Pay will be diverted for Uber Drivers


In his guest column “Uber and other drivers want flexibility, not union bosses†[Opinion, Dec. 9], Michael Beckerman correctly highlights several reasons why the City Council’s ordinance to impose forced unionization on independent drivers is wrong for Seattle.

Yet his argument left out perhaps the most egregious consequence of the proposed ordinance: The scheme empowers union officials to force every independent driver — even those who oppose the union — to pay union dues or fees if they want to continue using apps like Uber and Lyft.

Not only will money that should be going into drivers’ pockets be diverted to union coffers, but that money may then be spent by union bosses to oppose the set-your-own-hours flexibility that attracts drivers to ridesharing apps to begin with.

Polls show Americans overwhelmingly oppose making union membership and dues payment mandatory. Expanding those forced-dues powers over independent drivers will be a big mistake.

Mark Mix, Springfield, Va., president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

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