Michael Hiltzik: Uber, Lyft's attempt to gut labor law for their own benefit hits a roadblock in Massachusetts

Following their successful effort to gull California voters into endorsing their method of exploiting their drivers and field workers, Uber, Lyft and other gig companies expanded their campaign to gut labor protections into other states.

That included Massachusetts, where the companies managed to get two measures resembling California's Proposition 22 certified for the state ballot. On Tuesday, the state's Supreme Judicial Court threw them out.

The high court's reasoning was similar to that of Judge Frank Roesch of Alameda County Superior Court, who ruled Proposition 22 unconstitutional in August: The Massachusetts initiatives were overly greedy, and designed to confuse voters about their real purpose.