As we begin this new year, we are taking the opportunity to wrap up our post-November 2020 election snapshots.  We realize that for most of us, that election is a dim memory, but the lessons we are hearing from all of the organizers with whom we speak include the need to stay vigilant—there is more work to do. In that spirit, this last piece covers Prop 22, the passage of which allows app-based delivery services to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees.

The easy victory of Proposition 22 is a cautionary tale - a lesson in the power of money and a slick disinformation campaign to sway voters. According to Rey Fuentes of the Partnership for Working Families, “They spent 200 million dollars. With money like that, I don’t know what else can be said.”  

By “they” Fuentes means Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other gig economy companies who will no longer be required to treat workers as employees entitled to labor protections and benefits. The measure was designed to exempt the companies from a state labor law that would have forced them to employ drivers and pay for health care, unemployment insurance and other benefits. Widely condemned by workers' rights advocates, the passage of the proposition has wide ranging ramifications for the future of gig economy companies nationwide.

With early indicators that Prop 22 would not pass, the companies mobilized, setting a spending record to flood TV and digital ad spaces. Perhaps most insidious, says Fuentes, is the way these companies “co-opted the message of worker advocates.” They bombard drivers and customers alike with in-app notifications and emails touting worker freedom and flexibility and suggesting that the drivers themselves wanted to remain independent contractors. For workers’ rights advocates like Fuentes, the counter-message—“there is nothing flexible about a job where you lose a week’s wages if, say, a family member gets sick”—was drowned out by a sea of Prop 22 propaganda.  

Featuring drivers’ voices front and center was a major key to the Yes on 22 side’s victory. In addition, Fuentes says, the gig companies found some high-profile community partners to deliver their misleading message, among them the California chapter of the NAACP, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the state’s Hispanic, Black and Asian American chambers of commerce. 

Moving forward, Fuentes says his organization is focused on helping individual workers get what they are owed, including the unemployment benefits for which they are still eligible. “The Passage of Prop 22 should have no impact on past liability -- workers should explore how to preserve their claims before the statute of limitations runs out. Enforcement can and will still take place to capture back wages due, regardless of the companies' position on the effect of Prop 22” he said, adding that they will be keeping an eye on whether or not companies are delivering on what they promised to workers under this new 'independent contractor plus' status.   

Meanwhile, Albertson’s, one of the largest grocery chains in the nation, recently announced that they will be ending their home delivery service in favor of third-party gig workers, drawing swift backlash from unions representing workers at Albertsons who say the chain’s decision will end up degrading good delivery jobs. And on Monday, a labor union and a group of drivers are suing to overturn the proposition. The groups filed suit Tuesday in California’s Supreme Court, alleging Prop 22 violates the state constitution and limits the power of state legislators to implement certain worker protections.