Minnesota Governor Vetoes Gig Employee Pay Invoice

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota on Thursday vetoed a invoice that might have assured a minimal wage and different protections for Uber and Lyft drivers.

“Trip-share drivers deserve protected working circumstances and truthful wages, and I’m dedicated to discovering options to those points that steadiness the pursuits of all Minnesotans, drivers and riders alike,” Mr. Walz, a Democrat, wrote in a letter to the speaker of the Minnesota Home of Representatives. However he mentioned that the laws, which handed the state legislature final week, “isn’t the proper invoice to attain these targets.”

The invoice had been seen as a big victory for labor advocates, who’ve been preventing for better advantages for gig drivers throughout the nation. Uber and Lyft deal with their drivers as unbiased contractors fairly than workers, which means the drivers are chargeable for their very own bills and don’t obtain well being care or different advantages. The businesses say their enterprise mannequin permits drivers to take care of the pliability they need.

The laws would have required Uber and Lyft to pay their drivers no less than $1.45 per mile they drive with a passenger, or $1.34 per mile outdoors the Minneapolis-St. Paul space, in addition to $0.34 per minute. It additionally would have established a overview course of letting drivers protest circumstances the place they had been deactivated from the platforms.

Mr. Walz sided with the arguments of Uber and Lyft, which mentioned the minimal pay was too excessive for a area like Minnesota and would require them to drastically curtail their ride-sharing companies within the state as prices elevated for riders.

Earlier on Thursday, Uber mentioned it might pull out of Minnesota in the beginning of August if the invoice handed, leaving solely its premium service within the state’s largest metropolitan area.

“This invoice may make Minnesota probably the most costly states within the nation for journey share, probably placing us on par with the price of rides in New York Metropolis and Seattle — cities with dramatically greater prices of residing than Minnesota,” Mr. Walz wrote in his letter.

Except for the veto — his first — Mr. Walz additionally issued an government order establishing a fee to check the ride-share enterprise in Minnesota and advocate coverage modifications to make sure drivers obtain truthful compensation.

Uber cheered the information and mentioned it might help a unique invoice that might supply barely decrease minimal pay and make sure that drivers had been labeled as unbiased contractors fairly than workers in Minnesota, a longstanding aim of the corporate that it has superior in different states.

“We respect the chance to get this proper, and hope the legislature shortly passes a compromise in February,” mentioned Freddi Goldstein, an Uber spokeswoman.

CJ Macklin, a Lyft spokesman, added that “lawmakers ought to go truthful pay and different protections, nevertheless it have to be achieved in a manner that doesn’t jeopardize the affordability and security of those that depend on the service.”

State Senator Omar Fateh, an writer of the invoice, criticized Mr. Walz’s resolution on Twitter.

“As we speak, we noticed the facility companies maintain on our authorities,” he wrote. “The struggle isn’t over, and I promise you I gained’t again down.”