$30/hr Motion PASSES In Los Angeles

With hundreds of drivers rallying in city hall and on the streets outside, the LA City Council unanimously passed a motion Tuesday instructing city staff to study the wages and business expenses of rideshare drivers in LA and to include recommendations on how to establish a minimum hourly wage in the city, with a goal of a $30 minimum

 

In the special Economic Development Committee Meeting before the full council meeting, drivers Konstantine Anthony, Eduardo Belalcazar and Linda Valdivia testified as to what a difference a $30 hourly wage would make in their lives and the lives of other drivers.

After hearing from the drivers, Councilmembers Curren Price and Monica Rodriguez advanced the motion to full council with some amendments. A few minutes later, the full council approved the motion unanimously!

The MWA drivers who had been in the chamber headed to the steps of city hall, where we were soon joined by hundreds of drivers on a motor march from Chinatown. We held a triumphant press conference where we were joined by Pastor Cue of the Church Without Walls in Skid Row, Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, a co-author of AB5, LA City Council President Herb Wesson, who introduced the motion, El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero, who championed $30/hr in El Monte, and President of SEIU Local 721 Bob Schoonover – along with drivers Armen Ogasyen, Manuel Ramos and Eduardo Belalcazar.

As drivers circled city hall in their cars decorated with MWA flags, speaker after speaker talked about how our organizing made this historic win possible. Uber and Lyft may have billions of dollars, but we have real power. We have the power that comes from standing side by side as brothers and sisters and demanding our rights!

We won this round, but the fight isn’t over. We’ll be keeping an eye on what the City Administrative Office comes up with and ready to head back to city hall to make sure the council follows through!

In the meantime, we know that we can’t rely on local governments to hold these companies accountable, if we want to win a living wage, benefits and fair treatment for drivers everywhere, we need to continue to fight for and demand a union!

Ready to join our fight?

31 replies
  1. AMENA BLUE
    AMENA BLUE says:

    Yay I’m happy we won hopefully well there’s no hopefully I know for sure this will change my life because it’s so hard and so little money for the distance that we’ve been going like $30 an hour sounds absolutely right I hope the flight goes on and I hope we keep winning yay for Uber

    • Kyle
      Kyle says:

      First, the city has to do a study and then draft an ordinance. We don’t know how long that will take, but we’re keeping an eye on it and will update everyone as the process continues. Once that is done, we’ll need to show up again and take action to make sure the law passes.

  2. Derek Olivia
    Derek Olivia says:

    We the drivers should also be able to write off mileage when going to pick up a client also, not just from pick up point. Example: There are times daily when you are headed out to a location that sometimes takes 15 minutes to get to and the passenger is only going 1 mile after all of that driving to get to them.

  3. Deborah Bell
    Deborah Bell says:

    Thank-you for including me in the fight for fairer wages. I was not able to go to city hall this time. But I continue to follow the progress.

  4. Kenneth Brown
    Kenneth Brown says:

    That sounds like good news for all we needed a change I’ve been spending so much out of pocket money on repairs on my car so when would this take place

  5. Sandra E Straume
    Sandra E Straume says:

    I guess the request for comment in regards to this increase of $ $30 increase Uber and Lyft I do believe that will be rectified after all you need them quite often and they’re not always treated correctly and are using their own cars wear and tear many miles and you have heard many stories how what takes place they need to have some kind of security in their system as well everybody wants door-to-door service

  6. Bryan Harper
    Bryan Harper says:

    What will be our schedule and how many hours will we be able to work weekly…this is the part that makes some drivers nervous about the $30.00 wage because we know that New York drivers are only getting 11hours a week

    • Kyle
      Kyle says:

      That remains to be seen! The New York situation is different because there are agreements with the companies that we don’t have here. Our ultimate goal is to build a strong union that allows us to negotiate around wages, benefits, flexibility, protection from deactivations, etc.

  7. Ari Molaviani
    Ari Molaviani says:

    I need help because I’m not making money anymore and I need somebody to do something I work for Uber lyft Door dash post metes

  8. Liana Zurabashvili
    Liana Zurabashvili says:

    Congratulation! That is a big VICTORY! But this is just a beginning! We started and we will never give up! WHEN WE FIGHT, WE WIN .
    Thanks to everyone!
    Teamwork makes the dream work!!!

  9. Joe
    Joe says:

    Good job. We have to fight for milage cost. 60 cents even does not cover milage’s cost paying for lease and the cost of gas,tires ,brakes, services. With all we can not cover please payment
    UBER take 30%of out money for themselves. This amazing when 15% is everywhere.

    We will fight to success

  10. Danny Cheng
    Danny Cheng says:

    I support AB5 all the way because that is fairly for most of delivery driver I am older Uber driver since 2014 did any driver knows about Uberlawsuit case from Attorney at law : Shannon Liss-Riordan, P.C. ?

  11. Jason
    Jason says:

    This is great news. I do think a wage of $40/hr would be better as $30 is still not enough to qualify for many housing opportunities. $30 across the board for all and each employee who cuts back hours or employees should be fined. Even small business should have at least three on staff.

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