Minneapolis council members take 'victory lap' for rideshare plan

A core group of Minneapolis City Council members took a self-described "victory lap" Thursday for a statewide plan that will create minimum pay for Uber and Lyft drivers — and prevent the rideshare giants from leaving the Twin Cities.

The plan, approved by state lawmakers on the final weekend of the legislative session, was praised by activist drivers seeking minimum pay — and is amenable to Uber and Lyft, who had pledged to leave the city and perhaps the entire state if stricter regulations went into effect July 1. Now both companies say they will stay.

The compromise, expected to be signed by Gov. Tim Walz, strips the city of Minneapolis of its ability to set higher pay minimums. That amounts to a blow to those pushing it, but it's a dynamic that several council members said they now believe was inevitable.

As a result of that state "preemption," on Thursday the council took several technical actions that repealed and killed the city ordinance that was to take effect July 1.

While Council Members Robin Wonsley, Jason Chavez and Jamal Osman called the preemption a "historic betrayal by Governor Walz," they also claimed victory for a pushing an issue that survived three vetoes in two years and likely wouldn't have happened without a coalition Wonsley described as "socialist and progressive allies."

Indeed, the way the controversy captivated the entire Democratic-Farmer-Labor-controlled state Legislature in its final days revealed the growing influence of farther-left elected leaders emanating from Minneapolis.

3 vetoes

Last year, a similar city ordinance was vetoed by Mayor Jacob Frey, and a parallel statewide plan championed by Sen. Omar Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis, was approved by state lawmakers and vetoed by Walz.

This year, the City Council, now controlled by a more progressive majority, brought the plan back and overrode Frey's veto. The move started a ticking clock that threatened to leave the state's largest city without a major rideshare provider.

Meanwhile at the Capitol, Fateh, a crucial vote in the closely split Senate, spearheaded a push for a plan that was similarly unacceptable to Uber and Lyft — although Fateh and others always questioned whether the companies would make good on their threats.

Fearing that the DFL party, which controls all three branches of government, would face dire consequences in the November election if the companies fled the state, Walz and legislative leaders brokered the compromise.

At a morning news conference before Thursday's council meeting, Fateh joined Wonsley, Chavez, Osman and Aurin Chowdhury, as well as Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai and Council President Elliott Payne in what Osman described as a chance to "take a victory lap" for what they have cast as a workers' rights struggle against multinational corporations whose practices exploit drivers, most of whom are people of color.

"They were taken down by workers, by drivers," Fateh said of Uber and Lyft.