Get the latest tech news

Uber and Lyft are fighting minimum wage laws. But in this state, the drivers won

Internal emails, interviews and in-app messages show Uber and Lyft deployed a powerful lobbying playbook to stop minimum wage laws in Minnesota. But drivers had a playbook of their own.

toggle caption Jenn Ackerman for NPR “This is part of their corporate playbook,” says Laura Padin, who studies lobbying in the gig economy at the National Employment Law Project, a labor rights advocacy organization. Brent Kent, a registered lobbyist for Lyft and the company’s director of public policy, sent a letter to Minnesota’s Senate president saying the bill would have a “catastrophic impact” and create “transportation deserts.” Rides in Minneapolis would go from $17 to $54, he said, also not citing specific data for that statistic. Carlson also fired off “veto request” letters he collected from 11 community groups — business and hospitality associations as well as organizations that work with people with disabilities, the elderly and domestic violence survivors.

Get the Android app