One week later the exact sameop-edwas published in the bilingual El Dia Newspaper.
Two months later, aversionof it appeared again in Crains Chicago Business newspaper.
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Over the past several months, news outlets havedetailed political action committeesset up by Uber and Lyft inNew YorkandIllinois.
Uber formed one super PAC in New York.
Combined, the companies contributed a total of more than $3 million to the committees.
Theyre happy to say Black Lives Matter as long as that means their workers dont form a union.
According to Lyfts 2021economic impact report, 69 percent of its drivers are from racial or ethnic minority groups.
These types of payments havecaught the attentionof some of Ubers and Lyfts shareholders.
The vote onLyfts resolutionis scheduled for Thursday, June 17, the publication date of this story.
Illinois is a good example of how the process works.
Neither Markwith nor Lim responded to requests for comment.
A week after the super PAC was registered,Lyft infused the group with $1.2 million.
And then Illinoisans for Independent Work started spending.
The Illinois Coalition for Independent Work and those four organizations didnt respond to requests for comment.
Markwith and Lim were listed as the committee chair and treasurer in the initial filing forms.
Lyft injected the New York super PAC with a total of $1.1 million.
According topublic records, Lyfts super PAC paid Mercury for things like digital advertising and campaign mailers.
Some of those campaign mailers supported candidates for the New York State Assembly.
Renaissance Campaign Strategies could not be reached for comment.
The company contributed $111,000 to the committee.
We recognize that each state has unique needs and priorities.
In December,Spectrum News 1reported on the formation of the New York Coalition for Independent Work.
The NAACP, 100 Hispanic Women, and the National Action data pipe didnt respond to requests for comment.
After that, op-eds started popping up.
As first reported byTechworker, the Arc of Justice website lists Uber and Mercury Public Affairs as benefactors.
The Arc of Justice didnt respond to a request for comment.
Not all of the groups listed on coalition websites actually agreed to be members.
Again, Markwith and Lim were listed on the original filings.
But then the super PAC sat dormant for nearly two months before dissolving in October 2020.
Several months later, in March, the Boston Business Journalreportedthe launch of the Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work.
New Jersey has seen heated debate over gig worker classification.
Local organizations that are members of the coalition have publishedop-edstouting flexible gig work.
In late March, NorthJersey.com published anop-edby Vivian Cox Fraser, the organizations CEO.
The Urban League of Essex County didnt respond to a request for comment.
Its like saying, I have a black friend.
Lyfts strategy in the state has taken a more traditional lobbying form.
Then Lyft imbued it with $1.2 million.
Neither the East King County Jobs Enterprise Washington committee nor Mullet responded to requests for comment.
The Markup found stateincorporation documentsfor a Washington Coalition for Independent Work but no public-facing coalition in the state.
Lim was listed as the incorporator.
The Teamsters General Fund has indicated it may refile the resolution again next year.
They are not the grassroots activism that theyre being portrayed as.
This article by Dara Kerr and Maddy Varner wasoriginally published on The Markupand was republished under theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeslicense.
