Gig firms seek Mass. ballot question to classify workers as contractors

A coalition of gig economy companies including Uber, Lyft and Doordash is looking to replicate its success in California by seeking a ballot measure in Massachusetts that would define their workers as independent contractors.

The proposal from the Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work is expected to be filed Wednesday and would give rideshare and delivery drivers some perks including guaranteed pay and health care stipends but would also lock them out of full employment status.

The ballot measure comes as Uber and Lyft face a lawsuit from the Massachusetts attorney general attempting to compel the companies to comply with state law that would reclassify drivers as employees with rights like a minimum wage and the right to organize.

Gig companies have said that reclassifying their drivers as employees would make it too expensive for their businesses to keep operating.

The companies also insist that reclassification would rob the workers of flexibility, an argument Lyft made in an email to drivers in Massachusetts on Tuesday morning reviewed by The Hill. It was unclear how full employment status would preclude flexibility.

Once the ballot measure is proposed it will face a legal review. If the review is passed and its backers collect enough signatures, the measure will appear on the November 2022 ballot.

The proposal faces opposition from labor and civil rights groups that formed a coalition earlier this summer against any measure similar to Proposition 22, the ballot measure backed by gig companies in California.