As gas prices have spiked again this week, some rideshare drivers in Minnesota say they’re struggling to make ends meet.
Uber and Lyft drivers pay for their own gas. With gas in the state now averaging more than $4.35 a gallon, those costs are up — and driver pay rates have stayed flat.
Said Mohamed drives for both rideshare companies. He typically works during the day, with breaks to stop at home and regular days off. But high gas prices have forced him to change that schedule.
“I’m driving more,” Mohamed said. “From 7 a.m. when I leave my house ‘til I go back home about 7 p.m. tonight, I have to stay.”
Mohamed said he’s spending close to $30 a day on gas. That’s for his hybrid car; he said friends and fellow rideshare drivers with fully gas-powered cars are spending up to $45 or $50 a day.
Uber and Lyft both offer discounts and cash-back deals on gas, which they have increased since gas prices began climbing amid the war in the Middle East.
But Mohamed said the benefits are too small to make a difference. Some of them only apply at specific gas stations. Others require drivers to set up accounts on company-issued debit cards. Mohamed said many drivers don’t want to go through the process to do that, or don’t want to keep their income on a company card.
Mohamed said he’s also been avoiding long rides that take him out of the Twin Cities, because he doesn’t get paid for the drive back without a passenger. But when a driver declines too many trips, the rideshare apps’ algorithms send them fewer options — and often lower-paying ones.
Mohamed is part of a group of drivers organizing with the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, to advocate for a rideshare drivers’ union. It would require legal action at the state level; drivers are currently unable to unionize because they are classified as independent contractors, not employees. A bill to allow drivers to unionize did not pass at the state legislature last year.
Mohamed said he wants the chance to negotiate directly with the companies — especially when challenges like high gas prices come up.
“The biggest thing that needs to be changed is, the drivers need to be listened to, and drivers need the same protections as everyone that is working,” Mohamed said.
Organizers are looking ahead to this year’s midterm elections in hopes that changes in the legislature — and possibly in party control — could give the group another chance to push for the law.
