According
to the New York Times, a group of Uber
and Lyft drivers have filed a lawsuit claiming the two companies violated
antitrust laws.
In
the complaint, which was filed in Superior Court in San Francisco and seeks
class-action status, three drivers claim that Uber and Lyft, while treating
them as independent contractors, have not truly given them independence and are
trying to avoid giving drivers the benefits and protections of employment
status while setting restrictions on the way they work.
The
drivers are also asking that Uber and Lyft be barred from “fixing prices for
ride-share services” and “withholding fare and destination data from drivers
when presenting them with rides” and be required to give drivers “transparent
per-mile, per-minute or per-trip pay” rather than using “hidden algorithms” to
determine compensation.
The
Times reported the drivers are suing on antitrust grounds, arguing that
if they are classified as independent contractors, then Uber and Lyft are
interfering with an open market by restricting how they work and how much their
passengers are charged.
“Uber
and Lyft are either employers responsible to their employees under labor
standards laws, or they are bound by the laws that prohibit powerful
corporations from using their market power to fix prices and engage in other
conduct that restrains fair competition,” the lawsuit stated.
David
Seligman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit could benefit from
increasing scrutiny of anticompetitive practices.
“We
think that policymakers and advocates and courts across the country are paying
more attention and more closely scrutinizing the ways in which dominant
companies and corporations are abusing their power in the labor market,”
Seligman told the Times.
Apple Store Workers Approve First Union
On
June 18, employees of a Maryland Apple store voted to unionize — a first for
the tech giant.
According
to the Washington Post, the vote means
workers at the Towson, Md., store plan to join the International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) once a contract is ratified. The vote
count was 65 to 33, a nearly 2-to-1 tally.
Last
month, the workers and IAM sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook of their intent
to organize as the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees — or AppleCore for
short.
The
Post also reported workers in at least two other Apple Store locations
are trying to organize, including at a store in New York and one in Atlanta,
which became the first location where workers filed documents with the National
Labor Relations Board. But the Communications Workers of America withdrew its
request for an election there last month, saying in a statement that Apple’s “repeated
violations of the National Labor Relations Act have made a free and fair
election impossible.”
Workers
in Towson told the Post last month that they hope forming a union will
give them a seat at the table on scheduling, pay, coronavirus safety measures
and more. Apple currently has more than 270 retail locations in the country,
according to the publication.
Union Rejects Rolls-Royce £2,000 Bonus
As
reported by BBC, a union
representing Rolls-Royce workers has rejected the offer of a £2,000 one-off
payment from the firm to help its staff with the rising cost of living.
Of
the 14,000 staff at Rolls-Royce who were eligible for the payment, 11,000
members are unionized.
Unite
said the offer “falls far short of the real cost of living challenges which our
members are experiencing.”
But
Rolls-Royce said the offer was “fair” and “a good deal” for staff.
According
to the BBC, the lump sum, which was intended for junior management and shop
floor staff, was due to roll out in August, starting with the 3,000 non-unionized
staff before being paid to the remaining 11,000 unionized workers.
Unite’s regional secretary Paresh Patel said the union was still in negotiations with Rolls-Royce about the pay offer.
Rolls-Royce
had also offered workers a 4% increase in pay, backdated to March. A
Rolls-Royce spokesperson had told the BBC it would be “the highest annual pay
rise for at least a decade” for its shop floor staff.
But
Unite said it would also reject that offer.
There
are ongoing discussions with unions about a pay settlement for 2022-2023,
Rolls-Royce’s spokesperson said, and the cost of living issue is to be a factor
in those negotiations.
Elon Musk Clarifies Tesla Layoffs
On
Tuesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company would reduce its salaried
workforce by 10% in the next three months, while at the same time growing the
number of hourly employees, according to a CNBC report.
Speaking
at an event hosted by Bloomberg, Musk said this meant Tesla’s layoff
announcement would affect around 3.5% of its overall workforce, adding the
actual amount was “not super material.” Salaried workers account for about
two-thirds of Tesla employees, he added.
The
remarks come after an internal memo penned by Musk
said he wanted to cut 10% of jobs. In the memo, Musk reportedly said he has a “super
bad feeling” about the economy.
According
to Reuters, former Tesla
employees have filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging its decision to
carry out a “mass layoff” violated federal law as the company did not provide
advance notice of the job cuts.
The
lawsuit was filed June 19 in Texas by two workers who said they were terminated
from Tesla’s gigafactory plant in Sparks, Nev. in June. According to the suit,
more than 500 employees were terminated.
The workers allege the company failed to adhere to federal
laws on mass layoffs that require a 60-day notification period under the Worker
Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, according to the lawsuit.
They are seeking class action status for all former Tesla employees throughout the United States who were laid off in May or June without advance notice.
