BOSTON (AP) — Drivers for ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft celebrated Tuesday after Massachusetts became the first state to recognize their union, a milestone in the growing effort to organize gig-economy workers classified as independent contractors under federal labor law.
The victory could provide a model for similar campaigns gaining traction in states including California and Illinois, where labor organizers are increasingly targeting app-based industries as drivers also grapple with the rapid expansion of self-driving technology.
As drivers waved signs and chanted with the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House providing a backdrop, labor leaders described Friday's certification as the largest private-sector organizing win since Ford autoworkers unionized in 1941.
