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So, 2020. Helluva year. Covid, Prop22. As drivers? It sucked. Hard. 80% of us found new gigs or went on UI. Some of us caught COVID in our car. Only to have the co's kill our labor rights w/ a $200 mil campaign pretending their law gave us rights. /1 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/04/california-election-voters-prop-22-uber-lyft
But it's the year end - let's take stock. Prop 22 sucks. But it was the first big battle the app co’s won. Our movement is starting to win – everywhere. In the courts, in the legislature, with the public. Around the world. /2 https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS880US880&sxsrf=ALeKk00Dl-muo6qFV1HelIIwF4UexfhZJw%3A1609319334937&ei=pkPsX6_aOPSq0PEPi9CQiAE&q=drivers+win+rights
In CA @drivers_united is a big part of why we’re winning: We're 19k drivers fighting for drivers,led by drivers: that’s the special sauce. It’s why we don’t pull back, why we say proudly that employee rights are non-negotiable, & we'll fight til we win./3 https://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2020/11/it-took-boatload-uber-cash-beat-self-organized-drivers
But for real: it’s a ginormous fight against a multi-national, trillion dollar industry that wants to codify their right to ignore the most basic labor law & expand their profits *despite* their app-based workforce. And they want to sell it to us as flexibility & independence. /4
So how do we win? Not fleeting stuff, but real stuff. Good nights are fewer & fewer. There’s not a seasoned driver who won’t tell you that. Longterm our cars are breaking down. Our bodies. How do we ensure our future? Protect the people who count on us? /5 https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-25/covid-19-death-uber-lyft-drivers
We don’t have the $$$ to buy an election. We certainly don’t control the algorithm that controls our earnings. But looking back – there are some important things we did – that worked. Let’s learn and build on that and do it again. So what has worked? /6
A) Broad, capital-crushing worker action: As the companies' IPOs approached they used us as their wallets to improve their investor profile. Our earnings plummeted. Our 2nd strike 5/8/19 inspired international actions on 6 continents . https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/technology/uber-strike.html /7
Two days later, Uber’s IPO tanked. The co’s soul-sucking labor practices were headlines. People took notice. Leaders took action. /8 https://twitter.com/nicoemoe/status/1126504001367752706
B) Holding elected officials feet to the fire, using their tools, in broad, visible collective worker action: AB5 passed. Unequivocally we were employees. LyftUber ignored the law. No one was enforcing it. So we started the People’s Enforcement Campaign. /9
We filed wage theft claims with the state. Not dozens of us. But 5000 of us. With claims over $1.3 BILLION. The Labor Commission took the unusual action of suing LyftUber on behalf of ALL drivers. /10 https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/California-lawsuit-Uber-Lyft-committed-wage-15461419.php
We think this may have inspired the Atty General and 3 cities to file an injunction against Lyft & Uber. This would have forced them to follow the law. Sadly, Prop22 undercut that. /11 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/uber-lyft-drivers-in-limbo-as-judge-hears-arguments-in-case-brought-by-california-11596760363
C) Plain old-fashioned organizing. Person to person. Getting to know each other. We might find each other on the web, but we fight for each other because we know each other, and back each other up. Real relationships. Don’t take short cuts. /12 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/business/uber-lyft-drivers.html
D) Solidarity: This becomes even more important in '21. As workers in this tech world: delivering people or delivering food; app-deployed or app-coding; displaced by automation or inventing automation: the most powerful thing we can do in 2021 is stand up with each other. /13
They won’t expect it. They’ll try to divide us. We will say NO. And we will fight. /14
I'm ready. Rideshare @_drivers_united is ready. How can we grow, connect, and take on these companies like never before? It will take incredible commitment, creativity, and hard work. Join us. https://drivers-united.org /15
