To the Editor:

Re “How to Help Working People” (editorial, “What’s at Stake” series, Dec. 5): Multibillion-dollar transportation providers masquerading as “technology companies” have expertly misclassified employees as independent contractors, and the results have been catastrophic for workers.

Popular ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft completely control the work lives of the men and women who drive for them. These companies can unilaterally lower the rate of pay for drivers, “switch drivers off” without due process, and oversaturate the market by adding more and more drivers at any given time.

Drivers lack health insurance, overtime pay, retirement benefits, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and the right to join a union to collectively bargain on their behalf.

These drivers are exploited, and as these apps have increased in popularity, it’s become harder and harder for them to make ends meet. In New York, drivers are pushing back. More than 14,000 drivers have signed union cards to join the Amalgamated Transit Union.