Governor Gavin Newsom signing Assembly Bill 1340, giving gig drivers the right to organize.
A little over a decade ago, an Uber driver could make around $400 before expenses during an eight-hour workday, according to a credible anecdote published in the San Francisco Examiner on 23 February 2026. However, all that changed when Uber went public on the New York Stock Exchange on 10 May 2019. In order to prove profitability to the shareholders, the company slashed its base pay rates, commissions, bonuses and incentives.
In November 2020, California passed Proposition 22 in spite of vocal and public opposition from Uber and Lyft drivers, particularly in the form of demonstrations at Uber headquarters at 1515 3rd Street in San Francisco and at the Capitol Building in Sacramento during the previous month. This law enabled ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as independent contractors and opt out of providing their drivers with time-and-a-half for overtime, paid sick time, employer-provided health care, bargaining rights, and unemployment insurance. Within two years, a study published by the National Equity Atlas found that the wage floor for Uber and Lyft drivers was a paltry $4.10 per hour and that their median wage, accounting for expenses, was only $6.20 per hour – less than the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25. By 2024, there had been numerous protests and lawsuits over the insulting reimbursement drivers were receiving.
Fortunately, in September 2025, the California State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1340, which enables drivers for Uber, Lyft and other app-based transportation services to form a single union and collectively bargain for better pay, benefits and working conditions. Though Uber and Lyft were initially opposed to this measure, they withdrew their opposition in exchange for the passage of Senate Bill 371, which substantially reduces the amount of uninsured and underinsured insurance coverage required of these companies.
This measure was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on 3 October 2025 and went into effect on the very first day of 2026.
On 23 February 2026, the San Francisco Examiner reported that the first steps of the formal unionization process, laid out in the text of the new legislation and overseen by the state Public Employment Relations Board, or PERB, have already been taken and that the Board could certify a union as early as 1 May. At that time, AB 1340’s provision allowing a union that has signed up 30 percent of active drivers to be recognized as the definitive bargaining unit will become effective.
However, because there are hundreds of thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers across California alone, in order for a union to meet the 30 percent quota, tens of thousands of drivers would need to authorize the union to represent them. So far, two organizations have been seeking to officially represent gig workers with PERB’s blessing. While the Gig Workers Union, affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), has attained this designation, Nicole Moore, president of Rideshare Drivers United, expects to submit to PERB in April. This would allow Rideshare Drivers United to become officially qualified to represent rideshare drivers and, come the following month, to have 10 percent of California’s active Uber and Lyft drivers give their authorization for representation in order to be recognized by PERB as a potential bargaining unit.
