NYTWA Statement on NLRB Legal Memo on Uber Drivers

(New York, NY) NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai (she/her) released the following statement:

"Uber has stripped its drivers of employee rights like minimum wage and unemployment protections, pushing millions of workers into poverty and despair. But drivers across the globe are organizing and demanding rights. The road may be long and difficult, but one way or another Uber will have to answer to its workers.
"NLRB General Counsel opinions are political football, reflecting the will of the current administration. An opinion that negates workers' rights to collective bargaining, organizing protections, and democratic unions is not shocking from this anti-worker administration.

"The labor movement now has a choice to make about whether to create yellow dog company unions, taking money from the boss and allowing the company to dictate how we organize, or to stand strong and support militant worker-led organizing. Workers don't need permission to organize, and real unionists don't need the NLRB to tell them company-dominated unions are an affront to workers.
"We will push for more state-level legislation like the ABC-test employee status bill in California to help protect us from an anti-worker president. But we can't depend solely on the law or the courts to stop worker exploitation. We can only rely on the steadfast militancy of workers who are rising up everywhere."

Victor SalazarMay 14, 2019