Nearly 100,000 Illinois Uber, Lyft drivers may soon be able to unionize
[June 04, 2026]
By Sean Reed | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – A proposal that would allow many Uber and Lyft
drivers to form a sector-wide union and engage in collective bargaining
passed the Illinois’ legislature last weekend.
Illinois is one of only three states to pass a law that allows such
contract workers in on labor organizing.
State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, brought the legislation in the
Senate after many of his constituents who work as drivers shared issues
of unwarranted deactivation, poor pay and difficult or dangerous working
conditions.
“I represent a district that actually has the most number of ride share
drivers out of any Senate district in the state, so this was truly an
issue that came to me from constituents that were facing challenges with
the wages and the vehicle costs and working conditions,” Villivalam
said.
According to the Illinois Drivers Alliance, the measure will give nearly
100,000 regularly-working drivers the ability to be covered under
collective bargaining.
The law, if signed by the governor, will also require every rideshare
company to begin depositing 4 cents per ride that originates in the
state into a Rideshare Workers Support Fund, overseen by the secretary
of state.
Details in the statute note that rideshare companies may not impose the
cost of the fee onto consumers – though an increase for consumers would
have to be discovered and proven by the secretary of state’s office or
the Illinois attorney general through an audit of the companies.
In the week before the law passed both Illinois chambers, the App
Drivers Union was certified in Massachusetts, creating the first union
of its kind in the nation.
Marc Avelar, a retired 1099 independent contractor who also works on
policy surrounding contract workers, said he’s not sure that
unionization is the right direction for drivers at the moment.
“My concern is it brings a lot of things that have never been done
before, and even Massachusetts’ is still untested. There's been no
collective bargaining yet. All you have is the union has been
certified,” Avelar said.
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State lawmakers stand with union leaders and ride-share drivers
outside the Illinois Capitol in Springfield, Ill. Photo: Sean Reed /
The Center Square
Avelar said he worries the law could be challenged in court because
federal labor laws don’t include contract laborers under
unionization laws.
He also contends that there are faster and more direct ways of
bettering conditions for a wider group of gig-workers.
“Washington state did not go the route of sectoral organizing and
sectorial bargaining, what they did is they passed something called
their independent plus benefits model,” Avelar said. “They basically
use state government to facilitate what is best for the drivers. As
long as you stay on what's best for the drivers opposed to what's
best for the union, you're going to help more drivers.”
Villivalam, however, told The Center Square he has no concerns
regarding the legality of the measure, and the process of passing
the law has already helped improve conditions for drivers.
“The organizations that are doing this work have already created a
website for any drivers that are facing deactivations, from which
they are able to communicate with the company about these different
situations and address anomalies, address the challenges,”
Villivalam said.
The law passed both the House and Senate with near-unanimous support
on the Democrat side of the aisle, though some Republicans voted
against the measure on the grounds that independent contractors are
considered their own employers.
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