Lyft, Uber Driver Unions Blocked By Judge

A Seattle law that would have allowed Lyft and Uber drivers in that city to be the first in the U.S. to unionize has been blocked by a federal judge. The law, passed in 2015, has been challenged by two lawsuits: one from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and another from about a dozen Uber and Lyft drivers backed by conservative anti-union organizations. “The issues raised in this litigation are novel, they are complex, and they reside at the intersection of national policies that have been decades in the making,” U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik wrote in his preliminary injunction. “The public will be well-served by maintaining the status quo while the issues are given careful judicial consideration.” Unions in the Seattle area have been working to move forward with the union effort, and Uber and Lyft have launched their own campaigns to dissuade drivers from voting to organize. Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce argues that the National Labor Relations Act does not give contractors the right to unionize.