Washington, D.C. — Illinois has become the third state to advance a new model for rideshare workers to unionize, underscoring a growing national trend toward modernizing labor law for the gig economy, according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress. The state’s landmark legislation would allow Uber and Lyft drivers to collectively bargain through a sectoral bargaining framework, following similar efforts in Massachusetts and California.
In Massachusetts, approximately 70,000 rideshare drivers selected the App Drivers Union as their official bargaining representative earlier this year, creating the largest new private sector bargaining unit since 1941. California drivers are also organizing under the state’s new law, while workers in additional states are pursuing similar legislation. If drivers in Massachusetts, California, and Illinois successfully negotiate collective bargaining agreements, roughly 1 million workers could ultimately gain union coverage.
“States don’t have to wait for Congress to modernize labor law,” said David Madland, senior fellow and senior adviser to the American Worker Project at CAP and author of the analysis. “By creating a simpler path to unionization and sectoral bargaining, states are giving workers the tools to build power in the modern economy while helping firms compete on a level playing field. With Illinois joining Massachusetts and California, this model is quickly proving that it can expand collective bargaining to industries where too many workers have been left behind.”
Sectoral bargaining is uniquely suited to the rideshare industry, where workers are dispersed, classified as independent contractors, and often excluded from traditional labor protections. The new Illinois state law provides drivers with a faster path to forming a union, stronger protections against employer delay tactics, and the opportunity to negotiate industrywide standards that can improve pay, benefits, and working conditions.
Among the analysis’s key findings:
- Illinois is the third state in less than two years to enact a sectoral bargaining framework for rideshare drivers, following Massachusetts and California.
- Approximately 1 million workers could gain union coverage if drivers in Massachusetts, California, and Illinois successfully negotiate collective bargaining agreements.
- Massachusetts’ newly certified bargaining unit represents approximately 70,000 rideshare drivers, making it the largest new private sector bargaining unit formed since 1941.
- Sectoral bargaining is designed for industries with dispersed workforces, allowing workers across an industry to bargain together while helping employers compete on a level playing field.
- Half of American workers say they would like to join a union, yet only 6 percent of private sector workers are union members because current federal labor law makes organizing and bargaining extraordinarily difficult.
Read the column: “New Illinois Law Continues Momentum for Rideshare Sectoral Bargaining” by David Madland
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