EDITORIAL: Union Luddites

Many of the millennials and members of Gen Z love using ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. They also love to support progressive politicians and judges who would love to take these services away from them.

The latest example of this disconnect comes from … where else? … California.

As this week came to a close, Uber and Lyft were threatening to shut down their California operations in the wake of a San Francisco judge’s ruling that they must classify their drivers as employees per recent legislation passed by Democrats in Sacramento. The law is a sop to Big Labor at the expense of innovation and convenience.

As Christian Britschgi of Reason outlined, the ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed in May by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. He and three city attorneys from across the state argued that Uber and Lyft were violating the statute by incorrectly classifying their drivers as independent contractors.

The law, which hit the books in January, established three requirements for workers to be considered independent contractors: They must be free from the control of the entity that hired them, be performing work outside the scope of the entity hiring them and be “customarily engaged” in the kind of work they were hired to perform. Uber and Lyft argue that their drivers meet the requirements because they are technology companies helping riders find drivers, not transportation companies hiring drivers to provide rides.

The companies say the vast majority of their drivers prefer the flexibility they experience as independent contractors. Having to classify them as employees would force Uber and Lyft to provide them with numerous benefits, including overtime, sick leave, expense reimbursement and health insurance. This, the companies rightly point out, would dramatically increase the cost of rides.

Of course, that’s entirely the point for union interests.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman ruled against the companies. Uber and Lyft plan to appeal. On Thursday, a California appeals court judge granted the companies a temporary stay while the case plays out.

“Drivers do not want to be employees, full stop. We’ll immediately appeal this ruling and continue to fight for their independence,” a Lyft spokesperson told Business Insider. “Ultimately, we believe this issue will be decided by California voters, and that they will side with drivers.”

The politicians and judges who seek to roll back the clock are doing so on behalf of their hidebound union friends — both the unions whose members have been hurt by this technology (see: cabdrivers) and those seeking to unionize the independent contractors who benefit from it. Simply put, they are taking young liberal voters for a ride.