OAN’s Brooke Mallory
5:21 PM – Friday, March 15, 2024
In Minneapolis, the city council overturned a previous mayoral veto of the minimum wage for rideshare drivers. Therefore, Lyft and Uber will no longer operate in Minneapolis.
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The override, approved by a 10-3 vote at Thursday’s City Council meeting, will allow rideshare drivers to earn the local minimum wage of $15.57 an hour, and the change will go into effect May 1.cent.
But Lyft said in a statement that the ordinance would make its “business unsustainable” and that the bill was “seriously flawed.”
“We support minimum income standards for drivers, but they must be done in an honest way that keeps service affordable for riders,” a Lyft spokesperson said.
Uber said in a statement that it was “disappointed that the City Council ignored the data and kicked Uber out of the Twin Cities, leaving 10,000 people without jobs and leaving many stranded.”
Mayor Jacob Frey (D-Minnesota) supports a minimum wage for rideshare drivers, but opposes the ordinance because it ignores a Minnesota state study that looked at driver compensation. He said that.
“Everyone wants Uber and Lyft drivers to get paid more, but a raise doesn’t mean much if you lose your job,” Frey was quoted as saying. WCCO-TV. “Our region will be greatly affected.”
In Minneapolis, the ordinance requires rideshare drivers to earn at least $0.51 per minute and $1.40 per mile. But the analysis Frey cited shows the minimum wage numbers are low, with workers earning $0.89 per mile and $0.49 per minute.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of data. We should embrace it. We shouldn’t ignore the research that comes out, we should use it to create the best policies possible,” Frey said. he said. WCCO-TV.
Before May 1stcent, municipal leaders are being urged by the mayor to find a solution. According to the ride-sharing service, the fare will quadruple if the user stays in the city.
At the same time that the minimum wage is being debated in Minneapolis, workers across the country are fighting for “fair wages and benefits.” Cities and states have attempted to pass laws in recent years in light of the rise of the “gig economy,” or freelance workers via apps like Uber and Grubhub, but they typically face strong opposition.
A bill that would have set a minimum salary for rideshare drivers was defeated last year by Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), citing concerns that the state would become “one of the most expensive states for rideshares.”
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