“Uber and Lyft have vowed to suspend service in Minneapolis. The announcement comes after a dramatic back-and-forth tussle with city leadership over the past year, which boils down to minimum wage pay for Uber and Lyft drivers.
Working with a coalition of ride-hail drivers, the Minneapolis city council passed a bill last August that would require Uber and Lyft to pay drivers a minimum of $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute — rates that the city approximates would add up to drivers earning the $15.57 minimum wage after expenses.
Uber and Lyft drivers are only paid when they’re giving passengers a ride, not while they’re waiting, so minimum wage calculations aren’t based on hourly pay. Currently, drivers in Minneapolis make a median of $13.63 per hour after expenses, according to data from the state.
Shortly after the minimum wage bill was passed, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed it, saying “this ordinance needs more work.” Council members then brought forward another measure around driver pay, which passed last week in a 9-4 vote, despite Frey saying he’d veto that one, too. Then, on Thursday, the city council voted to override that mayoral veto.
Frey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘This is a David and Goliath story,’ Council Member Robin Wonsley, the lead author on the policy, said in a statement. ‘Regular working-class people took on two corporate giants and their political allies, and won.'”
For the rest of the story, visit NPR here.