Uber and Lyft drivers rally for higher pay at LaGuardia Airport...

Uber and Lyft drivers rally for higher pay at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday. Credit: Jeff Bachner

Ride-share drivers held a 12-hour work stoppage at LaGuardia Airport Sunday, picketing and rallying to call for higher wages amid inflation and rising operating costs.

The stoppage, the third since December and organized by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, was held just days before a Wednesday public hearing where the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission will consider new proposed pay rules for drivers. 

The TLC last year granted the drivers a raise of about 7% on the per-minute rate and about 24% on the per-mile rate. In December, Uber sued to stop the increase and a judge ruled in the company’s favor.

The drivers’ union has since called for the raise to be reinstituted.

“We will strike, we will rally, we will protest, and we will win back what belongs to the drivers,” said Bhairavi Desai, president of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, to a crowd of about 100 who chanted “driver power, union power” and “no driver, no Uber” at a parking lot near the airport where drivers typically await pickup assignments.

Desai, surrounded by advocates, politicians and drivers, said Uber and Lyft “exploited” the workers who drove throughout the pandemic.

“Instead of rewarding this labor that has brought Uber and Lyft its riches, Uber and Lyft continue to play games, oppose the raise, charge more to the public, refuse to give more to the drivers, [take] a higher commission from the drivers [and] expect drivers to take on more expenses,” the union leader said to the sounds of booing from the crowd.

Desai’s organization represents about 27,000 members, of which nearly half drive for Uber and Lyft, she said.

Uber said drivers have seen three rate increases since 2020, including a 6.39% increase in per minute and per mile rates earlier this year.

“Ours is the only industry in the state with a legally mandated annual wage review tied to the rate of inflation, which we support,” Uber spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said in a statement on Sunday morning. “As has historically been the case, we anticipate drivers will continue to deliver for New Yorkers today and there will be no impact.”

The TLC's revised plan that it will consider on Wednesday includes a per-mile increase of more than 20%.

A Lyft spokesman said the company supports the plan.

"The TLC's proposal includes changes that will ensure fairer competition within our industry,” Lyft spokesman CJ Macklin said in an emailed statement. “We are appreciative of them listening to our concerns and look forward to continued engagement on ways we can improve ride-share overall."

Drivers at the rally said they are responsible for vehicle financing, insurance and maintenance as well as gasoline. As prices rise, they need a raise that reflects the cost of inflation, they said.

“Everything is expensive. So at the end of the day when you factor in everything, you don't make nothing,” said Lamin Jatta, a driver from the Bronx.

Alpha Bah, of the Bronx, came to the rally with his two children, Hawa, 14, and Thierno, 11.

“The gas used to be like $40 [a tank]. Now it's almost $70,” he said. “The milk for these kids, it used to be $3. Now it's $6.”

The drivers expressed frustration over Uber’s lawsuit that blocked the TLC increase.

“It's unfair,” said Suliman Abdali, of Flushing. “Every day, we are dealing with the danger, the accidents and the weather. And when it comes to our raise, Uber says no.”

Abdali said he drives almost every day — often for 12 hours to make just enough to raise three children as the sole breadwinner of his family of five.

“I have no choice,” he said.

The judge who ruled in Uber’s favor stated that the commission did not adequately explain its calculations but urged the TLC to try and pass the raise again.

“This court sympathizes with the plight of the ride service drivers, whose deserved raise is being held up by a legal technicality not of their own making,” Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his decision.

It is unclear how many drivers participated in the stoppage where workers were told to not pick up passengers at the airport from noon to midnight Sunday.

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