From the unfinished, stained floor to the fluorescent lighting, SEIU 721’s union hall in Los Angeles hardly seemed like the place for a party. Yet, in this liminal space, union leaders and rideshare drivers stood huddled together Tuesday, united in celebration.
After 12 years of organizing, three SEIU chapters and tens of thousands of drivers had done what once seemed impossible: uniting the state’s 350,000 Uber and Lyft drivers under the newly formed California Gig Workers Union, or CGWU. Labor leaders are calling it the biggest single unionization effort in U.S. history.
It came after years of (opens in new tab)low pay (opens in new tab), (opens in new tab)poor access to healthcare funds (opens in new tab), and (opens in new tab)poor working conditions (opens in new tab), capped by a bitter defeat at the ballot box in 2020…