SEATTLE (AP) – A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated a challenge to Seattle’s first-in-the-nation law allowing drivers of ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to unionize.
The city’s 2015 measure requires companies that hire or contract with drivers of taxis, for-hire transportation companies and app-based services to bargain with them on issues such as pay and working conditions if a majority show they want to be represented.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously said the measure is subject to challenge under federal antitrust law, and it sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle to determine whether the measure is, in fact, impermissible.
The law has been seen as a test case for regulating the app-based 21st century workforce, where companies often hire short-term contractors for flexible, temporary jobs lacking the benefits traditionally associated with union work.
The city said letting drivers bargain over their working conditions would protect workers and make the industry safer, but critics said permitting them to do so would have dire consequences for the popular services in Seattle, raising prices for consumers and stifling competition.