Drivers for Uber and Lyft are planning a one-day airport strike in 10 cities on Valentine’s Day, including Chicago, to once again call attention to demands for better wages, better safety practices and job protection.
The Justice for App Workers coalition, which represents over 30,000 ride-share and delivery drivers across Illinois, is leading the local effort by calling for Chicago Uber and Lyft drivers to rally at O’Hare International Airport Wednesday at 11 a.m., according to a news release from the coalition. The one-day strike means drivers would refuse rides to and from O’Hare. The strike is not planned to affect Midway Airport.
Drivers will gather in the ride-share staging lot at O’Hare at the same time as drivers in other states gather at their airports Wednesday, potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of travelers looking for transportation. While the strike is focused at the airport, some ride-share drivers and customers have said they won’t use Uber and Lyft at all on Wednesday in solidarity, the coalition said.
Steven Everett, with the Independent Drivers Guild of Illinois, which is a partner organization of Justice for App Workers, drives for both Uber and Lyft full time and said not only has he seen his income decrease in his eight years as a driver, he has also had to work more hours.
“A lot of us drivers, on a regular day we try to go out there and make about $200 a day, and we used to be able to do that in six to eight hours, and now we have to take shifts 10 to some days 12 hours to make $200,” Everett said.
A statement from Lyft sent to the Tribune Tuesday said, “We are constantly working to improve the driver experience, which is why just this month we released a series of new offers and commitments aimed at increasing driver pay and transparency. This includes a new earnings commitment and an improved deactivation appeals process. Now, drivers will always make at least 70% of the weekly rider fares after external fees. It’s all part of our new customer-obsessed focus on drivers.”
Lyft said some new features are being introduced to drivers in 2024, including a safety feature that will connect drivers with a trained ADT security agent in real-time from their cellphones in the event they need help.
Drivers are growing wary of unsafe working conditions on the job, especially when working late hours or driving to areas they aren’t as familiar or comfortable in. An Uber driver was fatally shot by a passenger he picked up after arriving at the North Austin drop-off point in December. A judge on Tuesday ordered an 18-year-old man detained while awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder and armed robbery.
Everett said Valentine’s Day is a busy holiday for ride-share and delivery platforms, so the day was chosen for the strike to “show the world that ride-share drivers need a little love as well.”
Uber said in a statement sent to the Tribune, “These types of events have rarely had any impact on trips, prices or driver availability, and we expect the same tomorrow. That’s because the vast majority of drivers are satisfied — earnings remain strong, and as of last quarter, drivers in the U.S. were making about $33 per utilized hour. We also continue to act on driver feedback, adding new safety features to the app and improving our account deactivation processes.”