Uber, Lyft Drivers Strike at Florida Airports to Demand Livable Wages

Facing stagnant pay and high gas prices, Uber and Lyft drivers are gathering outside some of Florida's busiest airports to demand better working conditions.

Rideshare drivers are on strike April 28 at three major Florida airports, including the heavily trafficked Miami International Airport, to call for higher wages and an end to spontaneous app deactivations (AKA the companies' equivalent of being fired). They also will launch a Florida chapter of the Independent Drivers Guild, the nation's largest rideshare workers' organization, which represents more than 250,000 drivers.

"Floridians depend on Uber and Lyft drivers to get around, but what they may not know is that the rideshare drivers have no voice with the app companies," Brendan Sexton, national president of the Independent Drivers Guild, said in a statement. "As gas prices and other expenses have skyrocketed in Florida, pay has not kept up, and drivers are struggling just to break even."

Drivers gathered between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Friday outside airports in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. The protests are slated to conclude around 1 p.m., says guild spokesperson Moira Muntz.

"Drivers want to send a clear message to Uber and Lyft that the drivers who keep Florida moving need fair pay and a voice with the company," Muntz tells New Times.

The Independent Drivers Guild represents drivers in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Illinois. The group, which is affiliated with the Machinists Union, helped secure a tipping option for Uber drivers in New York City in 2017, which preceded the company's rollout of a tipping field for drivers nationwide. 

In response to a request for comment, Uber spokesperson Harry Hartfield tells New Times that the average driver in Miami makes $27 an hour while active on the app.

"Earnings for drivers on our platform remain high," Hartfield says.

Uber's website cites separate figures, stating that a part-time driver job in Miami on average earns $20.30 per hour, though the site notes wages can vary.

Lyft released a statement to New Times saying it takes "concerns of drivers very seriously" and is "regularly exploring ways to improve their experience on the platform." The company noted that it has a dispute process for drivers who feel they've been unfairly deactivated.

"Last year, we introduced Upfront Pay in Florida and across the country, which shows drivers ride information and what they'll earn before accepting a ride," Lyft says. "We've expanded our cashback rewards program to help drivers save at the pump, and we provide drivers a weekly pay summary that shows a breakdown of their earnings and the total amount riders paid."

The campaign for better rideshare wages has been ramping up in the Sunshine State in recent weeks as gas prices spiked. In mid-April, Uber drivers in Tampa organized a strike during Taylor Swift's concert run in the city, claiming that the rideshare giant had been cutting pay rates and had failed to take care of its drivers in the face of high inflation.

Uber and Lyft drivers in the U.S. have been pushing for better wages, benefits, and worker regulations from the tech giants for years, but their efforts have been stymied by their classification as independent contractors (as opposed to employees). While guilds like the Independent Drivers Guild advocate for and support legal action on behalf of rideshare drivers, they don't have the same power as a traditional union to enforce collective bargaining rights under federal law.

Classifying workers as independent contractors allows companies to get around laws that require worker protections and benefits like paid sick leave and health insurance.

The National Labor Relations Board and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity have supported the classification of Uber and Lyft drivers as independent contractors. The Third District Court of Appeal, which has jurisdiction over Miami-Dade County, upheld the classification in 2017 in a former Uber driver's case demanding unemployment benefits after Uber terminated his access to its driver app.

In February, a California appeals court ruled that Uber and Lyft drivers can be treated as independent contractors rather than employees.

A report from Asian Law Caucus and Rideshare Drivers United found that two-thirds of Uber and Lyft drivers in California had experienced temporary or permanent deactivations of their accounts, most of whom were drivers of color and immigrant drivers. (Uber and Lyft have since refuted the report, calling it inaccurate.) Thirty percent of drivers said they were given no explanation why they were let go, while forty-two percent said the app cited customer grievances. Drivers who didn't speak English or weren't entirely fluent in English were also far more likely to have their accounts disabled.