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Seattle City Council Extends Deadline To Finish Ride-App Driver Unionization Rules

In this March 14, 2014, file photo, Jerad Bernard hands out cards to passers-by offering one free ride through the Lyft ridesharing service in Seattle.
Elaine Thompson
/
AP
In this March 14, 2014, file photo, Jerad Bernard hands out cards to passers-by offering one free ride through the Lyft ridesharing service in Seattle.

The Seattle City Council has extended the deadline for the city to figure out out how to implement a law allowing drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft to unionize.

The City Council approved the ordinance last year and tasked the city Department of Finance and Administrative Services with determining the rules for how drivers and unions could work together.

Those rules were supposed to be done by next week, but department officials asked the City Council for more time this summer. 

The Department of Finance is having trouble figuring out who exactly should be a "qualifying driver" -- the drivers who will get to have a say in whether to join a union. 

The problem is whether all drivers should vote regardless of how many trips they make or if the rules should distinguish between those who drive part time and and those who drive full time.

Now the Department of Finance has until Jan. 17 to hammer out those details. Department officials have said it will use the time for surveys and outreach.

In August, a U.S. District Court judgethrew out a suit against the city filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The chamber said Seattle is violating antitrust laws by allowing the drivers, who have been considered independent contractors, to unionize. The judge said the lawsuit was premature.

A Seattle native and former KNKX intern, Simone Alicea spent four years as a producer and reporter at KNKX. She earned her Bachelor's of Journalism from Northwestern University and covered breaking news for the Chicago Sun-Times. During her undergraduate career, she spent time in Cape Town, South Africa, covering metro news for the Cape Times.