IL Labor Relations Board director: Rideshare unionization bill could double budget

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A bill allowing rideshare drivers to unionize while imposing fees on riders would present a conflict of interest, the executive director of the Illinois Labor Relations Board says.

State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, said Illinois Senate Bill 2906 would give collective bargaining rights to transportation network drivers.

“With no existing legal structure allowing rideshare drivers to unionize, workers have been left unable to negotiate fair pay, protection or a voice on the job,” Villivalam said.

SEIU Local 1 President Genie Kastrup told the Illinois Senate Labor Committee on Tuesday that SB 2906 would require rideshare companies to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement if organizers get support from 30% of active drivers.

Illinois Labor Relations Board Executive Director Kimberly Stevens told the committee that the bill’s 20-cent per ride administrative fee on riders would be an issue.

“That would come to the board to then create and administer grants back to the union out of that funding, which presents a conflict of interest for an agency that is supposed to be neutral,” Stevens said.

Stevens said the board does not have jurisdiction over private employers or their employees, and it does not collect fees or make grants.

SB 2906 would also require the Illinois Labor Relations Board to collect driver information from their employers.

The board’s executive director, Kimberly Stevens, said her agency does not currently do data collection.

“It would double, likely, our agency’s current budget and it would cost at least, we estimate from talking to Massachusetts and from other projects that we’ve had to do in the IT arena, at least three to five million dollars to stand up the systems that would be necessary,” Stevens said.

Stevens said the bill would probably increase her agency’s head count by at least half.