On Oct. 3, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB1340, giving an estimated 800,000 rideshare drivers in the Golden State the right to bargain collectively.
In return for agreeing to the law, the top two rideshare companies, Uber and Lyft, extracted one major concession. For legal purposes, the drivers will still be “independent contractors.” That means they may bargain for better wages and working conditions but may also have to shoulder some costs that “employees” under labor law do not have to pay for.
But the law also requires Uber, Lyft and similar rideshare firms to bargain in good faith with unions that represent their drivers. Now it’s up to unions to organize them.
California Gig Workers United, which has been lobbying for the law — along with the Service Employees and other unions — reports the average Californian rideshare driver nets $9.75 an hour, far less than the state’s minimum wage.
The rideshare drivers law was one of two path-breaking pro-worker bills Newsom signed on the same day, October 3. The other gives the California Public Employees Relations Board the power to run union elections, enforce labor law and judge management-labor disputes in the private sector.
