ABOUT TNWA 150

We Didn’t Just Show Up to Organize. We Showed Up to Win.

TNWA 150 — the Transportation Network Workers Alliance Local 150 is the Illinois rideshare drivers’ organization affiliated with the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 150. We are not a new idea. We are a new application of 127 years of proven worker power.

Our History: IUOE Local 150

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 has been fighting for workers in Illinois, Indiana, and beyond since 1898. We represent engineers, heavy equipment operators, construction workers, and skilled tradespeople, people who do the hard, essential work that keeps our region running.

In that time, Local 150 has:

  • Negotiated hundreds of contracts covering wages, benefits, pensions, and working conditions
  • Protected workers from unsafe conditions, unfair discipline, and arbitrary termination
  • Built a legal, political, and organizing infrastructure that has delivered real results for working people for over a century
  • Established one of the most effective apprenticeship and training programs in the country
  • Maintained neutrality agreements and cooperative relationships with major employers — including, most recently, a landmark neutrality agreement with Uber that helped lay the groundwork for what became HB 5090

We brought all of that institutional power to bear for rideshare drivers — because drivers deserve the same quality of representation that every other working person in this state has access to.

What We Did in Illinois in One Year

Illinois rideshare drivers have been trying to organize since at least 2017. Various groups held rallies, testified at City Council, and lobbied for a Chicago minimum earnings ordinance. After nine years of effort, drivers had no statewide collective bargaining rights, no deactivation appeal process written into law, and no contract.

TNWA 150 arrived in Illinois and changed the calculus.

Here is what we did:

We signed a neutrality agreement with Uber.

In March 2025, Local 150 announced a landmark neutrality agreement with Uber, the first of its kind for rideshare in Illinois. Uber agreed not to oppose our organizing efforts and to engage constructively on a path toward driver representation. This agreement was covered by CBS Chicago and Crain’s Chicago Business and immediately changed the political dynamics around driver legislation.

We protected driver independence.

We made sure the law explicitly preserves independent contractor status and protects driver flexibility. You keep the freedom to drive when and how you want. What you gain is a voice in the conditions and compensation for that work.

We got the law passed.

HB 5090, the Illinois Transportation Network Driver Labor Relations Act, is the first statewide rideshare collective bargaining law in Illinois history. It exists in part because TNWA 150 was at the table.

What the Law Actually Delivers

This is what TNWA 150 helped put in Illinois law, things drivers have been asking for since 2017:

Your Right to Bargain

For the first time in Illinois history, rideshare drivers have the legal right to organize and bargain collectively. This is not a city ordinance that can be blocked by the City Council. It is state law.

Deactivation Rights — Written Into Law

The law requires:

  • Written notice before any deactivation
  • A clear appeals process — you have the right to appeal and to have representation during that appeal
  • Consistent application of deactivation standards — no arbitrary or selective enforcement
  • A defined reactivation standard — companies must tell you what you need to do to come back

No more being shut off with no explanation and no recourse.

Earnings Transparency

  • A weekly earnings summary showing what you made and what was taken
  • A per-trip receipt within 24 hours of each completed trip
  • The ability to see for the first time exactly how your pay is calculated

Paid Leave

The sectoral agreement will cover paid leave. After years of drivers having zero time off protections, this will be negotiated into a binding statewide contract.

Occupational Accident Insurance

If you are injured on the job, you will have coverage for medical expenses and lost wages. This is a mandatory subject of bargaining under the law.

Job Loss Compensation

The law requires bargaining over compensation or supplemental insurance if you lose your ability to work due to company decisions including decisions related to technology changes and autonomous vehicles.

Safety Mandates

Safety requirements are a mandatory subject of bargaining. TNWA 150 will negotiate enforceable safety standards that protect you on every ride.

Grievance and Arbitration

If a TNC violates the contract, you have a formal grievance process and access to binding arbitration, the same protections that every union worker in America relies on.

Your Independence Protected

The law explicitly protects your status as an independent contractor. You keep your flexibility. You keep the ability to drive for multiple platforms. You keep control over your schedule. What changes is that the companies can no longer set all the terms unilaterally.

What We’re Fighting For At the Bargaining Table

The law sets the floor. The contract sets the ceiling. Here is what TNWA 150 will push for when we sit down to bargain:

  • A guaranteed earnings floor — a minimum per-mile, per-minute standard that ensures you are always fairly compensated
  • The highest possible paid leave benefit — not the minimum the law requires
  • Strong deactivation protections — short timelines, clear standards, real representation
  • Transparency into the algorithm — how rides are assigned, how surge pricing is calculated, how you are rated
  • Occupational accident insurance that actually covers what you need
  • A safety committee with driver representation