KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bakar Mohamed said he became a driver for Kansas City, Missouri’s IRIS rideshare program because a recruiter told him he could earn up to $100,000 annually.
One year later, Mohamed is rallying fellow drivers to unionize in order to create working conditions where he and other drivers could achieve the promises of the recruiters.
“I realized I was sold a fake dream by a snake oil salesman,” Mohamed said.
IRIS is a publicly subsidized rideshare, micro-transit service in Kansas City, Gladstone, Liberty, and Raytown. Users hail rides using an app.
Cities contract the taxi company zTrip to operate the IRIS program. zTrip classifies drivers as independent contractors, not employees.
Mohamed said that classification means drivers don’t receive benefits like overtime pay, health insurance, and paid time off. Drivers also can’t unionize as contractors.
At a rally Thursday outside the zTrip Kansas City headquarters, drivers called on zTrip to reclassify drivers as employees.
Mohamed and other drivers also laid out a long list of fees they say zTrip forces them to pay: a vehicle rental fee, vehicle insurance, a fee to use the tablet on which the IRIS app runs, and a kind of fee required to receive their paycheck.
“It’s backwards,” Mohamed said. “We’re paying the company to work, instead of working for the company.”
At Thursday’s rally, zTrip CEO Bill George tried to interject. He said drivers have “misled” city council members and claimed drivers can earn up to $29 per hour.
Council members Ryana Parks-Shaw and Eric Bunch attended the rally. They threw their support behind unionization efforts. The city dedicated about $9 million to IRIS this year.
“I am proud to stand with you today, especially in light of the fact we’re using taxpayer dollars to fund this IRIS service,” Parks-Shaw said.
Mohamed is optimistic the rally and follow-up work with the Missouri Workers Center will lead to change for drivers like him.
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