NEW YORK (AP) — Two former Uber drivers are eligible for unemployment benefits after the state labor department determined they were employees, not independent contractors as the company says, an advocacy group announced Thursday.“This is a historic victory,” New York Taxi Workers Alliance executive director Bhairavi Desai said at a news conference in front of state Department of Labor offices in Manhattan.The alliance filed a lawsuit over the summer on behalf of Levon Aleksanian and Jakir Hossain after they complained their claims for unemployment were not being reviewed. Independent contractors cannot collect benefits.Uber, which is based in San Francisco, is appealing the labor department’s determination. It said that drivers, as employees, would lose the personal flexibility they now enjoy.“Nearly 90 percent of drivers say the main reason they use Uber is because they love being their own boss,” it said.