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California Proposition 22
Imperialist Democracy on Ugly Display in California
The Workers' Centre of the Communist Party of
Canada (Marxist-Leninist) is devoting this issue
of Workers' Forum
entirely to how the network companies, Uber,
Lyft, Instacart, Postmates
and DoorDash, have acted in California to
legally deny
network workers their status as workers. They
did this using
"Proposition 22," which passed November 3. The
aim of Proposition 22 is
to give the network companies the legal
authority to get away with
super-exploiting network workers with impunity.
The network companies
operate internationally and they have combined
forces in cartels and
coalitions to push their narrow private
interests, including their
refusal to provide even a minimum wage or
compensate their drivers for
work done. Based on their achievement in
California, they have now made
it clear that they expect to extend these
efforts. "Going forward,
you'll see us more loudly advocate for new laws
like Prop 22,"
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi declared.
Drivers for network companies, also referred to
as gig workers, are already a super-exploited
section of the working class. They have been
organizing for several years in many countries,
including Canada, to defend their rights.
Actions included strikes against Uber and Lyft
on March 25, 2019. In May of that year, drivers
organized collectively and held a day of action
with strikes against Uber in at least 10 U.S.
cities and on five continents.
In California, in particular, drivers have
formed their own organizations, such as
Rideshare Drivers United (RDU). RDU was a main
force in the 2019 actions and has grown to about
19,000 members. Individuals have taken
initiative to join with others to create their
own networks and Facebook pages to communicate
with each other and assist in solving problems
and countering the companies' unjust actions
against them. One San Francisco driver, for
example, developed a contact list of 4,000
drivers he directly knew -- quite an
accomplishment given the transitory nature of
the work. These workers, many of them Yemeni and
other recent immigrants, worked to strengthen
their collective efforts to defend their rights.
 These organizing
drives were largely responsible for the passage
of California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) -- a state
law classifying rideshare and delivery drivers
of the network companies as employees, not
"independent contractors." AB5 puts the burden
of proof for classifying individuals as
independent contractors on the hiring entity.
AB5 entitles workers classified as employees to
avail themselves of California's minimum wage
laws, sick leave, and unemployment and workers'
compensation benefits, for which companies must
pay payroll taxes
AB5 was signed into law on September 18, 2019,
and came into effect January 1, 2020. Uber and
Lyft responded by refusing to abide by the law
or court injunctions requiring them to classify
the workers as employees. Drivers took action by
organizing demonstrations in San Francisco and
Los Angeles. The companies then formed their own
cartel to have their own law, Prop 22, passed
through a corrupt electoral process on November
3. They hired "labour" lawyers to write the Prop
22 legislation for the November 3 referendum in
a manner which specifically favours their
private interests in opposition to the interests
of workers. The target of the legislation is
clearly spelled out in Prop 22:
"Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
including, but not limited to, the Labour
Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code,
and any orders, regulations, or opinions of the
Department of Industrial Relations or any board,
division, or commission within the Department of
Industrial Relations, an app-based driver is an
independent contractor and not an employee or
agent with respect to the app-based driver's
relationship with a network company."
The network companies demand the right to force
individual workers to sign a company contract
before selling their capacity to work to the
company and beginning work. Prop 22 reads:
"A network company and an app-based driver
shall enter into a written agreement prior to
the driver receiving access to the network
company's online-enabled application or
platform." The contract denies the right of the
contracted workers to claim their rights
individually outside of what the contract
declares or to unite with other contracted
workers to defend their rights collectively.
To consolidate the legislated tyranny and to
deny any chance of it being overturned, the Prop
22 legislation reads in subdivision (a):
"After the effective date of this chapter, the
[California] Legislature may amend this chapter
by a statute passed in each house of the
Legislature by rollcall vote entered into the
journal, seven-eighths
of the membership concurring." (Emphasis
added.)
To make the point clear that tampering with the
legislation is not permitted, Prop 22 reads:
"No statute enacted after October 29, 2019, but
prior to the effective date of this chapter,
that would constitute an amendment of this
chapter, shall be operative after the effective
date of this chapter unless the statute was
passed in accordance with the requirements of
subdivision (a)."
In other words, any amendment or tampering with
the basic tenet of Prop 22 that network workers
are not really employees and must accept the
legislated terms of employment to work requires
"seven-eighths of the membership concurring."
Prop 22 exempts network companies from AB5 that
requires companies to grant workers employee
status based on an "ABC test." The test declares
a worker is an employee, rather than an
independent contractor, "if his or her job forms
part of a company's core business, if the bosses
direct the way the work is done or if the worker
has not established an independent trade or
business."
The drivers organized broadly against
Proposition 22 and the lies and disinformation
spread by the companies, claiming it would
benefit the workers. This included
demonstrations calling on people to vote no,
drawing more forces into the organizing efforts
and reaching out to the public with educational
materials.
Among their demands are: Set hourly minimum
pay matching New York City's $27.86 per hour
before expenses, the right to organize without
retaliation and recognition of independent
organizations of drivers to negotiate for
workers. Indicating their concern for the public
and environment they also asked the networks to
show the complete fare breakdown with Uber or
Lyft's take on the passenger's receipt and set
emission standards for all new vehicles added to
the platforms. In this manner the drivers are
striving to take up their social responsibility
to defend their interests and that of the
public. The network companies, on the other
hand, are fighting for the opposite, including
by failing to provide COVID-19 protection.
 Prop 22 is a
means to criminalize organizing efforts while
also providing a constant supply of vulnerable
workers to exploit. Its aim to enshrine in law
that the companies have no social
responsibilities of any kind is not going to be
accepted by workers anywhere and will be fought
tooth and nail. The workers' movement in the
United States, Canada and internationally is
fighting for justice and modern arrangements
which affirm the rights of all. The workers'
movement does not recognize the definition of
rights said to be legal by the corrupt ruling
class which is in contempt of both the word
rights and the conception of rule of law. A
right is a matter of making the claims that
human beings must make to affirm their humanity.
If it is not even seen to be just, it will be
defied.
The fact that the coalition of network
companies Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Postmates and
DoorDash banded together in California to
write and pass the legislation to block
organizing efforts and ensure a constant supply
of vulnerable workers, indicates they will do a
similar job in Canada where the oligopolies are
already acting to get legislation in their
favour through parliaments and legislatures.
Working people are setting an example by
stepping up their resistance and increasingly
organizing to reject the actions of narrow
private interests like Uber and Lyft. They are
taking up their social responsibility to defend
the rights of all and striving to take the
country in a new direction.
Workers' Forum is at the disposal of the
organizing efforts of all gig workers.
This article was published in
Number 82 - December 3, 2020
Article Link:
California Proposition 22: Imperialist Democracy on Ugly Display in California
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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