On Tuesday, June 6, at 11 am, ride share drivers rallied at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Transportation Network Companies (TNC) Staging Lot 1, calling on Uber Technologies, Inc., and Lyft, Inc., to stop arbitrary temporary or permanent bans from airport driving and unilateral decisions to deactivate workers’ accounts.

As part of the California Gig Workers Union, San Francisco ride share drivers said that, despite Uber and Lyft’s claims to the contrary, giving rides to and from the international airport is often their safest, most reliable source of income. Without those rides, ride share drivers struggle to get by and support their families.

“We play a vital part in the success of San Francisco International Airport,” said Hector Castellanos, ride share driver and a worker leader with the California Gig Workers Union. “Ride share drivers constitute a significant part of the ground transportation network serving the 127,000 passengers passing through SFO daily.” Castellanos is a ride share driver from Antioch who drives for Uber and Lyft full-time, even though earning enough money for himself and his family has become challenging.

“We provide safe, respectful transportation to and from the airport, yet we do not have security at work,” said Daryush Khodadadi-Mobarakeh, a ride share driver from San Jose and a worker leader with the California Gig Workers Union. “Many of us have experienced temporary or permanent bans on driving to and from the airport inexplicably and without warning. We have no process to appeal these bans, and often we have no knowledge that we have even received a citation.”

The California Gig Workers Union calls on Uber and Lyft to provide job security and enforce an equitable, non-discriminatory, transparent appeals process. The California Gig Workers Union demands that gig workers, including ride share drivers, be afforded due process rights.