Massachusetts Uber, Lyft drivers certify first statewide ride-hailing union amid automation fears

BOSTON (AP) — Drivers for ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft in Massachusetts became the first in the nation Tuesday to certify a union, marking a milestone in the growing effort to organize gig-economy workers amid ongoing concerns over pay, expenses and working conditions.

The victory could provide a model for similar campaigns gaining traction in states including California and Illinois, where labor organizers are increasingly targeting app-based industries as drivers also grapple with the rapid expansion of self-driving technology.

As drivers waved signs and chanted with the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House providing a backdrop, labor leaders described the victory as the largest private-sector organizing win since Ford autoworkers unionized in 1941.

Jean Fredo, who has driven for Uber for more than seven years, said he hopes the union will bring better pay, stronger protections against sudden deactivations and more stability for drivers.

“With the union, it will not feel like we’re working for nothing,” he said in French through a translator. “Now the money will not only stay in the billionaire’s pockets. The money will actually come to the workers who work very hard.”

The certification became possible after the state's voters approved a 2024 ballot measure creating a first-in-the-nation framework allowing ride-hailing drivers to unionize and bargain collectively while remaining independent contractors. Organizers say the union could ultimately represent nearly 70,000 drivers statewide.

Driver Alfred Potter said a few days ago, the App Drivers Union was “still no more than a dream — a goalpost the app companies continued to move until they could move it no more.”

Victoria Acosta, a mother who drives for both Uber and Lyft, said she spent months knocking on doors, testifying at hearings and speaking with hundreds of other drivers as organizers built support for the union effort.

“Without the support of the drivers, we wouldn’t be here,” Acosta said in Spanish through a translator.

She said she hopes the victory inspires drivers in other states.

“If we did it, they can do it, too,” she said.

Fredo said when he started driving for Uber he appreciated the flexibility and the ability to make his own schedule while still being present for his family. But over time, he said, he found himself working longer hours while earning less as gas and maintenance costs climbed.

Drivers can also lose access to the apps with little warning or opportunity to appeal, he said.

“I live with stress — always scared to lose my app,” Fredo said. “This is not a way to live.”

Fredo said he immediately joined the organizing effort when he heard about it and later helped sign up hundreds of other drivers at airports and gathering spots around the Boston area.

At one point during the rally, Fredo pumped his fists over his head while showing a photo of his four children to the crowd.

“This is my family,” he said. “I’m fighting for a better life for them — just like everyone else is fighting for their families. My dream is to save and send my kids to college, and I believe we will get there.”

Supporters say rising vehicle costs, fluctuating pay and opaque app algorithms have fueled frustration among drivers who often work long hours while paying for gas, insurance, maintenance and vehicle wear-and-tear themselves. Uber and Lyft have argued that drivers value the flexibility of app-based work and have opposed efforts that could reclassify workers or alter the industry’s business model.

The organizing effort has unfolded alongside the rapid expansion of autonomous vehicle technology. In Massachusetts, autonomous vehicles can be tested on public roads, but current regulations still require a licensed human operator inside the vehicle. Fully driverless commercial operations without a human in the car are not permitted statewide.

Waymo has expanded driverless taxi operations in cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. The rollout has drawn scrutiny over traffic disruptions, safety investigations and incidents involving stalled or malfunctioning vehicles, while also heightening anxiety among some ride-hailing drivers about the future of their jobs.

Julie Blust of the App Drivers Union said drivers across the country regularly communicate with one another about changing conditions in the industry, including the expansion of autonomous vehicles in California.

“We now know what’s happening there,” she said. “Drivers are seeing pay go down, and there are real concerns about safety and job security as automatic vehicles expand.”

Organizers increasingly see unionization as a way for drivers to collectively respond to the growth of autonomous vehicle companies, she said.

“Drivers now have an official organization and can speak with one voice about what’s happening in this industry,” Blust said. “We cannot let billions of dollars leave Massachusetts and go to Silicon Valley. That money feeds people’s families, that money pays the rent. That money goes into small businesses."

The bargaining process is also unfolding as Massachusetts regulators consider broad new ride-hailing regulations proposed this spring involving safety standards, driver oversight and proposals involving electric vehicle fleets. Days before the union certification, Uber warned in a blog post that some of the proposals could raise costs and reduce flexibility for drivers, while supporters said the changes are intended to strengthen safety and accountability.

In an emailed statement Tuesday, Uber said it would work with the union and state regulators as the bargaining process moves forward.

“As we enter this next phase, we will work closely with the ADU, our broader driver community, and the Department of Labor Relations,” the company said. “Together, we will ensure that driver flexibility and hard-won benefits remain the foundation of our progress.”

Lyft also said it planned to engage with the new bargaining process.

“As this new process moves forward, we’re committed to engaging in good faith,” the company said in a statement. “Lyft does well when drivers do well, and we’ll stay focused on helping drivers succeed while keeping rideshare affordable and dependable for everyone who counts on it.”

A demonstrator holds copy of a certification recognizing the App Drivers Union as the bargaining representative for Massachusetts rideshare drivers during a rally outside the Massachusetts State House after the App Drivers Union announced it had become the first certified union of rideshare drivers in the nation, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

Massachusetts Uber driver Jean Fredo raises his arms while speaking during a during a rally outside the Massachusetts State House after the App Drivers Union announced it had become the first certified union of rideshare drivers in the nation, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

An organizer with the App Drivers Union speaks through a megaphone during a during a rally outside the Massachusetts State House after the App Drivers Union announced it had become the first certified union of rideshare drivers in the nation, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey speaks during a rally outside the Massachusetts State House after the App Drivers Union announced it had become the first certified union of rideshare drivers in the nation, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

Members of the App Drivers Union hold a rally outside the Massachusetts State House after the announcement that it had become the first certified union of rideshare drivers in the nation, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Tuesday denounced the most recent U.S. strikes as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations pressed on toward a possible deal to end the war, and the Islamic Republic began restoring internet access after one of the longest nationwide shutdowns ever.

The U.S. military characterized Monday's strikes in southern Iran as defensive, saying targets included missile launch sites and minelaying boats, and said the U.S. acted with “restraint" in light of the weekslong ceasefire.

Iran's foreign ministry called the strikes a ceasefire violation and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for “all consequences,” without elaborating.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered,” it added in a statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday that it shot down at least one drone and deterred another drone and a fighter jet that entered its airspace, according to Iran’s official Mizan news agency. It didn't specify when the incidents occurred.

Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, used a statement about Islam's annual Hajj pilgrimage to address his country's confrontation with the U.S. and Israel, declaring that other Mideast nations “will no longer serve as a shield” for U.S. military bases. Iran has previously complained about U.S. military facilities in the region and targeted them.

It was not immediately clear what the developments would mean for negotiations.

Iranian state TV reported Tuesday that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Qatar, where talks had been taking place. The report did not elaborate or point to any next steps.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio projected that talks on extending the ceasefire and reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz will “take a few days."

Meanwhile, Iranian authorities eased a monthslong internet shutdown that they cast as a wartime necessity, but that has cost the country's economy an estimated $30 million to $40 million a day. Internet users reported that access was gradually being restored, at least in some places. State media said fixed broadband service was back. It was unclear when mobile internet would be widely restored.

Iran has long enforced filters and policed content on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. But before the war, Iranians could bypass restrictions with cheap virtual private networks, known as VPNs, and other easy workarounds.

Authorities cut off internet access in January during massive anti-government demonstrations and later began to relax those restrictions before imposing a complete internet blackout after the U.S. and Israel attacked on Feb. 28.

The internet outage made it difficult for Iranians outside the country to maintain contact with loved ones, and the lack of connectivity devastated the country’s relatively vibrant online businesses, putting further pressure on an already battered economy.

In other developments, Iran hanged a man it convicted of spying for Israel, the latest of more than two dozen allegedly espionage- and security-related executions since the war intensified a crackdown on dissent.

The Iranian judiciary’s news outlet, Mizanonline, identified the man as Gholamreza Khani Shakarab, calling him “a ringleader” for operations for Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, and accusing him of recruiting members inside and outside Iran to work against the nation’s security. He was involved in sports and traveled to neighboring countries, according to the news agency.

Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge accusations and often are forced to confess.

The official judiciary agency said the country’s Supreme Court had upheld Shakarab's death sentence.

The U.S. strikes were the latest flare-up in the fragile ceasefire that began April 7 and has largely held.

Negotiations center in part on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway off southern Iran through which a fifth of the world's crude oil and natural gas passed before the war began. Once the fighting started, Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, stranding hundreds of ships, shocking the global economy, disrupting energy markets and squeezing fertilizer supplies worldwide.

The full effect of the fertilizer crunch might not become clear until harvests that are months away. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Qu Dongyu warned Tuesday at an event in Rome that “the decisions we make now will determine whether this remains a manageable shock or evolves into a deeper global food security crisis in 2026 and 2027 and beyond."

The strait has become a powerful lever for Tehran in talks, joining the long-running issue of Iran's nuclear program and its highly enriched uranium. Iran wants the U.S. to lift its military blockade of Iranian ports that began on April 17.

In the nearby Gulf of Oman, an explosion was reported Tuesday aboard a tanker, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center. No one was injured, and there was no immediate information on the cause.

A woman crosses a street in front of a painting of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini and paramilitary Basij forces in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Government supporters hold Iranian flags and pictures of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a ceremony honoring the armed forces and those killed in the war with Israel and the U.S. at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

President Donald Trump speaks during the 158th National Memorial Day Observance coinciding with the nation's 250th anniversary, at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 25, 2026, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)