Veto of ride-share rules is right step

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey made a prudent call this week when he vetoed a plan to raise pay and certain protections for Uber and Lyft ride-share drivers.

It was also positive news that Frey reached a reasonable compromise on pay with one of the ride-share companies. After negotiations, the city announced an agreement with the company in which Uber will pay its drivers at least the city-required hourly minimum wage. Uber also said it would pay drivers a minimum of $5 for every ride, no matter the length of that ride, according to Frey and a letter from the company.

The vetoed plan, approved by the City Council last week, was promoted to assure that drivers receive at least minimum wage and to protect them from being exploited by international ride-share companies. Drivers are not technically employees of those companies and therefore not subject to state and city rules around minimum wage requirements. That minimum wage in Minneapolis is either $14.50 or $15.19 an hour, depending on company size.

Additionally, the proposal would have protected tips from company deductions, changed the termination process, allowed the city to monitor ride-share companies for their pay practices and neighborhood service and created a city "driver resource center" to answer questions and potentially resolve disputes. Both companies had said they would stop or cut back service in Minneapolis if the ordinance had taken effect.

A spokesman for the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, a driver group that had worked for months on the changes said he was "devastated" by the veto. And Council Member Robin Wonsley, a lead author of the ordinance and a recent Star Tribune commentary on the plan, blasted the veto as "an inexcusable betrayal of Minneapolis workers." They vowed to work to override the mayor's veto.

That shouldn't happen. The mayor and others — including a ride-share driver from St. Paul who wrote a counterpoint to the pro-ordinance commentary — have raised legitimate concerns about how far the city should go in determining work practices of private companies.

"The ordinance needs more work," Frey rightly told reporters.

In his veto letter, Frey wrote, "Before we set an ordinance like this in motion, we need to have more conversations with all stakeholders." He said that the city needs to figure out what it can and cannot do. And he expressed concern about how the city would be required to adjudicate disputes, train drivers and operate a new driver's resource center. And while that center might be a good idea, he said, it might best be done at the state level because the issues go beyond the borders of the city.

Frey said that he would bring together a broad group of stakeholders and work on creating an alternative ordinance to "get this right."

Getting it right should include working in partnership with the state on its upcoming study of the issue. In his first veto of his tenure, Gov. Tim Walz vetoed a similar bill in May that would have increased pay and job protections for drivers statewide. That bill would have required drivers to be paid $1.45 a mile and 34 cents per minute. At that time, Uber and Lyft said ride prices could increase significantly if the bill became law statewide.

Still, the governor created a commission to study driver wages and working conditions with the expectation it would make recommendations for a bill in 2024.

We agree with the concerns raised by both Walz and Frey. More discussion and careful analysis is needed before any additional rules are adopted on wage, benefits and other working conditions for these drivers.