A Chicago mayoral candidate is supporting a proposed ordinance that will protect the wages of gig workers like ride-share drivers and ensure they are fully respected and have the opportunity to earn a decent living.
Currently, Chicago is the only major U.S. city that deactivates gig workers, primarily ride-share drivers, for their unpaid ticket debts, according to NPR.
“The ordinance provides a series of protections and the city will have an opportunity to work with these gig workers to set up what those particular protections need to entail," said Brandon Johnson, board commissioner for the First District of Cook County, overseeing Chicago’s West Side and its surrounding suburbs.
“As someone who is a part of the working class, I certainly know the benefit of having organized labor and contract agreements that place job security, protection, and safety front and center," he added. "This ordinance is certainly positioning gig workers to have those types of protections.”
In 2019 alone, the city's policy required Uber and Lyft to suspend more than 15,500 people.
“It’s definitely a problem because drivers get suspended or sometimes, even worse, they get criminalized and they're not able to work and, and they're essentially being sentenced one way or the other through these awful fines and fees, or held in criminal court,” Johnson told Southland Marquee. “All that does is continue to exacerbate the type of economic instability that has led to the type of stratified economy that we have now.”
Eight out of 10 ZIP codes with the most ticket debt are Black ZIP codes. As a result, many people already struggling financially sink even further into debt as a result of Chicago’s policy, according to Rev. Tyrone McGowan, a local pastor.
“Many go into bankruptcy, which is not an ideal solution, over something as simple as an unpaid ticket," he previously told Southland Marquee. "It primarily affects low-income Black households.”
McGowan considers Chicago’s ticketing policy to be a “regressive” policy that has negatively impacted communities of color.
"This is a regressive city policy that targets black and brown communities, keeping them in a cycle of generational debt," McGowan previously told the Southland Marquee.
Chicago’s mayoral election is scheduled Feb. 28. Johnson is among nine candidates seeking the office.
“We should be doing everything we can to encourage people to work,” Johnson said in an interview. “The city of Chicago should be leading the way to create opportunities to help these workers actually deal with the debt they are accruing because of these aggressive tickets.”
Johnson, along with incumbent Lori Lightfoot, and Jesus Garcia have received the most media attention and endorsements for the race, according to Ballotpedia. The other six candidates are Kambium Buckner, Ja'Mal Green, Sophia King, Roderick Sawyer, Paul Vallas and Willie Wilson.
Johnson’s website states he is the son of a pastor and one of 10 siblings, which created a platform of hard work, faith and service for him to stand on.
“Crime in the city is a very serious problem along with the type of economic despair that has been concentrated in neighborhoods like the one my wife and I are raising our three children in on the West Side of Chicago,” Johnson added. “That economic despair has led to a great deal of trauma and as much as we love the West Side of Chicago, it is one of the more violent neighborhoods.”