Minneapolis seeks to raise pay for rideshare drivers

Minneapolis is moving ahead with its own plan to raise pay and provide job protection for rideshare drivers.

The Business, Inspections, Housing and Zoning Committee on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution that would make Uber and Lyft drivers in the city some of the highest paid in the United States, and sent it to the City Council to take up at its Thursday meeting.

"We are going to continue fighting for you," said City Council Member Jason Chavez during the committee meeting in which more than two dozen members the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Driver's Association (MULDA) testified for the need for a policy to boost wages and improve working conditions.

Gov. Tim Walz this spring vetoed legislation that would have set pay rates statewide, and set up a taskforce to make recommendations to address wages, driver and rider safety, and rules as to how and when rideshare companies can terminate a driver or deactivate their account.

Some officials in Minneapolis were not waiting for the 2024 Legislative session to take action. For several months, City Council members and staff worked on the "Fair Rides, Safe Drives" initiative, which led to the ordinance presented Tuesday.

The resolution calls for drivers to be paid $1.40 a mile plus 51 cents per minute while a passenger is in the vehicle on trips taken within Minneapolis' borders. The resolution, patterned after those in New York, Chicago and Seattle, also states drivers would get a minimum of $5 per trip and are guaranteed 80% of fees collected when trips are canceled.

Drivers currently make "virtually nothing" — about 50 cents per mile and 19 cents per minute, said Stephen Cooper, an attorney representing MULDA members.

Lyft said changes in Minneapolis could "drastically" increase costs to riders, reduce driver earnings and impact safety on the platform.

"A trip today that will cost $20 will cost $40 under this bill," Brent Kent, Lyft's senior public policy manager, wrote in a letter to the city. "This ordinance would have grave and detrimental impacts on drivers, riders and the Minneapolis community."

Uber spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said the company seeks a compromise that raises rates for drivers but won't hurt riders.

"Our goal remains unchanged," Goldstein said. "That's why we're proud to serve on the Governor's Task Force and look forward to coming up with a framework for statewide legislation — which is how this issue should be handled, rather than a patchwork of different rules and regulations statewide."

City Council Member Robin Wonsley said Minneapolis has been "a trailblazer" when it comes to workers' protections, and that this ordinance is no different.

"We should not as a body be allowing corporations or corporate interests — or buying into the myth — that supporting workers will come at the expense of consumers," she said. "We should not be pitting drivers' need for equitable wages against the riders' needs to have a quality service. They don't have to come at the expense of one another."