ENDORSEMENTS

FAITH LEADERS:

First Baptist Church of North Chicago

Father Larry Dowling

Illinois Transportation Network Driver Labor Relations Act | Rideshare Drivers’ Union Bill, S.B. 2906 | H.B. 4743

The Illinois Transportation Network Driver Labor Relations Act (Rideshare Drivers’ Union Bill) gives 100,000+ rideshare drivers throughout Illinois the right to unionize and collectively bargain. This legislation is urgently needed as drivers face declining wages, rising vehicle costs, and unsafe working conditions—without basic protections or a real voice on the job. Drivers can be deactivated without explanation or due process, instantly cutting off their only source of income, while companies exert increasing control through opaque algorithms and unilateral decisions.

Meanwhile, Uber and Lyft are thriving. In 2024, Uber reported $43.9 billion in revenue, an 18% year-over-year increase, while Lyft brought in $5.79 billion, with rides up 17%. Together, they generated roughly $50 billion in revenue last year, even as driver pay declined by 3.9% for Uber drivers and 5.5% for Lyft drivers. In-house analyses of drivers’ weekly pay statements have shown a median net earnings of less than $8/hr, factoring in vehicle costs, and a more conservative Chicago-based estimate puts the hourly rate at just $13.93/hr–below the city’s minimum wage. This legislation simply ensures that the drivers who provide an essential service in our State have a seat at the table.

By restoring fairness and stability through collective bargaining, this legislation strengthens the rideshare market as a whole. When drivers are paid fairly and treated with dignity, more people enter and stay in the profession, reducing shortages and improving reliability for riders. A stronger, more sustainable workforce benefits everyone – drivers, riders, and communities alike.

STATE OF ILLINOIS ROLE

The State of Illinois has a unique opportunity to lead the way by playing a critical role in ensuring fairness, stability, and accountability in the rideshare industry. For years, transportation network companies have operated with little oversight, setting pay, rules, and working conditions unilaterally, leaving drivers with all the risk and no meaningful voice. State action is necessary to correct this imbalance, protect workers, and ensure the industry operates in the public interest.

Under the Rideshare Drivers’ Union Bill, the state establishes a clear, structured framework for industry-wide collective bargaining and oversees the process to ensure it is fair, transparent, and enforceable. The Illinois Labor Relations Board determines which companies meet the threshold for coverage, certifies the bargaining representative, and helps administer the bargaining process.

After an industry-wide collective bargaining agreement is reached, the state continues to play an important role. The Illinois Department of Labor must approve any agreement to ensure it is consistent with the state's public policy in the act. These industry-wide standards approved by the Department of Labor will help to prevent bad actors from cutting corners, protect responsible companies from being undercut, and ensure that negotiated standards for drivers are upheld across the industry.

SCOPE OF IMPACT


Only the largest TNCs – those that account for 95% of all TNC rides in the state in a given quarter, as determined by the Illinois Labor Relations Board – would be covered by a bargaining agreement approved by the Department of Labor. This ensures that small, mom-and-pop or emerging TNCs are not burdened by requirements meant for industry giants.

Once a collective bargaining agreement is negotiated and approved by the IDOL, the agreement covers all drivers that drive for a qualified TNC.

PATHWAY TO UNION

Following the passage of the Rideshare Driver’s Union Bill, the following steps need to occur for drivers to gain representation from a union. At every step, the process is driven by drivers’ choices and participation, ensuring that union representation is not imposed and that the resulting agreement reflects the priorities of the drivers themselves.

  1. Ninety days after the legislation is enacted, and every quarter after that, all transportation network companies (TNCs) must provide the Board with a list of drivers who have completed five or more rides in the previous six months. A “covered TNC” is any of the largest TNCs determined by the Board to provide a combined 95% of all TNC rides in the state that quarter.

  2. The Board then combines these lists, determines the median number of rides, and designates any driver at or above that median as an “active driver.” This process ensures that only drivers who are currently working on the platforms are included.

  3. From this active driver list, a driver organization must first collect signed authorization cards from 10% of all the active drivers for all covered TNCs to access the full list of active drivers that the covered TNCs would be required to provide to the representative organization via the state board.

  4. The driver organization that has met this 10% threshold may then obtain "exclusive bargaining representative status" by either

    1. Demonstrating to the Board that it has been designated as bargaining representative by at least 30% of active drivers or 

    2. Requesting an election among all active drivers conducted by the Board or a neutral third-party selected by the driver organization and the covered TNCs.

  5. Once a driver organization is designated as the exclusive bargaining representative statewide, covered TNCs are required to bargain with that representative to reach an industry-wide collective bargaining agreement (“sectoral agreement”) on mandatory subjects, including driver compensation. 

    1. If the parties cannot reach agreement, the legislation provides for binding interest arbitration to resolve the impasse, ensuring drivers can both form a union and secure a strong contract.

  6. After a sectoral agreement is reached, or an arbitrator issues an award, the Department of Labor must approve it. Upon approval, the terms are binding for 3 to 5 years, after which a new agreement must be negotiated. 

    1. If the Department does not approve the agreement or award, it remands the issues to the parties for further bargaining with guidance on the changes needed for approval.

PATHWAY TO SETTING INDUSTRY-WIDE STANDARDS  AND STATE OVERSIGHT

The Rideshare Drivers’ Union Bill establishes industry-wide sectoral bargaining standards, similar to the mandatory subjects of bargaining in traditional labor law, ensuring that drivers and companies negotiate over the core issues that define pay, safety, and working conditions across the industry, including:

  1. Compensation 

  2. Benefits

  3. Insurance coverage for occupational accidents or injuries

  4. Compensation or supplemental insurance for job loss

  5. Paid leave

  6. Appeals process for deactivations 

  7. Representation of TNC drivers in deactivation appeals

  8. Information disclosed to TNC drivers about trips on a per-trip basis

  9. Grievance and arbitration procedures to resolve disputes arising under the sectoral agreement 

  10. Safety mandates 

  11. Labor-TNC partnerships 

  12. Reasonable access by the exclusive bargaining representative to covered TNC-to-TNC driver communication systems

  13. Deduction of voluntary fees and dues from payment to TNC drivers 

  14. Duration of the sectoral agreement (between 3-5 years)

The State of Illinois plays an essential role in creating a fair, structured, and time-bound bargaining process that leads to real outcomes – not endless delays. The process for reaching and approving a sectoral agreement:

  1. The Illinois Labor Relations Board determines and certifies the exclusive bargaining representative for covered drivers and formally notifies both drivers and the transportation network companies to begin bargaining.

  2. The bill establishes clear timelines to ensure workers actually secure a contract. If the parties are unable to reach an agreement within 210 days, an impasse is declared. At that point, the state steps in to assist the process, through mediation and, if necessary to resolve the impasse, binding interest arbitration, preventing companies from stalling negotiations indefinitely.

  3. After a sectoral agreement is negotiated, the driver organization conducts a vote by all drivers who have completed at least 100 trips in the previous calendar quarter. Drivers need a simple majority to ratify the agreement.

  4. The final negotiated sectoral agreement or the arbitrator’s award is then submitted to the Department of Labor for approval to ensure that it complies with the law and is enforceable across the industry.

LABOR RELATIONS ADMINISTRATIVE FEE

Once a union is certified as the exclusive bargaining representative, each covered TNC imposes a 20-cent per-trip fee, which is submitted monthly to the board by the covered TNCs.   The fee creates a fair, shared funding mechanism that supports the functioning of the system.

These fees may be used to provide grants to the exclusive bargaining representative to educate drivers about their rights under this Act, assist in enforcing those rights, and support efforts to negotiate and enforce the terms of the agreement. The collected fees cannot be used for political contributions or lobbying. The fee is reviewed and adjusted annually on January 1 based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

To ensure transparency and accountability of grants, the exclusive bargaining representative is required to submit an annual report to the Board, which reviews and certifies that the exclusive bargaining representative is using the funds appropriately and continues to meet the grant application criteria.

This surcharge ensures the bill is properly implemented and enforced, providing the resources needed to uphold standards and deliver real protections for drivers.

VOLUNTARY UNION DUES – DRIVERS CHOICE COMES FIRST

Sectoral bargaining ensures that all drivers benefit from negotiated standards on pay, safety, and working conditions, regardless of whether they personally join the union or pay union dues. The law establishes an industry-wide bargaining system that sets these standards across the entire rideshare industry, rather than company by company, and creates a fair structure to support that process. Union membership and union dues are voluntary for rideshare drivers, and no driver is required to join a union or pay dues as a condition of working.