Bill would let rideshare drivers unionize, the latest salvo in the gig economy battle

This story was originally published by Capitol Weekly A rideshare driver since Nick Cabalar of Stockton explained his work experience changed dramatically after voters approved Proposition in That ballot measure supported by the gig-economy companies Uber Lyft DoorDash Instacart and Postmates sought not only to define app-based drivers as independent contractors under state law but also prevent them from forming unions After it passed Cabalar declared he had to increase the amount of time he worked from six to eight hours four days a week to at least hours six days a week to make the same amount of money The change he explained speaks to the greed of companies like Uber and Lyft who Cabalar says have forgotten that drivers are the foundation of their operations That s why he s grateful for Assembly Bill by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks D-Oakland which grants rideshare drivers the ability to form unions in California We just want to be treated as humans Cabalar declared AB represents roughly a decade or more of work by labor in the state Ever since Uber launched in there s been an ongoing global debate about whether rideshare drivers are indeed independent contractors as claimed by the apps or bona fide employees as claimed by workers and labor advocates But labor s perspective didn t really get a toe hold at least in California until when the California Supreme Court issued its landmark decision on the Dynamex Operations West Inc v Superior Court of Los Angeles development Dynamex is a same-day courier organization that previously classified its California drivers as employees but converted them all to independent contractors in as a cost-saving measure A driver subsequently filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company misclassified its workers in violation of the law In court Dynamex argued that their drivers qualified as independent contractors under the Borello test which was established in a state Supreme Court ruling in A critical factor in determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under that legal test is assessing whether the worker has control over the manner of doing a task but control or supervision isn t necessary In their ruling on the Dynamex matter however the California Supreme Court justices rejected the Borello test for the ABC test which assumes all workers are employees unless they are free from control from a hiring entity in terms of rating their performance do their work outside of the normal subject of the hiring entity s business and is engaged in an independently established agreement that s the same in nature as the work performed for the hiring entity Under the ABC test Dynamex drivers qualified as employees not independent contractors The decision in the Dynamex test was right away codified by the Legislature in under AB by then Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez who currently is the president of the California Labor Federation The following year the gig-economy companies poured millions of dollars into Prop After voters approved it labor began trying to chip away at it in court eventually securing a accomplishment in the Castellanos v State of California incident that reported the ballot measure couldn t prevent future provision to allow rideshare drivers to unionize As with AB and the Dynamex decision AB seeks to build upon the Castellanos decision The bill passed out of the Assembly in early June the Senate Committee on Labor Inhabitants Employment and Retirement later that month The bill has the expected to empower hundreds of thousands of workers giving more Californians the right to organize than any other regulation in newest state history Wicks noted at the Senate committee hearing Unsurprisingly AB is opposed by Uber and Lyft as well as the California Chamber of Commerce A core argument against the bill is that it contradicts the wishes of the voters who supported Proposition Voters approved Prop and the courts upheld the law yet special interest groups are repeatedly trying to undermine our rights as drivers noted Al Porche a San Diego rideshare driver who was quoted in a Protect App-Based Drivers Services Coalition news release sent out after the Senate committee approved the bill Protect App-Based Drivers was the Yes on Prop coalition This bill is bad for drivers bad for consumers and will threaten the personal information and privacy of millions of rideshare drivers like me Porche mentioned The Legislature should reject this initiative Mentioned an Uber spokesperson to Capitol Weekly in an email Californians are already feeling the squeeze and this proposal would drive up rideshare costs even more while threatening the flexible jobs thousands depend on Drivers have been clear they want to stay independent and keep the freedom to choose when and how they work with access to meaningful benefits The only legislators voting against AB when it passed out the Assembly on a - vote were Republicans suggesting the bill is on a cruise unit to the governor s desk Gov Gavin Newsom however is known to have a soft spot for tech companies who in this affair have shown a willingness to spend on the issue That could mean the fight won t end in the Legislature or even any time soon Capitol Weekly covers California administration and politics in order to enlighten and educate Californians about citizens protocol and state governance and to provide a platform for engagement with citizens administrators advocates and political interests