers in Massachusetts. In California, many grocery store workers were laid off immediately after the Prop 22 ballot measure was passed, and their jobs were replaced by app-based workers, paid subminimum wages and without benefits.
“Across Massachusetts, we need good, union jobs like we have it here at Stop and Shop. We need Big Tech to provide workers the benefits and wages that we deserve,” said Fernando Lemus, President, UFCW 1445. “… During the pandemic, we have been providing essential services to our communities and now these Big Tech CEOs are trying to take away their (workers) rights … Uber/Instacart should not be allowed to take our rights away. We are calling on big Tech to follow the law and drop their initiative.”
Local advocates and drivers say Uber/Big Tech’s campaign would help multibillion Big Tech companies avoid hundreds of millions in tax liabilities, at the expense of Massachusetts residents and workers.
In Massachusetts, more than 70 percent of drivers, delivery workers, and other “app-based” workers are Black, Brown and immigrant workers. According to experts, the measure would allow tech giants to pay workers less than minimum wage, make no contributions to unemployment or Social Security, and remove app-based workers from legal protections against workplace injuries, sexual harassment, and discrimination.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is currently suing two of the largest “gig economy” companies, Uber and Lyft, for illegal “misclassification,” a scheme used by the companies to avoid paying taxes, avoid paying workers fairly, and escape liability to customers and members of the public.
“This fight is more than 220,000 rideshare workers in this state. We do realize that this Prop 22 clone that they are trying to bring to Massachusetts will hurt workers. This fight is about drivers – we deserve good jobs, social justice and equity,” said Beth Griffith, Executive Director, Boston Independent Drivers Guild.
“We will fight like hell to make sure that these people have basic benefits, because this is again, it’s not a benefits bill. This is a hurt worker bill, and that’s what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna fight for these people to make sure that they have the basic rights, like we have at Stop and Shop,” said Thomas G. Mari, Secretary-Treasurer, Local 25.
The rally’s organizer, Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights, also highlighted the troubling aspects of the Big Tech’s ballot language including extensive loopholes that perpetuates false choice on flexibility for workers and creates a subminimum wage for app-based workers.
“The voters in Massachusetts won’t be fooled. If we get out there, we can let them know what these companies are really doing. The purpose of this ballot initiative is to do nothing other than line the pockets of the Big Tech companies, of their CEOs, and hurt the working people of Massachusetts,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, Attorney, Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights. “And it’s not just Uber and Lyft and Instacart drivers, it’s everyone. It’s your job next. We can’t let it happen and we won’t let it happen.”
Uber and Big Tech attempt to buy a law $100M+ on misleading ads in Massachusetts:
Leading up to Election Day in 2020, Big Tech companies spent over $210 million dollars on misleading ads to pass Proposition 22, a ballot initiative in California, that created special exemptions for Big Tech companies from civil rights, wage and benefits laws, and from legal liability to customers. The companies are following the same playbook in Massachusetts, where they filed nearly identical language on August 3, 2021. The Coalition is mobilizing to counter the anticipated $100M+ misinformation campaign and recently filed a complaint with state regulators over the companies’ illegal and undisclosed campaign spending.
In the aftermath of Proposition 22, gig company workers in California are making less money and have even less autonomy. More companies are also following Uber’s lead and eliminating traditional employees. Union supermarket workers were laid off and replaced with app-based drivers, without benefits. An early investor in Uber wrote that Proposition 22 made it possible to eliminate consumer liability and workplace benefits in sectors across the economy.
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About the Coalition:
Twitter: @noprop22ma | FB: @NoProp22MA | www.noprop22ma.com
The Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights is a broad alliance of workers, consumer advocates, civil rights organizations, immigrant, faith, labor, community organizing, racial and environmental justice groups who believe that all workers in Massachusetts should be able to earn a decent wage, take care of their health, and protect against injury, harassment and discrimination on the job. We oppose the $100M+ campaign by Big Tech companies to undermine our law, as they recently did in California through Proposition 22, to avoid paying taxes, shield themselves from liability to the public, and exempt themselves from the obligations of every other employer.