By Justin Laurence, Crain’s Chicago Business
Ride-hailing giant Uber has signed a neutrality agreement with a politically powerful union, a surprise move that has the potential to upend negotiations over city legislation that would provide better pay and worker protections to drivers.
Approving the ordinance was already a tough lift in a fractured City Council and could force Mayor Brandon Johnson into a legislative brawl he didn’t pick himself. It’s also exposing different theories over how best to provide benefits to workers in an industry where Uber and Lyft have fought tooth and nail to keep their drivers classified as independent contractors rather than company employees.