We won!

In 2021, app worker companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart initiated the process to offer a statewide ballot question that if passed would have changed Massachusetts law to open the door to the “gigification” of all work — eliminating significant wage and labor protections for wide swathes of workers. These companies were expected to spend as much as $100 million on the ballot campaign, nearly twice the current state record, in an attempt to fool voters into thinking the ballot question would allow the companies to give their drivers greater flexibility and benefits. Accordingly, in late 2021, Lyft made the state’s largest ever one-time political contribution of $14.4 million to their ballot committee in preparation.

DSA chapters across the state responded by organizing together to seek the defeat of this ballot question, which was a major attack by capital on the working class, with Worcester DSA designating our efforts to defeat it part of our 2022 chapter priority.

But on June 14, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the highest court in the state, tossed out the ballot question on a technicality, preventing it from appearing on the ballot in November 2022.

From GBH: “It’s fantastic news,” said driver and Boston DSA member Henry De Groot. “I wasn’t holding my breath for the courts. We don’t trust the courts; we rely on worker power. But this is huge news.” Even so, De Groot said, “[It’s] not enough. We want a living wage. We want a path to unionization.”

With the ballot question off the table for now, Worcester DSA continues to support the work of Massachusetts Drivers United and others to organize app workers.