U.S. court revives challenge to Seattle's Uber, Lyft union law
On Friday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenging a Seattle law that would allow Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize. The 2015 Seattle law was the first of it’s kind, and requires that the city’s 9,000 Uber and Lyft drivers be represented by one union. The law was put on hold pending the outcome of the Chamber’s law suit. The 9th Circuit ruled that the city did not have the power to regulate employment arrangements between ride-hail companies and their drivers. However, last year a federal judge in Seattle disagreed, saying that Washington state had specifically authorized it’s cities to regulate the for-hire transportation industry. On Friday, the 9th Circuit revised their initial ruling, saying that state law allows the city to regulate rates that the companies charge to consumers, but not the fees that they charge the drivers for ride referrals. The case was sent back to the federal judge in Seattle for reconsideration.
See "U.S. court revives challenge to Seattle's Uber, Lyft union law", Daniel Wiessner, Reuters, May 11, 2018