Gig Workers Can Organize Without Fearing Antitrust, Bedoya Says

Independent contractors such as those who work for Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and DoorDash Inc. aren’t barred by antitrust law from collectively seeking better pay and working conditions, Democratic FTC commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said Monday.

Bedoya’s remarks herald a shift in the FTC’s approach to labor: As recently as 2017, the agency opposed a Seattle law that would have allowed Uber and Lyft drivers to collectively bargain by arguing it violated antitrust law.

“Congress has made it clear that worker organizing and collective bargaining are not violations of the antitrust laws,” Bedoya said, according to a ...