Striking Uber, Lyft drivers to skip LaGuardia Airport pickups Sunday

Passengers flying into LaGuardia Airport on Sunday should be ready to make transportation plans that don't involve Uber or Lyft, as drivers prepare for a strike when no pickups will occur.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents thousands of rideshare and taxi operators in New York City, said Uber and Lyft drivers would not be picking up any passengers from LaGuardia from noon until midnight.

The workers are demanding higher wages to account for inflation and ballooning operating costs, ahead of a public hearing on Wednesday regarding a citywide proposal to raise drivers’ minimum wages. The Taxi and Limousine Commission is expected to vote on the proposal later in March.

“Every day, drivers take a loss because these companies aren’t paying enough,” Bhairavi Desai, the alliance’s executive director, said on Saturday afternoon. “But when you take a loss because you've chosen to go out on strike, you know that you’re giving that loss a different meaning. It’s saying to the companies: Workers have power.”

This is the drivers’ third labor action since Uber sued to block city-ordered raises last December. Another raise was proposed by the TLC this month, but Desai said both Lyft and Uber have given no assurances that they would not sue to block the new proposal.

Uber has pushed back on its own drivers’ assertions.

“On February 1, drivers got their third mandated raise since 2020 and now make $31.66/hour,” said Freddi Goldstein, a spokesperson for Uber. “This is the only industry in the state with a yearly required increase tied to the rate of inflation, while minimum-wage workers have not had one raise since 2018.”

A spokesperson for Lyft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Desai said drivers would still be picking up passengers in other parts of the city during the strike on Sunday, including other major airports.