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"content": "\u003cp>There was a day in early December when Maria Cruz thought she might not make it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One morning my chest was in so much pain, I began to cry because honestly I panicked,” she said, recalling the cough, body aches and shivers during the grueling weeks she spent with COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when her employer, Monterey Mushrooms in Morgan Hill, offered its employees vaccines allotted by Santa Clara County, she drowned out anything negative she’d heard about the shots and signed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process was easy enough: During a Sunday shift in late February, she walked from her workstation to an outdoor vaccine line. The whole process took less than 30 minutes, including the 15 minutes she sat in observation after her shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has more than \u003ca href=\"https://farmworkerfamily.org/information\">half a million farmworkers\u003c/a> – and they appear to be eager to get vaccinated. Counties only recently started offering vaccinations to this hard-hit workforce, but agricultural workers are so far accepting the vaccine at high rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Diana Tellefson Torres, executive director, United Farm Workers Foundation\"]‘We want to make sure the process is accessible. Just having something on a website isn’t going to get farmworkers somewhere because there is limited digital literacy and that limitation has been a huge barrier.’[/pullquote]Large employers like Foster Farms, Pom Wonderful and Terranova Ranch reported about a 90% vaccination rate in recent, on-site worker vaccination clinics, according to the Fresno County Department of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A big part is seeing how much growers really want it,” said Irene de Barraicua with \u003ca href=\"http://www.liderescampesinas.org/\">Lideres Campesinas\u003c/a>, a nonprofit network of women farmworkers based in Oxnard. “Some (growers) weren’t crazy about getting workers tested or bringing doctors to the fields, but vaccines are different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom has visited farmworker vaccine events in the Central Valley, touting the state’s commitment to the workers who feed America and promising them more vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But workplace vaccination events are still few and far between in California, so farmworkers face many obstacles getting the vaccine, advocates say. The clinics are sometimes only open to workers of certain companies, and they are reliant on how many doses a county sets aside for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>United Farm Workers Foundation Executive Director Diana Tellefson Torres said targeting farmworkers at their work sites is the best way to make the vaccine easy for them to get. But success will take more available doses, and also more coordination and ingenuity to ensure that vaccines are available where the workers are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to make sure the process is accessible. Just having something on a website isn’t going to get farmworkers somewhere because there is limited digital literacy and that limitation has been a huge barrier,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some counties like Riverside have sent mobile clinics to agricultural worksites. Tulare County has opened its large \u003ca href=\"https://www.internationalagricenter.com/\">International Agri-Center\u003c/a>, well known in its farming community, where growers can send their employees for vaccinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmworkers, like other essential employees, can also get vaccinated at other distribution sites, like pharmacies, but that often requires taking time off work, navigating a county or pharmacy website or the My Turn online form and getting lucky finding an appointment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a nationwide United Farm Workers Foundation survey of 10,149 farmworkers – the vast majority of them in California – 73% said they would get the vaccine as soon as possible while only 5% said they would not. Twenty-two percent said they were neutral. That’s slightly more pro-vaccine than the 69% of all Americans who say they have been or will be vaccinated and the 30% who say they would not, according to a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/03/05/growing-share-of-americans-say-they-plan-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccine--or-already-have/\">Pew Research Center survey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Higher Infection Rates\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>About \u003ca href=\"https://ag.purdue.edu/agecon/Pages/FoodandAgVulnerabilityIndex.aspx?_ga=2.152868540.4695762.1607534115-582371292.1607534115\">46,000\u003c/a> agricultural workers in California have been infected with COVID-19, according to estimates from Purdue University researchers. Their infection rates tend to run higher than the general population – 13% of farmworkers recruited for a study in the Salinas Valley tested positive for COVID-19 between July and November, compared to 5% of the general population, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/12/02/california-farmworkers-hit-hard-by-covid-19-study-finds/\">UC Berkeley study\u003c/a> published in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Cruz, Mauricio Chavez of Hollister got his COVID-19 shot at Monterey Mushrooms. Although he works at a different, neighboring mushroom farm, its workers were invited to the vaccine clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At work they told us this wasn’t mandatory, it was voluntary,” he said. But he didn’t think twice about it. “I haven’t seen my parents in a year, they’re 80 and 82 … that’s a year we don’t get back.” Because his parents were also recently immunized, “this opens up the opportunity for me to see them again soon,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11860883 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/02/SanJose_COVIDTesting-1038x576.jpg']Chavez said agricultural workers may be more inclined to get the vaccine because so many have either been infected or know someone who was. He has coworkers who have fallen ill, although not necessarily at work, but likely at home because they live in crowded housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have 10 or 15 people living in one house, and all you need is one person to get infected,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About four in 10 Californians who live with an agricultural or food processing worker live in an overcrowded home – defined as having more people than rooms, according to a CalMatters \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2020/08/guest-worker-covid-outbreak-california/\">analysis\u003c/a> of census data.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Rumors and Misinformation\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Despite some concerns about vaccine misinformation and hesitancy among farmworkers, if there is education and access, farmworkers will generally accept the vaccine, de Barraicua said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, rumors and misinformation are common. Cruz said she’s heard that the vaccine is a government ploy to track them, or an attempt to make people sick and reduce the population. Cruz brushes the rumors aside, but knows this type of gossip could discourage some of her peers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other concerns are more technical. Some workers think they can’t be vaccinated because they don’t have health insurance, even though shots are free. According to a second UFW Foundation survey of nearly 15,000 farmworkers, 78% of respondents said they did not have health insurance, and 34% had medical conditions that put them at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='farmworkers']There is also a fear about sharing any type of personal information because of their immigration status, de Barraicua said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she’s attended events where some farmworkers said they didn’t get any advanced notice about the vaccination events, giving them little time to ask questions and ease their doubts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organizations like the UFW Foundation and Lideres Campesinas have been working with health officials across the state to provide vaccine education to workers in the fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the worksite vaccination clinics are a partnership between a county and employers. Tulare County Supervisor Pete Vander Poel said he is concerned that switching to the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/coronavirus/2021/02/california-new-covid-vaccine-system/\">new vaccine distribution system\u003c/a>, led by Blue Shield, could limit how many of these events counties can schedule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tulare County recently started receiving double the doses of previous weeks, increasing from 3,800 doses a week to 7,600 doses per week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s for all eligible residents. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And we have about 42,000 [agricultural] employees ready to be vaccinated,” Vander Poel said. “So that shows you the magnitude we’re dealing with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>There is also a fear about sharing any type of personal information because of their immigration status, de Barraicua said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she’s attended events where some farmworkers said they didn’t get any advanced notice about the vaccination events, giving them little time to ask questions and ease their doubts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organizations like the UFW Foundation and Lideres Campesinas have been working with health officials across the state to provide vaccine education to workers in the fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the worksite vaccination clinics are a partnership between a county and employers. Tulare County Supervisor Pete Vander Poel said he is concerned that switching to the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/coronavirus/2021/02/california-new-covid-vaccine-system/\">new vaccine distribution system\u003c/a>, led by Blue Shield, could limit how many of these events counties can schedule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tulare County recently started receiving double the doses of previous weeks, increasing from 3,800 doses a week to 7,600 doses per week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s for all eligible residents. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And we have about 42,000 [agricultural] employees ready to be vaccinated,” Vander Poel said. “So that shows you the magnitude we’re dealing with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The new union at Alphabet, the parent company of Google, launched publicly last week with around 225 workers. Now, according to union leaders, its ranks are north of 700, and growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the organizers of the Alphabet Workers Union is software engineer Alexander Peterson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson remembers how he felt the day he got his software engineering job at Google in 2016. “I was thrilled. It was this magical place where we all work together,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson said he totally nerded out on what was going on at the company, like Google’s “\u003ca href=\"https://cloud.google.com/infrastructure\">planet-scale\u003c/a>” computer and its “\u003ca href=\"https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announcing-googles-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-system\">oceanic cable\u003c/a>” for data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But since then, Peterson has become increasingly disenchanted. He participated in a walkout in 2018, when 20,000 Google workers protested the company’s handling of sexual harassment claims, as well its lack of diversity and the second-class status given to the temps and contractors who account for over half of its workers. The following year, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11668872/google-employees-quit-in-protest-over-military-artificial-intelligence-program\">supported his co-workers who opposed Google’s contracts\u003c/a> with the military.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really want to save Alphabet from itself, stop it from becoming just another one of these huge, inhuman, faceless entities that just bulldozes humanity for the sake of profit,” he said of the nascent union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, some of Peterson’s fellow organizers wrote an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/opinion/google-union.html\">op-ed for the New York Times\u003c/a> detailing some of their grievances and underscoring their key goal of increasing the amount of influence employees have in the company’s operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Growing Activism in the Silicon Valley\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Although not the first labor movement in Silicon Valley, the formation of the \u003ca href=\"https://alphabetworkersunion.org/\">Alphabet Workers Union\u003c/a> marks the largest organizing effort so far among white collar employees of a prominent tech giant. It comes from years of growing worker activism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until now, there have been two tracks of labor organizing in Silicon Valley. The first includes service workers who over the last decade have been fighting for higher pay and better benefits. The second: white collar workers, many of whom have been subjected to a second-class tier as temporary contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past decade, service workers at companies like Apple and Facebook have\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10598627/growing-labor-movement-shakes-up-silicon-valley\"> joined large unions\u003c/a> like the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union. During a major subcontracting scandal at Microsoft in the 1990s, employees there also formed a small union called the \u003ca href=\"https://washtech.org/\">Washington Alliance of Technology Workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11853806 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS33537_GettyImages-1056086262-qut-1020x680.jpg'] Following the election of President Trump in 2016, a growing number of software engineers and product developers began to question Silicon Valley contracts with the U.S. military and police departments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They formed into activist groups like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11681049/the-latest-tech-disruption-labor-organizing\">Tech Workers Coalition\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11679302/in-a-direct-challenge-to-their-employers-tech-workers-begin-to-organize\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> publicly challenged\u003c/a> management decisions. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11714714/time-is-up-employee-unrest-grows-at-silicon-valley-companies\">Google walkout\u003c/a> in 2018 was the most dramatic public showing of this growing discontent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, a group of about 80 subcontracted white-collar workers at a Google office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, joined the U.S. Steelworkers union (\u003ca href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3zav5/google-contractors-say-their-work-is-being-shipped-to-poland-after-unionizing\">and faced retaliation\u003c/a> as a result.) That same year, employees at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11839817/how-a-scrappy-group-of-tech-workers-formed-one-of-the-only-unions-in-the-industry\">Kickstarter formed their own\u003c/a> “enterprise” union, solely for employees of the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not everyone involved in recent Silicon Valley activism has joined the new Google union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those critical of the effort is Amr Gaber, a software engineer at the company who has been involved in worker activism there for years. He has specifically criticized the union’s partnership with the Communications Workers of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had relationships with a wide range of unions and worker support groups before CWA showed up,” he recently said on Twitter. “But CWA was the only group that pulled these stunts of marking territory and publicly taking credit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the new union doesn’t represent a majority of workers at Google, it’s what’s called a “minority union.” And unlike many other trade unions, it includes a variety of workers, from software engineers to cafeteria staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fledgling union is also not yet recognized by the National Labor Relations Board or by Google itself, which in a statement responding to the union’s formation, said it “would continue engaging directly with all our employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Barriers to Organizing\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Silicon Valley companies like Google have done a lot to make it difficult for workers to form unions, said Chris Tilly, a professor of urban planning at UCLA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of barriers to building worker solidarity within Google,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tilly said it used to be easier to organize at places like manufacturing companies, where large numbers of workers were doing similar tasks on similar contracts. But Google, like many other companies, tech and otherwise, has been effective at “fissuring” workers, hiring some as contractors, others as temps and also outsourcing labor around the globe, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers are in different physical locations and the contractors have different employers, making in-person organizing all the more difficult. They also have a very disparate set of employment statuses at the company — different wages, benefit packages, contracts and protections — creating a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11741371/two-tiered-caste-system-the-world-of-white-collar-contracting-in-silicon-valley\">two-tier class system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tilly said this makes it particularly tricky to organize workers around common goals. “It also creates all kinds of divisions among workers and it potentially means different groups of workers can be pitted against each other,” he said. Temps, contractors or overseas workers, for instance, may now be seen as a threat to full-time employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The concentration of wealth at these companies also plays a role in dampening unionization efforts. Companies like Google and Facebook have been able to generate large profits with a smaller number of full-time employees. They can afford to offer relatively high pay, benefit packages and perks to keep most workers satisfied, without letting them have much say in how the companies operate or what they produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Opposition\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There has also long been an anti-union streak in Silicon Valley, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/google-alphabet-workers-union-tech\">as Jacobin editor Alex Press noted\u003c/a> in an article about the formation of the Google’s union. She referred to a famous quote by Robert Noyce, who co-founded Intel in 1968: “If we had the work rules that unionized companies have, we’d all go out of business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Solana, a venture capitalist at Founders Fund, is an open critic of the new union. The union, he wrote on Twitter, is “appropriating the language of exploited coal miners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/micsolana/status/1346142918600437760\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others naysayers of the effort have criticized the broad extent of grievances among union members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But labor lawyer and activist Caitlin Vega says what Google workers want is actually not much different from what workers want in any union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every union is about worker power and workers getting a say about what’s happening on the job,” she said. “And I think even when you read back to some of the earliest unions — the unions of teenage girls who were working in garment shops — their demands were also not always simple.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corporations have made unionizing harder by concentrating wealth, fissuring workplaces, subcontracting and relying on temporary workers, Vega said, and the Google union is organized in a way that responds to that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Peterson, the Google software engineer, has one big hope for the union: He wants to send a message to other workers in Silicon Valley that they are not alone.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The new union at Alphabet, the parent company of Google, launched publicly last week with around 225 workers. Now, according to union leaders, its ranks are north of 700, and growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the organizers of the Alphabet Workers Union is software engineer Alexander Peterson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson remembers how he felt the day he got his software engineering job at Google in 2016. “I was thrilled. It was this magical place where we all work together,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson said he totally nerded out on what was going on at the company, like Google’s “\u003ca href=\"https://cloud.google.com/infrastructure\">planet-scale\u003c/a>” computer and its “\u003ca href=\"https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announcing-googles-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-system\">oceanic cable\u003c/a>” for data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But since then, Peterson has become increasingly disenchanted. He participated in a walkout in 2018, when 20,000 Google workers protested the company’s handling of sexual harassment claims, as well its lack of diversity and the second-class status given to the temps and contractors who account for over half of its workers. The following year, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11668872/google-employees-quit-in-protest-over-military-artificial-intelligence-program\">supported his co-workers who opposed Google’s contracts\u003c/a> with the military.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really want to save Alphabet from itself, stop it from becoming just another one of these huge, inhuman, faceless entities that just bulldozes humanity for the sake of profit,” he said of the nascent union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, some of Peterson’s fellow organizers wrote an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/opinion/google-union.html\">op-ed for the New York Times\u003c/a> detailing some of their grievances and underscoring their key goal of increasing the amount of influence employees have in the company’s operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Growing Activism in the Silicon Valley\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Although not the first labor movement in Silicon Valley, the formation of the \u003ca href=\"https://alphabetworkersunion.org/\">Alphabet Workers Union\u003c/a> marks the largest organizing effort so far among white collar employees of a prominent tech giant. It comes from years of growing worker activism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until now, there have been two tracks of labor organizing in Silicon Valley. The first includes service workers who over the last decade have been fighting for higher pay and better benefits. The second: white collar workers, many of whom have been subjected to a second-class tier as temporary contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past decade, service workers at companies like Apple and Facebook have\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10598627/growing-labor-movement-shakes-up-silicon-valley\"> joined large unions\u003c/a> like the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union. During a major subcontracting scandal at Microsoft in the 1990s, employees there also formed a small union called the \u003ca href=\"https://washtech.org/\">Washington Alliance of Technology Workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Following the election of President Trump in 2016, a growing number of software engineers and product developers began to question Silicon Valley contracts with the U.S. military and police departments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They formed into activist groups like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11681049/the-latest-tech-disruption-labor-organizing\">Tech Workers Coalition\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11679302/in-a-direct-challenge-to-their-employers-tech-workers-begin-to-organize\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> publicly challenged\u003c/a> management decisions. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11714714/time-is-up-employee-unrest-grows-at-silicon-valley-companies\">Google walkout\u003c/a> in 2018 was the most dramatic public showing of this growing discontent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, a group of about 80 subcontracted white-collar workers at a Google office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, joined the U.S. Steelworkers union (\u003ca href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3zav5/google-contractors-say-their-work-is-being-shipped-to-poland-after-unionizing\">and faced retaliation\u003c/a> as a result.) That same year, employees at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11839817/how-a-scrappy-group-of-tech-workers-formed-one-of-the-only-unions-in-the-industry\">Kickstarter formed their own\u003c/a> “enterprise” union, solely for employees of the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not everyone involved in recent Silicon Valley activism has joined the new Google union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those critical of the effort is Amr Gaber, a software engineer at the company who has been involved in worker activism there for years. He has specifically criticized the union’s partnership with the Communications Workers of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had relationships with a wide range of unions and worker support groups before CWA showed up,” he recently said on Twitter. “But CWA was the only group that pulled these stunts of marking territory and publicly taking credit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the new union doesn’t represent a majority of workers at Google, it’s what’s called a “minority union.” And unlike many other trade unions, it includes a variety of workers, from software engineers to cafeteria staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fledgling union is also not yet recognized by the National Labor Relations Board or by Google itself, which in a statement responding to the union’s formation, said it “would continue engaging directly with all our employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Barriers to Organizing\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Silicon Valley companies like Google have done a lot to make it difficult for workers to form unions, said Chris Tilly, a professor of urban planning at UCLA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of barriers to building worker solidarity within Google,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tilly said it used to be easier to organize at places like manufacturing companies, where large numbers of workers were doing similar tasks on similar contracts. But Google, like many other companies, tech and otherwise, has been effective at “fissuring” workers, hiring some as contractors, others as temps and also outsourcing labor around the globe, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers are in different physical locations and the contractors have different employers, making in-person organizing all the more difficult. They also have a very disparate set of employment statuses at the company — different wages, benefit packages, contracts and protections — creating a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11741371/two-tiered-caste-system-the-world-of-white-collar-contracting-in-silicon-valley\">two-tier class system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tilly said this makes it particularly tricky to organize workers around common goals. “It also creates all kinds of divisions among workers and it potentially means different groups of workers can be pitted against each other,” he said. Temps, contractors or overseas workers, for instance, may now be seen as a threat to full-time employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The concentration of wealth at these companies also plays a role in dampening unionization efforts. Companies like Google and Facebook have been able to generate large profits with a smaller number of full-time employees. They can afford to offer relatively high pay, benefit packages and perks to keep most workers satisfied, without letting them have much say in how the companies operate or what they produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Opposition\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There has also long been an anti-union streak in Silicon Valley, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/google-alphabet-workers-union-tech\">as Jacobin editor Alex Press noted\u003c/a> in an article about the formation of the Google’s union. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Others naysayers of the effort have criticized the broad extent of grievances among union members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But labor lawyer and activist Caitlin Vega says what Google workers want is actually not much different from what workers want in any union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every union is about worker power and workers getting a say about what’s happening on the job,” she said. “And I think even when you read back to some of the earliest unions — the unions of teenage girls who were working in garment shops — their demands were also not always simple.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corporations have made unionizing harder by concentrating wealth, fissuring workplaces, subcontracting and relying on temporary workers, Vega said, and the Google union is organized in a way that responds to that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google illegally fired two employees involved in labor organizing last year, the National Labor Relations Board alleged in a complaint on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tech giant also violated federal labor law, the agency said, by surveilling employees who viewed a union organizing presentation, interrogating others, unfairly enforcing some rules and maintaining policies that “discourage” workers from protected organizing activities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"google,labor\" label=\"more coverage\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint said Google’s actions amounted to “interfering with, restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed” by the National Labor Relations Act, the 1935 law that guarantees workers the right to unionize and to band together to improve their working conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google is “confident in our decision and legal position,” the company said in a statement. While the company supports workers’ protected labor rights, the employees in question had taken actions that were “a serious violation of our policies and an unacceptable breach of a trusted responsibility,” it said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., has been rocked by employee activism in recent years over issues including\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/11/01/662851489/google-employees-plan-global-walkout-to-protest-companys-treatment-of-women\"> sexual harassment\u003c/a>, its work with the U.S. government and the company’s treatment of its large contract workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal labor agency has been investigating Google for a year, after several employees fired in late 2019 filed charges of unfair labor practices. Wednesday’s complaint accused Google of violating the rights of two of those employees, Laurence Berland and Kathryn Spiers. [ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, it’s a terrible miscalculation on the part of these companies to kind of close ranks and fight back so aggressively,” Berland said in an interview with KQED. “I think that probably, they correctly calculate that it will give them a short-term sort of win, if you can think of it as winning to be oppressing their own workforce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berland was one of four employees fired days before Thanksgiving 2019 for what Google described at the time as data security violations, including accessing and sharing information from other employees’ work materials and calendars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spiers was fired soon after. After the company hired a consulting firm known for anti-union work, Spiers created a pop-up notification reminding Google employees of their right to organize. Google said Spiers was fired for abusing her access to internal tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This complaint makes clear that workers have the right to speak to issues of ethical business and the composition of management,” Berland said in a statement on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Laurence Berland']‘You know, it’s a terrible miscalculation on the part of these companies to kind of close ranks and fight back so aggressively, I think that probably, they correctly calculate that it will give them a short term sort of win, if you can think of it as winning to be oppressing their own workforce’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Google does not settle the complaint, the agency’s case will be brought to trial in front of an administrative judge, who could order the company to reinstate Berland and Spiers and give them back pay with interest and stock options to make them whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Colleagues and strangers believe I abused my role because of lies told by Google management while they were retaliating against me,” Spiers said in a statement. “The NLRB can order Google to reinstate me, but it cannot reverse the harm done to my credibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency’s complaint did not include allegations about the firings of three other employees dismissed at the same time as Berland, who had also filed charges with the NLRB. They had protested Google’s work with Customs and Border Protection and the hiring of a former Trump administration official, according to Laurie Burgess, the employees’ lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to UC Hastings labor law professor Veena Dubal, their lack of inclusion doesn’t add up to much of a deterrent to managerial misbehavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Aside from bad press, there is not a lot that is going to happen that will hurt Google. And the toothlessness of federal labor law, again, is the problem,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burgess said in a statement those employees intend “to vigorously appeal the dismissed charges to the NLRB to ensure that the right to engage in this type of protected activity is not encroached upon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Rachael Myrow contributed to this story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note: \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Google is among NPR’s financial supporters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Google+Illegally+Fired+And+Spied+On+Workers+Who+Tried+To+Organize%2C+Labor+Agency+Says&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Google does not settle the complaint, the agency’s case will be brought to trial in front of an administrative judge, who could order the company to reinstate Berland and Spiers and give them back pay with interest and stock options to make them whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Colleagues and strangers believe I abused my role because of lies told by Google management while they were retaliating against me,” Spiers said in a statement. “The NLRB can order Google to reinstate me, but it cannot reverse the harm done to my credibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency’s complaint did not include allegations about the firings of three other employees dismissed at the same time as Berland, who had also filed charges with the NLRB. They had protested Google’s work with Customs and Border Protection and the hiring of a former Trump administration official, according to Laurie Burgess, the employees’ lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to UC Hastings labor law professor Veena Dubal, their lack of inclusion doesn’t add up to much of a deterrent to managerial misbehavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Aside from bad press, there is not a lot that is going to happen that will hurt Google. And the toothlessness of federal labor law, again, is the problem,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burgess said in a statement those employees intend “to vigorously appeal the dismissed charges to the NLRB to ensure that the right to engage in this type of protected activity is not encroached upon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Rachael Myrow contributed to this story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note: \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Google is among NPR’s financial supporters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Google+Illegally+Fired+And+Spied+On+Workers+Who+Tried+To+Organize%2C+Labor+Agency+Says&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California Proposition 22 was a big win for tech companies. Its passage allows a handful of corporations — like Uber and Lyft — to create a new “gig” contractor category for their workers that doesn’t have to include employee protections and benefits, like unemployment insurance and workers compensation. Now, those same companies that won in California want to expand beyond the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">Guest: \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SamWHarnett\">Sam Harnett\u003c/a>, Silicon Valley Reporter for KQED\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Listen to our special series ‘How We Got Here’ with Sam \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/howwegothere\">here.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC8406238167&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read the transcript \u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/3eSSCCw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>. And sign up for our newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/2Ij412e\">here\u003c/a>!\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This story was updated Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 12:40pm\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">UPDATE: Proposition 22 was approved by California voters Tuesday, Nov. 3. \u003c/b>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">\u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844725/proposition-22-passes-locking-in-sub-employee-status-for-gig-workers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844725/proposition-22-passes-locking-in-sub-employee-status-for-gig-workers\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Read the full details here\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Original story:\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision California voters face on Proposition 22 boils down to this: should a handful of companies be allowed to create a new gig contractor category for their workers that doesn’t include employee protections and benefits, like unemployment insurance and workers compensation? Or should companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash have to follow state labor law and classify their drivers as employees, which could mean directing more revenue to workers, higher prices for consumers and increased requirements for more casual drivers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the choice on the ballot. But there’s so much more going on with this unprecedented and far-reaching proposition — a proposition that recent polling indicates will come down to Californians who are still undecided. As of Oct. 26, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11843691/poll-measure-pushed-by-uber-lyft-falling-just-short-of-passage-many-voters-still-undecided\">polling of likely voters\u003c/a> shows 46% in favor, 42% opposed and 12% undecided. Here’s everything you’d need to know about the proposition and its backstory before you vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Skip to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#backstory\">The Backstory\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: How companies like Lyft, Uber and DoorDash have avoided employee classification for eight years despite pressure from workers, labor groups and every branch of state government\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#written\">What’s Actually in Prop. 22?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: An explanation of the limited worker benefits and why the “7/8ths provision” would make it nearly impossible to change this law in the future\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#money\">Unprecedented Money\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Gig companies are spending record amounts of cash to market Prop. 22 — and it’s being framed as a social justice issue\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#surveys\">Those Driver Surveys, and What’s Wrong With Them\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: What do drivers want? Surveys used to market Prop. 22 are often flawed and don’t tell the full story\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#directtovoter\">Unprecedented Direct-to-Voter Connection\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Millions of apps in millions of pockets, workers asked to deliver political ads and pop ups galore — win or lose, a new election playbook is being written\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#ramifications\">The Ramifications\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: If Prop. 22 passes, what will it mean for gig work, labor protections, election campaigning and local governance?\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"backstory\">\u003c/a>The Backstory\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843145\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843145\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache.jpg\" alt=\"Lyft car with mustache\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1250\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache-800x521.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache-1020x664.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache-1536x1000.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Lyft driver with one of the early fuzzy pink mustaches drives in downtown San Francisco in January, 2014. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It all began in 2012 with a fuzzy pink mustache and a fist bump. It was Lyft, not Uber, that first started paying drivers to use their own cars to do taxi work. Both companies cast themselves not as taxi companies, but platforms to connect riders to drivers, and tech journalists helped propel this image. \u003ca href=\"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3668606\">Here’s the even deeper backstory on how that all went down\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using the platform argument, the gig companies classified their workers as contractors, which shielded them from liability and allowed them to avoid paying for protections like overtime and unemployment insurance. Regulators and the government at the state and federal levels did not stop Uber and Lyft, and soon, companies like Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates began following suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this contractor model was legally suspect from the start. In California, the determination of whether a worker was a contractor or an employee was made by the Borello test, which is a \u003ca href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1774638.html\">complex set of 11 factors established by a 1989 California Supreme Court case\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Election 2020\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide,KQED's California Voter Guide\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45342_001_KQED_SanFrancisco_Election2020_MailinBallot_10122020-qut-1020x680.jpg\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was arguable that under those parameters, gig workers were not independent entrepreneurs running their own businesses on a platform provided by “tech” companies, but instead, employees of a transportation company in the case of Uber and Lyft, a service company in the case of TaskRabbit and a delivery company in the case of Postmates or DoorDash.\u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-tech-drivers-lawsuit/uber-drivers-granted-class-action-status-in-lawsuit-over-employment-idUSKCN0R14O920150901\"> Lawyers began trying to make the case\u003c/a> with big lawsuits against gig companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers were and still are fighting almost all the battles over employee protections and benefits behind closed doors. That’s because gig companies make workers sign arbitration clauses, which prevent them from taking any grievance to court. That has helped preempt and neutralize class-action lawsuits. Law professor Charlotte Garden \u003ca href=\"https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1794&context=faculty\">wrote a whole academic paper\u003c/a> on how the gig economy relies on mandatory arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014, as Uber and Lyft began to slash wages in a price war, workers increased their protest, but they could make no headway toward employment status. Gig companies leaned on customer support for political support, and consumers loved these cheap rides, which were kept low by the contractor model and venture capital. It took six years for any notable action from California’s government. And it came first from the judicial branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a ruling on a case known as \u003ca href=\"https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/dynamex-operations-west-inc-v-superior-court-34584\">Dynamex in 2018\u003c/a>, California’s Supreme Court simplified the Borello test, boiling it down to just three factors, called the ABCs. A worker could now only be classified as a contractor if they:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A) Were free from the control and direction of the hirer\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>B) Performed work outside the hirer’s normal course of business\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>C) Had their own independently established trade, occupation or business\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The ruling made it much more difficult for gig companies to deny workers employee benefits and protections. But still, gig companies kept classifying workers as contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the state Supreme Court, the Legislature took up the fight. Lawmakers passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a>, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. AB 5 codified the Dynamex ruling and was designed with gig companies in mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the new law also affected a number of other industries that have come to rely on contractors. The bill was amended after a backlash, and a number of professions got exemptions, like fine artists, foresters and translators — but not gig workers. Still, gig companies kept classifying workers as contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11833598 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/09182019_uber-lyft-qut-1020x640.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in May, several months into the coronavirus pandemic, with tens of thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers seeking unemployment funds that didn’t exist because the companies had never paid into the state unemployment fund, the executive branch got involved. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with a handful of city attorneys, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11816321/california-city-attorneys-sue-uber-and-lyft-over-worker-misclassification\">sued Uber and Lyft for misclassifying workers\u003c/a>. On Oct. 22 Uber and Lyft \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-10-22/uber-and-lyft-must-comply-with-labor-law-ab-5-appeals-court-orders\">lost an appeal\u003c/a>, and will have to start classifying workers as employees in 30 days — unless Proposition 22 passes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After AB 5 passed, the gig companies started their ballot initiative campaign, hoping that voters would enshrine their gig contractor model into law. Now, with all three branches of California’s government pressuring them to classify workers as employees, they are pouring money into Proposition 22. It’s become \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/What_were_the_most_expensive_ballot_measures_in_California\">the most well-funded ballot initiative in California history\u003c/a>. And it’s designed to be a conclusive victory for gig companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"written\">\u003c/a>What’s Actually in Prop. 22?\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A San Francisco resident fills out their mail-in ballot on Oct. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Proposition 22 is written as an exemption from AB 5 for any company that provides transportation or delivery services through an app. It would enshrine in law a kind of third employment category: the contract gig worker. This has been a goal of gig companies for years. They have pursued it at the federal level, and have already \u003ca href=\"https://www.nelp.org/publication/rights-at-risk-gig-companies-campaign-to-upend-employment-as-we-know-it/\">had success in getting legislation on the books in a number of states\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the measure has several other provisions built around the central premise of exempting gig companies from AB 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Limited Employee Benefits\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Prop. 22 would guarantee gig workers some limited benefits and protections. As contractors, they currently have none. But the benefits are not as straightforward as they appear at first read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most murky benefit is the guaranteed wage floor. Prop. 22 would ensure 120% of minimum wage and 30 cents per mile for drivers, adjusted for inflation. But there’s a pretty big catch. The guarantee is only for “engaged” driving time, defined as the time between “accepting a service request and completing the request.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of gig work is spent waiting for a job in the app. \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-uber-lyft-ballot-initiative-guarantees-only-5-64-an-hour-2/\">UC Berkeley’s Labor Center did a study\u003c/a> where they tried to take time between rides into account, along with wear and tear on the vehicle. Adding those factors in the mix, the study found the wage guarantee drops to just $5.64 an hour, a drastic pay cut from the $13 minimum wage they would be guaranteed as employees in California. Uber and Lyft disputed the findings in the study, and \u003ca href=\"https://ucreconomicforecast.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Prop22_Driver_Earnings_Analysis_August2020.pdf\">they commissioned another study\u003c/a> that put the earnings at between $25 and $27 an hour. That prompted \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-effects-of-proposition-22-on-driver-earnings-response-to-a-lyft-funded-report-by-dr-christopher-thornberg/#_edn5\">a rebuttal from UC Berkeley.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from the wage floor, Prop. 22 includes a number of benefits that are substitutes for protections guaranteed by traditional employment. In each case, these protections are weaker than what workers would get as employees, and some are contingent on driving a certain number of hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of health care, drivers who put in over 25 hours per week of engaged driving time would get health care subsidies. Instead of workers compensation, companies would offer occupational accident insurance for medical expenses, lost income and disability. Companies would also offer accidental death insurance. It is not clear if these insurance plans would be given to workers automatically, or if they would only be guaranteed the opportunity to purchase them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843841\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut.jpg\" alt=\"ride-hail driver in Oakland\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A ride-hail driver in Oakland In March, 2020. Prop. 22 would guarantee gig workers some limited benefits and protections. As contractors, they currently have none. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Prop. 22 also includes provisions to address long-term accountability issues in the gig industry, like discrimination, sexual misconduct, a lack of background checks and drivers working more than 12 hours a day. Gig companies would be required to create anti-discrimination and sexual harassment policies, develop training programs for drivers and require criminal background checks — all things that the companies have been criticized for lacking in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the issues these final provisions would address are things that are exacerbated by the contractor status of workers. If these workers were actually employees, gig companies would be far more liable for things like car accidents, sexual misconduct and criminal activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Prop. 22 Would Be Nearly Impossible to Change\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 22 passes, it would prevent local governments from passing laws that require companies to provide additional benefits and protections for gig workers not included in Prop. 22. It would also be the hardest statute for the Legislature to alter, aside from a handful of propositions that bar any amendment whatsoever. That’s because of the 7/8ths provision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single sentence on page 18 of the initiative requires a 7/8ths vote of both the state Assembly and Senate in order to amend Prop. 22 in any way. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/post-it/2020/10/california-amendment-threshold-proposition-22/\">This particular requirement is unprecedented\u003c/a>. Some propositions have required 2/3rds or 3/5s — but never 7/8ths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it passes, Prop. 22 would be harder to amend than the state’s Wildlife Protection Act, the Clean Air and Transportation Improvement Act or the Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. Amending it would take eight more votes than are needed to override a governor’s veto or revise the state Constitution, according to data provided to KQED by Alex Vassar, communications manager at the California State Library.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11840343,news_11841547,news_11841059 label='Election 2020 Resources']In California, a proposition can only be undone by another ballot initiative. So why is the threshold for amendment so high on Prop. 22? Part of the reason is that a section of the proposition’s stated purpose is contradictory to the wishes of gig companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proposition 22 states that it would “require rideshare and delivery network companies to offer new protections and benefits for app-based rideshare and delivery drivers.” That might sound good to voters who want more protections for workers, but it could cause problems for gig companies. The Legislature could, for example, alter Prop. 22 once it becomes statute or pass new laws to increase benefits for workers beyond what gig companies want. The 7/8ths provision presents a very high barrier to that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prop. 22 would also stop local governments from requiring gig companies to increase benefits and protections to gig workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Proposition 22 lops off the top by cutting off the state Legislature’s ability to amend the law, and it lops off the bottom [by] preventing local governments from ever modifying its requirements,” said Rey Fuentes, a fellow at The Partnership for Working Families, an advocacy group for workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities in California are often where laws that grant the most rigorous worker benefits and protections start: things like the Healthy SF program, or San Francisco’s mandatory sick leave. Cities have also been the most proactive in requiring gig companies to provide additional benefits to workers. San Francisco and San Jose, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Two-Bay-Area-cities-poised-to-approve-paid-sick-15185145.php\">extended COVID-19 emergency benefits to gig workers\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2020/06/seattle-extends-sick-leave-to-gig-workers-including-food-delivery-workers-more-heroes-of-the-covid-19-crisis/\">Seattle passed a similar ordinance\u003c/a>. Prop. 22 has a clause that would preempt future measures like these.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes on Prop. 22 Spokesperson Geoff Vetter said the issue is consistency for workers who cross city and county lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the cross-jurisdictional nature of the service,” Vetter said, “it would be impossible to allow all 58 counties and 480+ cities to establish separate requirements. Prop. 22 establishes uniform statewide standards for app-based driver scheduling, benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"money\">\u003c/a>Unprecedented Money\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843334\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield.jpg\" alt=\"A driver who drives for both Uber and Lyft\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Uber and Lyft have spent nearly $100 million combined in support of Prop. 22. \u003ccite>(ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Proposition 22 is on track to become the most well-funded ballot initiative in California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It has already drawn about $200 million, most of it on the pro side. As of 10 days before the election, the anti-side had around $19 million, coming mainly from labor organizations. The pro-side has over $199 million coming from gig companies. As of the beginning of October, Uber had contributed over $50 million; Lyft, $48 million; DoorDash, $47 million; InstaCart, $28 million; and Postmates, $11 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money is not just being spent on TV and digital advertising. The Yes on Prop. 22 campaign has also contributed to political parties, including $2 million to the California Republican Party. It has spent millions hiring consultants, lobbyists and PR firms like MB Public Affairs, which is known for working with tobacco companies. These firms have launched personal and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnet.com/features/uber-lyfts-fight-over-gig-worker-status-as-campaign-against-labor-activists-mounts/\">intrusive attacks on academics like Veena Dubal\u003c/a>, a UC Hastings law professor who has been critical of gig companies and Proposition 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Yes on Prop. 22 campaign has also sent money to newsrooms in return for digital advertising. By the middle of September, it had sent almost $48,000 to the Sacramento Bee, $13,500 to the San Diego Union Tribune and a little over $36,000 to the San Francisco Chronicle. Both the Tribune and the Chronicle endorsed the measure, but in their endorsements made no mention of the ad revenue they had received.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Marketing Prop. 22 as a Social Justice Measure\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Many workers in the gig economy in California are people of color – a fact reflected in the advertising campaign for Prop. 22, which presents the initiative as a boon for social justice. In the past, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11643681/lyft-gains-on-uber-by-appealing-to-progressive-political-ideals\">Lyft had leaned heavily on social justice messaging\u003c/a> to appeal to liberals and distinguish itself from Uber, especially after Trump was elected. Now, this tactic has become a major thrust of the entire Yes on Prop. 22 campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rep Barbara Lee\"]‘You have very clearly crossed the line when you try to claim the equity mantle for a campaign that has always been about allowing multi-billion-dollar app companies to write their own law so they can keep exploiting drivers.’[/pullquote]PR firms working for the campaign \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Fake-progressive-mailers-urge-yes-on-Uber-Lyft-15635173.php\">have created a number of political mailers\u003c/a> that urge people to vote yes on Prop. 22 and are designed to look like voter guides coming from progressive sources. In small letters at the bottom of these mailers it says the guides are prepared by organizations like “Feel the Bern, Progressive Voter Guide,” “Council of Concerned Women Voters Guide” and “Our Voice, Latino Voter Guide,” which are all fake progressive organizations. They don’t actually exist. After these mailers were reported, Bernie Sanders \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1315650084567121920?s=20\">came out publicly against\u003c/a> Proposition 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the ads in the Yes on Prop. 22 campaign feature people of color, like Aisha A. from Los Angeles, who say they need this flexible job to survive. Uber ran an ad campaign this summer with billboards in many major cities that said “If you tolerate racism, delete Uber.” Lyft \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yImMyOkeaKQ\">created a television ad\u003c/a> using a recording of Maya Angelou reading her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yImMyOkeaKQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lyft ad begins with a voiceover of Angelou saying “Lift up your eyes upon / This day breaking for you.” You see Black and brown people getting ready for work. And then it transitions to the inside of a Lyft. There’s a montage of drivers, all people of color, picking up passengers. “Each new hour holds new chances / For a new beginning.” Angelou says “Do not be wedded forever / To fear, yoked eternally / To brutishness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting the California NAACP to endorse Proposition 22 was a big win for gig companies. The organization has authored voter guides telling people to vote yes, and Alice Huffman, head of the California NAACP, has been writing editorials in support of the proposition. Huffman also happens to run a consulting firm called AC Public Affairs. That firm has so far received $85,000 from the Yes on Prop. 22 Campaign. Huffman has a history of receiving contributions from corporations to support their ballot initiatives. The Yes on Prop. 22 money \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2020/09/california-naacp-president-helps-corporate-ballot-measure-campaigns/\">is part of $1.2 million her firm has already received this year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Black and Latino leaders in California have come out against Proposition 22; Rep. Barbara Lee from Oakland, Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and members of both the Latino and Black California Legislative Caucus were part of a group that \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/policy/technology/520671-democrats-accuse-tech-companies-of-deceitful-tactics-in-campaign-against\">publicly denounced\u003c/a> Proposition 22 in mid-October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing the gig companies on the call, Lee said, “You have very clearly crossed the line when you try to claim the equity mantle for a campaign that has always been about allowing multi-billion-dollar app companies to write their own law so they can keep exploiting the drivers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, Vetter said “Prop. 22 not only protects the jobs of drivers of color and their freedom to work independently, it would provide drivers an earnings guarantee, access to benefits like health care and provide drivers and passengers alike with new safety protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"surveys\">\u003c/a>Those Driver Surveys, and What’s Wrong With Them\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843323\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843323\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver.jpg\" alt=\"Uber driver Sergei Fyodorov holds a flyer supporting a yes vote on Proposition 22 in Oakland.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1290\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver-1020x685.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver-1536x1032.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Uber driver Sergei Fyodorov, in Oakland, holds a flyer suggesting his riders ask him about why he supports Proposition 22. \u003ccite>(Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many ads from the Yes on Prop. 22 campaign say four out of five drivers prefer being independent contractors. This data comes from a survey done on the blog of \u003ca href=\"https://therideshareguy.com/\">Harry the Rideshare Guy\u003c/a>. It’s one of a slew of surveys the gig companies have been using to advocate for Prop. 22. These surveys are often methodologically flawed, and they never tell the whole story of what drivers want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Harry the Rideshare Guy survey has been a central piece of advertising for Proposition 22 and used in legal arguments, it is a non-scientific, informal poll done on a blog. There was no guarantee that respondents were drivers, let alone that there was a representative sample in terms of demographics, hours driven or political leanings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harry Campbell, CEO of The Rideshare Guy blog, said he believes the site’s survey reflects what he has been hearing from drivers. Yes on Prop. 22 campaign spokesperson Geoff Vetter agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Rideshare Guy polled app-based drivers in California and did it without offering payment to the respondents,” Vetter said. “All this makes for a much fuller, more accurate data set and one that correctly demonstrates how drivers feel about Prop. 22 and independent contractor v. employee status.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But The Rideshare Guy survey is indicative of a number of the broader issues that the No on Prop. 22 campaign and scholars studying the gig economy have with how drivers are being surveyed. Juliet Schor, a professor of sociology at Boston College who has spent years studying the gig economy, said these surveys don’t capture the full picture. There is often bias in the sample, flawed and misleading questions and information presented that influences responses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 411px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-11843775\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey-800x466.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"411\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey-800x466.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey-1020x595.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey-160x93.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey.png 1501w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drivers got this prompt before being asked if they supported Proposition 22. \u003ccite>(Edelson Survey Screenshot)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This \u003ca href=\"https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/5ef0e34fc294806719977470/attachments/original/1592866174/cadriversurvey.pdf?1592866174\">survey from Edelman\u003c/a> is a good example. In a question about Prop. 22, the survey included a snippet from a TechCrunch article that cast the proposition in positive light. Given that prompt, 72 percent of respondents said they supported the measure. On August 19, Lyft issued a survey that had a common flaw in the questioning, equating contractor status to freedom. The survey asked if “the freedom of being an independent contractor outweighs the benefits of being an employee.” Conflating freedom with being an independent contractor is misleading. Employees can have autonomy and freedom, and likewise contractors can be constrained and coerced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, there is the sample issue. The surveys give equal weight to those who drive only a few hours a week with those who drive much more. And the surveys only poll active workers, which could have a distorting effect on the results. There have been tens or even hundreds of thousands of people in California who have done some work for these gig companies and then stopped. These workers represent a large percentage of the labor that has been done for these companies, yet their opinions are being left out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a big methodological weakness of the surveys,” Schor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schor and her research team have interviewed hundreds of gig workers over the years, ethnographic data that can capture what a survey doesn’t. She says there is actually a lot of consistency in what drivers want. They want to be autonomous and have flexibility, but they also want to earn enough that they can pay their bills, buy insurance, and have money set aside if something goes wrong. Schor said she thinks a lot of gig workers in California are answering surveys with what they wish they could have: independent status and enough money to truly be their own bosses. \u003ca href=\"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3488009\">Veena Dubal wrote an entire academic paper unpacking all of this\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driver Noemi Torres agreed with Schor’s conclusions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to be independent contractors, but Uber doesn’t treat us like independent contractors,” said Torres, who has been driving for seven years outside of North Hollywood. “Initially, we would get paid enough to support ourselves in terms of getting our own health insurance, but since they keep lowering the rates, you don’t have the flexibility.” She opposes Proposition 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drivers who support Proposition 22 often don’t sound that different when it comes to what they want. They just believe the ballot proposition can get it for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I decided to vote yes on Prop. 22, because it would allow me and my fellow drivers to retain the flexibility we need while ensuring we get the benefits and protections we deserve,” said Dave Thomasson, a driver from West Covina.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"directtovoter\">\u003c/a>Unprecedented Direct-to-Voter Connection\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843415\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1317\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad-800x549.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad-1020x700.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad-1536x1054.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Lyft app displays a message asking users to vote yes on Proposition 22. \u003ccite>(JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last month, Hector Castellanos started seeing the pop-ups while driving for Uber. Under a dialog box emblazoned with “Prop. 22 is progress,” Castellanos had to click either “Yes on Prop. 22” or “OK” to proceed with his ride. At the same time, his riders were getting pop ups that said their drivers support Prop. 22 and that they should talk with them about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castellanos drives full-time, and throughout the day kept seeing the pop up again and again. Castellanos opposes Proposition 22 and he didn’t want to have to click yes or OK, but he had no option. “Drivers have to click ‘yes’ even if they don’t want it,” he said. “They have to click yes or OK.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11842964 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Uber-Driver-1020x701.jpg']Uber spokesperson Davis White said Castellanos’s experience is not the norm, and that drivers should only see the pop up once when signing off the app, and that the pop up has been changed so drivers can just close it without selecting an answer. \u003ca href=\"https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20398520-uber-prop-22-complaint\">Castellanos and another driver are now suing\u003c/a> Uber for allegedly infringing on their right to be free of political coercion at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s popups are an example of the unprecedented advantage gig companies have in this ballot campaign: their own apps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With their apps already used by millions of California workers and consumers, proponents of no other ballot proposition have ever had direct-to-voter connection at this scale — and gig companies are using the opportunity. They’re sending emails, push notifications to phones and using pop-ups to continually send the pro-Prop. 22 message directly to their customers and workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"David McCuan, Sonoma State University\"]‘It is the holy grail of political communication.’[/pullquote]Lyft and Uber have been particularly aggressive in using apps to market Prop. 22 to customers. In the Uber app, riders will see a little blue text bubble coming out of the car image that says “Yes on 22.” Uber is sending push notifications that pop up on phones saying things like “Vote early on Prop. 22. Support drivers and help keep Uber in your city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11842964/gig-companies-are-making-their-workers-promote-prop-22\">gig companies are also pressuring their workers\u003c/a> to spread pro-Prop. 22 messages to consumers. In October, Instacart asked workers through the app to put pro-Prop. 22 stickers in customers’ orders at a Bay Area store. The sticker said “Yes 22, Save App-Based Jobs and Services.” DoorDash is providing free delivery bags to restaurants that have Prop. 22 ads on their sides. Then workers have to use these bags to bring food to customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After backlash online, Instacart is no longer asking workers to add stickers to orders. But DoorDash is continuing to send pro-Prop. 22 delivery bags to restaurants. The company says restaurants have requested over 4 million bags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This widespread use of apps to spread messages is unprecedented in a proposition campaign, and it could prove to be a powerful tactic that other corporations want to emulate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is the holy grail of political communication,” said David McCuan, professor of political science at Sonoma State University who has been studying ballot propositions for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the gig companies are successful in getting Prop. 22 passed, McCuan said it could change the way ballot initiatives are fought in California. Companies with apps and money to leverage them may see ballot initiatives as a worthwhile way to get their policies enacted if this campaign shows that apps can be used to sway voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"ramifications\">\u003c/a>The Ramifications\u003c/h1>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 22 fails, gig companies would have to reclassify workers as employees. That could mean redirecting more revenue to pay for basic employee protections, increasing fares and increased requirements to work on these apps, especially for more casual, part-time drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gig companies could be responsible for years of back pay, lost benefits, taxes and unpaid unemployment insurance, which could be an especially big deal for Uber and Lyft. \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/press-release-what-would-uber-and-lyft-owe-to-the-state-unemployment-insurance-fund/#:~:text=BERKELEY%2C%20CA%20%E2%80%94%20A%20new%20report,Fund%20between%202014%20and%202019.\">A report from UC Berkeley’s Labor Center\u003c/a> estimates they could owe as much as $413 million for the period between 2014 to 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber has said prices \u003ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-fares-double-small-cities-if-voters-reject-prop-22-2020-10\">could double in small cities\u003c/a>. The Yes on Prop. 22 campaign has suggested that 80% to 90% of drivers could lose work. Given the lack of data from gig companies, it is hard to know how much each would have to change their prices or operations. Also Uber and Lyft are still not profitable, so some change is bound to happen to their services regardless of what happens with Proposition 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gig companies have also said they could leave California temporarily. In the past, Uber and Lyft have left places like Austin in order to urge lawmakers to overturn regulations they didn’t like. The companies have always come back, and they’ve never pulled out of a market as big as California. \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/tusk-venture-partners/initial-thoughts-on-what-the-2020-election-means-for-you-b7d8200b1bf6\">Bradley Tusk is a former political advisor to Uber, and he assumes\u003c/a> gig companies would use their billions of dollars to continue appealing to the Legislature and to voters to find a way to maintain their gig contractor model if Prop. 22 fails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 22 passes, California would have a third category of worker — the gig contractor — enshrined in law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gig companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart would get a carve out from state labor law and would be allowed to classify workers as gig contractors, thereby denying them basic employee benefits. The door would be open for other companies to develop apps to take advantage of this new gig worker category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measure would become the \u003ca href=\"#written\">hardest statute to amend\u003c/a> in California history, and local governments would have no power to enact laws that provide gig workers with additional benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would \u003ca href=\"#directtovoter\">establish a playbook\u003c/a> for other companies that want to use an app to market a ballot initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A handful of companies will have proven that they can use a ballot initiative to maintain a business practice that has been deemed illegal either directly or indirectly by all three branches of California’s government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There would certainly be lawsuits over things like the 7/8ths provision, but barring a new ballot proposition or a major legal victory, gig workers would have to continue working without basic employee protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The state's most expensive ballot measure ever would lock-in a new category of worker in California - and it would be nearly impossible to change.",
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"title": "Prop. 22 Explained: Why Gig Companies Are Spending Huge Money on an Unprecedented Measure | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This story was updated Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 12:40pm\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">UPDATE: Proposition 22 was approved by California voters Tuesday, Nov. 3. \u003c/b>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">\u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844725/proposition-22-passes-locking-in-sub-employee-status-for-gig-workers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844725/proposition-22-passes-locking-in-sub-employee-status-for-gig-workers\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Read the full details here\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Original story:\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision California voters face on Proposition 22 boils down to this: should a handful of companies be allowed to create a new gig contractor category for their workers that doesn’t include employee protections and benefits, like unemployment insurance and workers compensation? Or should companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash have to follow state labor law and classify their drivers as employees, which could mean directing more revenue to workers, higher prices for consumers and increased requirements for more casual drivers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the choice on the ballot. But there’s so much more going on with this unprecedented and far-reaching proposition — a proposition that recent polling indicates will come down to Californians who are still undecided. As of Oct. 26, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11843691/poll-measure-pushed-by-uber-lyft-falling-just-short-of-passage-many-voters-still-undecided\">polling of likely voters\u003c/a> shows 46% in favor, 42% opposed and 12% undecided. Here’s everything you’d need to know about the proposition and its backstory before you vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Skip to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#backstory\">The Backstory\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: How companies like Lyft, Uber and DoorDash have avoided employee classification for eight years despite pressure from workers, labor groups and every branch of state government\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#written\">What’s Actually in Prop. 22?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: An explanation of the limited worker benefits and why the “7/8ths provision” would make it nearly impossible to change this law in the future\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#money\">Unprecedented Money\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Gig companies are spending record amounts of cash to market Prop. 22 — and it’s being framed as a social justice issue\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#surveys\">Those Driver Surveys, and What’s Wrong With Them\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: What do drivers want? Surveys used to market Prop. 22 are often flawed and don’t tell the full story\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#directtovoter\">Unprecedented Direct-to-Voter Connection\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Millions of apps in millions of pockets, workers asked to deliver political ads and pop ups galore — win or lose, a new election playbook is being written\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#ramifications\">The Ramifications\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: If Prop. 22 passes, what will it mean for gig work, labor protections, election campaigning and local governance?\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"backstory\">\u003c/a>The Backstory\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843145\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843145\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache.jpg\" alt=\"Lyft car with mustache\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1250\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache-800x521.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache-1020x664.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Lyft-moustache-1536x1000.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Lyft driver with one of the early fuzzy pink mustaches drives in downtown San Francisco in January, 2014. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It all began in 2012 with a fuzzy pink mustache and a fist bump. It was Lyft, not Uber, that first started paying drivers to use their own cars to do taxi work. Both companies cast themselves not as taxi companies, but platforms to connect riders to drivers, and tech journalists helped propel this image. \u003ca href=\"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3668606\">Here’s the even deeper backstory on how that all went down\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using the platform argument, the gig companies classified their workers as contractors, which shielded them from liability and allowed them to avoid paying for protections like overtime and unemployment insurance. Regulators and the government at the state and federal levels did not stop Uber and Lyft, and soon, companies like Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates began following suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this contractor model was legally suspect from the start. In California, the determination of whether a worker was a contractor or an employee was made by the Borello test, which is a \u003ca href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1774638.html\">complex set of 11 factors established by a 1989 California Supreme Court case\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was arguable that under those parameters, gig workers were not independent entrepreneurs running their own businesses on a platform provided by “tech” companies, but instead, employees of a transportation company in the case of Uber and Lyft, a service company in the case of TaskRabbit and a delivery company in the case of Postmates or DoorDash.\u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-tech-drivers-lawsuit/uber-drivers-granted-class-action-status-in-lawsuit-over-employment-idUSKCN0R14O920150901\"> Lawyers began trying to make the case\u003c/a> with big lawsuits against gig companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers were and still are fighting almost all the battles over employee protections and benefits behind closed doors. That’s because gig companies make workers sign arbitration clauses, which prevent them from taking any grievance to court. That has helped preempt and neutralize class-action lawsuits. Law professor Charlotte Garden \u003ca href=\"https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1794&context=faculty\">wrote a whole academic paper\u003c/a> on how the gig economy relies on mandatory arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014, as Uber and Lyft began to slash wages in a price war, workers increased their protest, but they could make no headway toward employment status. Gig companies leaned on customer support for political support, and consumers loved these cheap rides, which were kept low by the contractor model and venture capital. It took six years for any notable action from California’s government. And it came first from the judicial branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a ruling on a case known as \u003ca href=\"https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/dynamex-operations-west-inc-v-superior-court-34584\">Dynamex in 2018\u003c/a>, California’s Supreme Court simplified the Borello test, boiling it down to just three factors, called the ABCs. A worker could now only be classified as a contractor if they:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A) Were free from the control and direction of the hirer\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>B) Performed work outside the hirer’s normal course of business\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>C) Had their own independently established trade, occupation or business\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The ruling made it much more difficult for gig companies to deny workers employee benefits and protections. But still, gig companies kept classifying workers as contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the state Supreme Court, the Legislature took up the fight. Lawmakers passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a>, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. AB 5 codified the Dynamex ruling and was designed with gig companies in mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the new law also affected a number of other industries that have come to rely on contractors. The bill was amended after a backlash, and a number of professions got exemptions, like fine artists, foresters and translators — but not gig workers. Still, gig companies kept classifying workers as contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in May, several months into the coronavirus pandemic, with tens of thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers seeking unemployment funds that didn’t exist because the companies had never paid into the state unemployment fund, the executive branch got involved. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with a handful of city attorneys, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11816321/california-city-attorneys-sue-uber-and-lyft-over-worker-misclassification\">sued Uber and Lyft for misclassifying workers\u003c/a>. On Oct. 22 Uber and Lyft \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-10-22/uber-and-lyft-must-comply-with-labor-law-ab-5-appeals-court-orders\">lost an appeal\u003c/a>, and will have to start classifying workers as employees in 30 days — unless Proposition 22 passes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After AB 5 passed, the gig companies started their ballot initiative campaign, hoping that voters would enshrine their gig contractor model into law. Now, with all three branches of California’s government pressuring them to classify workers as employees, they are pouring money into Proposition 22. It’s become \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/What_were_the_most_expensive_ballot_measures_in_California\">the most well-funded ballot initiative in California history\u003c/a>. And it’s designed to be a conclusive victory for gig companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"written\">\u003c/a>What’s Actually in Prop. 22?\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS45263_001_KQED_ElectionStockPhotos_TikaHall_10062020-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A San Francisco resident fills out their mail-in ballot on Oct. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Proposition 22 is written as an exemption from AB 5 for any company that provides transportation or delivery services through an app. It would enshrine in law a kind of third employment category: the contract gig worker. This has been a goal of gig companies for years. They have pursued it at the federal level, and have already \u003ca href=\"https://www.nelp.org/publication/rights-at-risk-gig-companies-campaign-to-upend-employment-as-we-know-it/\">had success in getting legislation on the books in a number of states\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the measure has several other provisions built around the central premise of exempting gig companies from AB 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Limited Employee Benefits\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Prop. 22 would guarantee gig workers some limited benefits and protections. As contractors, they currently have none. But the benefits are not as straightforward as they appear at first read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most murky benefit is the guaranteed wage floor. Prop. 22 would ensure 120% of minimum wage and 30 cents per mile for drivers, adjusted for inflation. But there’s a pretty big catch. The guarantee is only for “engaged” driving time, defined as the time between “accepting a service request and completing the request.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of gig work is spent waiting for a job in the app. \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-uber-lyft-ballot-initiative-guarantees-only-5-64-an-hour-2/\">UC Berkeley’s Labor Center did a study\u003c/a> where they tried to take time between rides into account, along with wear and tear on the vehicle. Adding those factors in the mix, the study found the wage guarantee drops to just $5.64 an hour, a drastic pay cut from the $13 minimum wage they would be guaranteed as employees in California. Uber and Lyft disputed the findings in the study, and \u003ca href=\"https://ucreconomicforecast.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Prop22_Driver_Earnings_Analysis_August2020.pdf\">they commissioned another study\u003c/a> that put the earnings at between $25 and $27 an hour. That prompted \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-effects-of-proposition-22-on-driver-earnings-response-to-a-lyft-funded-report-by-dr-christopher-thornberg/#_edn5\">a rebuttal from UC Berkeley.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from the wage floor, Prop. 22 includes a number of benefits that are substitutes for protections guaranteed by traditional employment. In each case, these protections are weaker than what workers would get as employees, and some are contingent on driving a certain number of hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of health care, drivers who put in over 25 hours per week of engaged driving time would get health care subsidies. Instead of workers compensation, companies would offer occupational accident insurance for medical expenses, lost income and disability. Companies would also offer accidental death insurance. It is not clear if these insurance plans would be given to workers automatically, or if they would only be guaranteed the opportunity to purchase them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843841\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut.jpg\" alt=\"ride-hail driver in Oakland\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A ride-hail driver in Oakland In March, 2020. Prop. 22 would guarantee gig workers some limited benefits and protections. As contractors, they currently have none. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Prop. 22 also includes provisions to address long-term accountability issues in the gig industry, like discrimination, sexual misconduct, a lack of background checks and drivers working more than 12 hours a day. Gig companies would be required to create anti-discrimination and sexual harassment policies, develop training programs for drivers and require criminal background checks — all things that the companies have been criticized for lacking in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the issues these final provisions would address are things that are exacerbated by the contractor status of workers. If these workers were actually employees, gig companies would be far more liable for things like car accidents, sexual misconduct and criminal activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Prop. 22 Would Be Nearly Impossible to Change\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 22 passes, it would prevent local governments from passing laws that require companies to provide additional benefits and protections for gig workers not included in Prop. 22. It would also be the hardest statute for the Legislature to alter, aside from a handful of propositions that bar any amendment whatsoever. That’s because of the 7/8ths provision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single sentence on page 18 of the initiative requires a 7/8ths vote of both the state Assembly and Senate in order to amend Prop. 22 in any way. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/post-it/2020/10/california-amendment-threshold-proposition-22/\">This particular requirement is unprecedented\u003c/a>. Some propositions have required 2/3rds or 3/5s — but never 7/8ths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it passes, Prop. 22 would be harder to amend than the state’s Wildlife Protection Act, the Clean Air and Transportation Improvement Act or the Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. Amending it would take eight more votes than are needed to override a governor’s veto or revise the state Constitution, according to data provided to KQED by Alex Vassar, communications manager at the California State Library.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In California, a proposition can only be undone by another ballot initiative. So why is the threshold for amendment so high on Prop. 22? Part of the reason is that a section of the proposition’s stated purpose is contradictory to the wishes of gig companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proposition 22 states that it would “require rideshare and delivery network companies to offer new protections and benefits for app-based rideshare and delivery drivers.” That might sound good to voters who want more protections for workers, but it could cause problems for gig companies. The Legislature could, for example, alter Prop. 22 once it becomes statute or pass new laws to increase benefits for workers beyond what gig companies want. The 7/8ths provision presents a very high barrier to that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prop. 22 would also stop local governments from requiring gig companies to increase benefits and protections to gig workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Proposition 22 lops off the top by cutting off the state Legislature’s ability to amend the law, and it lops off the bottom [by] preventing local governments from ever modifying its requirements,” said Rey Fuentes, a fellow at The Partnership for Working Families, an advocacy group for workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities in California are often where laws that grant the most rigorous worker benefits and protections start: things like the Healthy SF program, or San Francisco’s mandatory sick leave. Cities have also been the most proactive in requiring gig companies to provide additional benefits to workers. San Francisco and San Jose, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Two-Bay-Area-cities-poised-to-approve-paid-sick-15185145.php\">extended COVID-19 emergency benefits to gig workers\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2020/06/seattle-extends-sick-leave-to-gig-workers-including-food-delivery-workers-more-heroes-of-the-covid-19-crisis/\">Seattle passed a similar ordinance\u003c/a>. Prop. 22 has a clause that would preempt future measures like these.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes on Prop. 22 Spokesperson Geoff Vetter said the issue is consistency for workers who cross city and county lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the cross-jurisdictional nature of the service,” Vetter said, “it would be impossible to allow all 58 counties and 480+ cities to establish separate requirements. Prop. 22 establishes uniform statewide standards for app-based driver scheduling, benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"money\">\u003c/a>Unprecedented Money\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843334\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield.jpg\" alt=\"A driver who drives for both Uber and Lyft\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/UberLyftWindshield-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Uber and Lyft have spent nearly $100 million combined in support of Prop. 22. \u003ccite>(ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Proposition 22 is on track to become the most well-funded ballot initiative in California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It has already drawn about $200 million, most of it on the pro side. As of 10 days before the election, the anti-side had around $19 million, coming mainly from labor organizations. The pro-side has over $199 million coming from gig companies. As of the beginning of October, Uber had contributed over $50 million; Lyft, $48 million; DoorDash, $47 million; InstaCart, $28 million; and Postmates, $11 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money is not just being spent on TV and digital advertising. The Yes on Prop. 22 campaign has also contributed to political parties, including $2 million to the California Republican Party. It has spent millions hiring consultants, lobbyists and PR firms like MB Public Affairs, which is known for working with tobacco companies. These firms have launched personal and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnet.com/features/uber-lyfts-fight-over-gig-worker-status-as-campaign-against-labor-activists-mounts/\">intrusive attacks on academics like Veena Dubal\u003c/a>, a UC Hastings law professor who has been critical of gig companies and Proposition 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Yes on Prop. 22 campaign has also sent money to newsrooms in return for digital advertising. By the middle of September, it had sent almost $48,000 to the Sacramento Bee, $13,500 to the San Diego Union Tribune and a little over $36,000 to the San Francisco Chronicle. Both the Tribune and the Chronicle endorsed the measure, but in their endorsements made no mention of the ad revenue they had received.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Marketing Prop. 22 as a Social Justice Measure\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Many workers in the gig economy in California are people of color – a fact reflected in the advertising campaign for Prop. 22, which presents the initiative as a boon for social justice. In the past, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11643681/lyft-gains-on-uber-by-appealing-to-progressive-political-ideals\">Lyft had leaned heavily on social justice messaging\u003c/a> to appeal to liberals and distinguish itself from Uber, especially after Trump was elected. Now, this tactic has become a major thrust of the entire Yes on Prop. 22 campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘You have very clearly crossed the line when you try to claim the equity mantle for a campaign that has always been about allowing multi-billion-dollar app companies to write their own law so they can keep exploiting drivers.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>PR firms working for the campaign \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Fake-progressive-mailers-urge-yes-on-Uber-Lyft-15635173.php\">have created a number of political mailers\u003c/a> that urge people to vote yes on Prop. 22 and are designed to look like voter guides coming from progressive sources. In small letters at the bottom of these mailers it says the guides are prepared by organizations like “Feel the Bern, Progressive Voter Guide,” “Council of Concerned Women Voters Guide” and “Our Voice, Latino Voter Guide,” which are all fake progressive organizations. They don’t actually exist. After these mailers were reported, Bernie Sanders \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1315650084567121920?s=20\">came out publicly against\u003c/a> Proposition 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the ads in the Yes on Prop. 22 campaign feature people of color, like Aisha A. from Los Angeles, who say they need this flexible job to survive. Uber ran an ad campaign this summer with billboards in many major cities that said “If you tolerate racism, delete Uber.” Lyft \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yImMyOkeaKQ\">created a television ad\u003c/a> using a recording of Maya Angelou reading her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/yImMyOkeaKQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/yImMyOkeaKQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The Lyft ad begins with a voiceover of Angelou saying “Lift up your eyes upon / This day breaking for you.” You see Black and brown people getting ready for work. And then it transitions to the inside of a Lyft. There’s a montage of drivers, all people of color, picking up passengers. “Each new hour holds new chances / For a new beginning.” Angelou says “Do not be wedded forever / To fear, yoked eternally / To brutishness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting the California NAACP to endorse Proposition 22 was a big win for gig companies. The organization has authored voter guides telling people to vote yes, and Alice Huffman, head of the California NAACP, has been writing editorials in support of the proposition. Huffman also happens to run a consulting firm called AC Public Affairs. That firm has so far received $85,000 from the Yes on Prop. 22 Campaign. Huffman has a history of receiving contributions from corporations to support their ballot initiatives. The Yes on Prop. 22 money \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2020/09/california-naacp-president-helps-corporate-ballot-measure-campaigns/\">is part of $1.2 million her firm has already received this year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Black and Latino leaders in California have come out against Proposition 22; Rep. Barbara Lee from Oakland, Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and members of both the Latino and Black California Legislative Caucus were part of a group that \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/policy/technology/520671-democrats-accuse-tech-companies-of-deceitful-tactics-in-campaign-against\">publicly denounced\u003c/a> Proposition 22 in mid-October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing the gig companies on the call, Lee said, “You have very clearly crossed the line when you try to claim the equity mantle for a campaign that has always been about allowing multi-billion-dollar app companies to write their own law so they can keep exploiting the drivers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, Vetter said “Prop. 22 not only protects the jobs of drivers of color and their freedom to work independently, it would provide drivers an earnings guarantee, access to benefits like health care and provide drivers and passengers alike with new safety protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"surveys\">\u003c/a>Those Driver Surveys, and What’s Wrong With Them\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843323\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843323\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver.jpg\" alt=\"Uber driver Sergei Fyodorov holds a flyer supporting a yes vote on Proposition 22 in Oakland.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1290\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver-1020x685.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/YesOn22Driver-1536x1032.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Uber driver Sergei Fyodorov, in Oakland, holds a flyer suggesting his riders ask him about why he supports Proposition 22. \u003ccite>(Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many ads from the Yes on Prop. 22 campaign say four out of five drivers prefer being independent contractors. This data comes from a survey done on the blog of \u003ca href=\"https://therideshareguy.com/\">Harry the Rideshare Guy\u003c/a>. It’s one of a slew of surveys the gig companies have been using to advocate for Prop. 22. These surveys are often methodologically flawed, and they never tell the whole story of what drivers want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Harry the Rideshare Guy survey has been a central piece of advertising for Proposition 22 and used in legal arguments, it is a non-scientific, informal poll done on a blog. There was no guarantee that respondents were drivers, let alone that there was a representative sample in terms of demographics, hours driven or political leanings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harry Campbell, CEO of The Rideshare Guy blog, said he believes the site’s survey reflects what he has been hearing from drivers. Yes on Prop. 22 campaign spokesperson Geoff Vetter agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Rideshare Guy polled app-based drivers in California and did it without offering payment to the respondents,” Vetter said. “All this makes for a much fuller, more accurate data set and one that correctly demonstrates how drivers feel about Prop. 22 and independent contractor v. employee status.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But The Rideshare Guy survey is indicative of a number of the broader issues that the No on Prop. 22 campaign and scholars studying the gig economy have with how drivers are being surveyed. Juliet Schor, a professor of sociology at Boston College who has spent years studying the gig economy, said these surveys don’t capture the full picture. There is often bias in the sample, flawed and misleading questions and information presented that influences responses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 411px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-11843775\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey-800x466.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"411\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey-800x466.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey-1020x595.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey-160x93.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/edelson-survey.png 1501w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drivers got this prompt before being asked if they supported Proposition 22. \u003ccite>(Edelson Survey Screenshot)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This \u003ca href=\"https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/5ef0e34fc294806719977470/attachments/original/1592866174/cadriversurvey.pdf?1592866174\">survey from Edelman\u003c/a> is a good example. In a question about Prop. 22, the survey included a snippet from a TechCrunch article that cast the proposition in positive light. Given that prompt, 72 percent of respondents said they supported the measure. On August 19, Lyft issued a survey that had a common flaw in the questioning, equating contractor status to freedom. The survey asked if “the freedom of being an independent contractor outweighs the benefits of being an employee.” Conflating freedom with being an independent contractor is misleading. Employees can have autonomy and freedom, and likewise contractors can be constrained and coerced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, there is the sample issue. The surveys give equal weight to those who drive only a few hours a week with those who drive much more. And the surveys only poll active workers, which could have a distorting effect on the results. There have been tens or even hundreds of thousands of people in California who have done some work for these gig companies and then stopped. These workers represent a large percentage of the labor that has been done for these companies, yet their opinions are being left out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a big methodological weakness of the surveys,” Schor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schor and her research team have interviewed hundreds of gig workers over the years, ethnographic data that can capture what a survey doesn’t. She says there is actually a lot of consistency in what drivers want. They want to be autonomous and have flexibility, but they also want to earn enough that they can pay their bills, buy insurance, and have money set aside if something goes wrong. Schor said she thinks a lot of gig workers in California are answering surveys with what they wish they could have: independent status and enough money to truly be their own bosses. \u003ca href=\"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3488009\">Veena Dubal wrote an entire academic paper unpacking all of this\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driver Noemi Torres agreed with Schor’s conclusions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to be independent contractors, but Uber doesn’t treat us like independent contractors,” said Torres, who has been driving for seven years outside of North Hollywood. “Initially, we would get paid enough to support ourselves in terms of getting our own health insurance, but since they keep lowering the rates, you don’t have the flexibility.” She opposes Proposition 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drivers who support Proposition 22 often don’t sound that different when it comes to what they want. They just believe the ballot proposition can get it for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I decided to vote yes on Prop. 22, because it would allow me and my fellow drivers to retain the flexibility we need while ensuring we get the benefits and protections we deserve,” said Dave Thomasson, a driver from West Covina.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"directtovoter\">\u003c/a>Unprecedented Direct-to-Voter Connection\u003c/h1>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843415\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1317\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad-800x549.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad-1020x700.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/LyftAppProp22Ad-1536x1054.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Lyft app displays a message asking users to vote yes on Proposition 22. \u003ccite>(JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last month, Hector Castellanos started seeing the pop-ups while driving for Uber. Under a dialog box emblazoned with “Prop. 22 is progress,” Castellanos had to click either “Yes on Prop. 22” or “OK” to proceed with his ride. At the same time, his riders were getting pop ups that said their drivers support Prop. 22 and that they should talk with them about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castellanos drives full-time, and throughout the day kept seeing the pop up again and again. Castellanos opposes Proposition 22 and he didn’t want to have to click yes or OK, but he had no option. “Drivers have to click ‘yes’ even if they don’t want it,” he said. “They have to click yes or OK.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Uber spokesperson Davis White said Castellanos’s experience is not the norm, and that drivers should only see the pop up once when signing off the app, and that the pop up has been changed so drivers can just close it without selecting an answer. \u003ca href=\"https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20398520-uber-prop-22-complaint\">Castellanos and another driver are now suing\u003c/a> Uber for allegedly infringing on their right to be free of political coercion at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber’s popups are an example of the unprecedented advantage gig companies have in this ballot campaign: their own apps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With their apps already used by millions of California workers and consumers, proponents of no other ballot proposition have ever had direct-to-voter connection at this scale — and gig companies are using the opportunity. They’re sending emails, push notifications to phones and using pop-ups to continually send the pro-Prop. 22 message directly to their customers and workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Lyft and Uber have been particularly aggressive in using apps to market Prop. 22 to customers. In the Uber app, riders will see a little blue text bubble coming out of the car image that says “Yes on 22.” Uber is sending push notifications that pop up on phones saying things like “Vote early on Prop. 22. Support drivers and help keep Uber in your city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11842964/gig-companies-are-making-their-workers-promote-prop-22\">gig companies are also pressuring their workers\u003c/a> to spread pro-Prop. 22 messages to consumers. In October, Instacart asked workers through the app to put pro-Prop. 22 stickers in customers’ orders at a Bay Area store. The sticker said “Yes 22, Save App-Based Jobs and Services.” DoorDash is providing free delivery bags to restaurants that have Prop. 22 ads on their sides. Then workers have to use these bags to bring food to customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After backlash online, Instacart is no longer asking workers to add stickers to orders. But DoorDash is continuing to send pro-Prop. 22 delivery bags to restaurants. The company says restaurants have requested over 4 million bags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This widespread use of apps to spread messages is unprecedented in a proposition campaign, and it could prove to be a powerful tactic that other corporations want to emulate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is the holy grail of political communication,” said David McCuan, professor of political science at Sonoma State University who has been studying ballot propositions for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the gig companies are successful in getting Prop. 22 passed, McCuan said it could change the way ballot initiatives are fought in California. Companies with apps and money to leverage them may see ballot initiatives as a worthwhile way to get their policies enacted if this campaign shows that apps can be used to sway voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1>\u003ca id=\"ramifications\">\u003c/a>The Ramifications\u003c/h1>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 22 fails, gig companies would have to reclassify workers as employees. That could mean redirecting more revenue to pay for basic employee protections, increasing fares and increased requirements to work on these apps, especially for more casual, part-time drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gig companies could be responsible for years of back pay, lost benefits, taxes and unpaid unemployment insurance, which could be an especially big deal for Uber and Lyft. \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/press-release-what-would-uber-and-lyft-owe-to-the-state-unemployment-insurance-fund/#:~:text=BERKELEY%2C%20CA%20%E2%80%94%20A%20new%20report,Fund%20between%202014%20and%202019.\">A report from UC Berkeley’s Labor Center\u003c/a> estimates they could owe as much as $413 million for the period between 2014 to 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber has said prices \u003ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-fares-double-small-cities-if-voters-reject-prop-22-2020-10\">could double in small cities\u003c/a>. The Yes on Prop. 22 campaign has suggested that 80% to 90% of drivers could lose work. Given the lack of data from gig companies, it is hard to know how much each would have to change their prices or operations. Also Uber and Lyft are still not profitable, so some change is bound to happen to their services regardless of what happens with Proposition 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gig companies have also said they could leave California temporarily. In the past, Uber and Lyft have left places like Austin in order to urge lawmakers to overturn regulations they didn’t like. The companies have always come back, and they’ve never pulled out of a market as big as California. \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/tusk-venture-partners/initial-thoughts-on-what-the-2020-election-means-for-you-b7d8200b1bf6\">Bradley Tusk is a former political advisor to Uber, and he assumes\u003c/a> gig companies would use their billions of dollars to continue appealing to the Legislature and to voters to find a way to maintain their gig contractor model if Prop. 22 fails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 22 passes, California would have a third category of worker — the gig contractor — enshrined in law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gig companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart would get a carve out from state labor law and would be allowed to classify workers as gig contractors, thereby denying them basic employee benefits. The door would be open for other companies to develop apps to take advantage of this new gig worker category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measure would become the \u003ca href=\"#written\">hardest statute to amend\u003c/a> in California history, and local governments would have no power to enact laws that provide gig workers with additional benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would \u003ca href=\"#directtovoter\">establish a playbook\u003c/a> for other companies that want to use an app to market a ballot initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A handful of companies will have proven that they can use a ballot initiative to maintain a business practice that has been deemed illegal either directly or indirectly by all three branches of California’s government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There would certainly be lawsuits over things like the 7/8ths provision, but barring a new ballot proposition or a major legal victory, gig workers would have to continue working without basic employee protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Even as gig companies \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_22,_App-Based_Drivers_as_Contractors_and_Labor_Policies_Initiative_(2020)\">spend a record amount\u003c/a> of advertising money on Proposition 22, they’re making their gig workers help them market the ballot initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proposition 22 would create a carve out from \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5\">California labor law\u003c/a> to allow a handful of gig companies to continue classifying their workers as contractors, making them ineligible for employee protections and benefits like unemployment insurance and workers compensation. Lyft, Uber, Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates have spent almost $200 million on the pro-Proposition 22 campaign. Where does the money go? Ads, obviously, and political consultants – but it’s also going to in-app messages, flyers and takeout packaging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"William Gould, Stanford University law professor\"]‘If ever there was compelled speech, and an interference with a right of freedom of speech, which is protected in California for private sector workers, this is it.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve taken a ride with Uber or Lyft recently, you’ve probably seen a pro-Proposition 22 ad in the app. That marketing is also directed at drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month at work, Hector Castellanos started seeing it while he was driving for Uber. Under a dialog box emblazoned with “Prop 22 is progress,” Castellanos had to click either “Yes on Prop 22” or “Okay.” At the same time, his riders were getting pop ups that said their drivers support Proposition 22 and that they should talk with them about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843019\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 577px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843019\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Pop-Up-Drivers-e1603233411510.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"577\" height=\"575\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Pop-Up-Drivers-e1603233411510.jpeg 577w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Pop-Up-Drivers-e1603233411510-160x159.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot from Uber driver Hector Castellanos’ phone. There was no option for him to click ‘no’ to close the pop up. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Hector Castellanos)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Castellanos drives full-time, and throughout the work day, he kept seeing the pop up again and again. “Drivers have to click ‘yes’ even if they don’t want it,” he said. “They have to click yes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was particularly upsetting to Castellanos because he opposes Proposition 22. A few years ago, he got into an accident while driving for Lyft and needed surgery on his shoulder. He couldn’t work for eight months, and because he is not an employee, he did not get worker’s compensation. His oldest daughter had to drop out of college and go to work to help the family pay the bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was something that really got to my heart,” Castellanos says, “I was probably just one case in thousands like me.” He decided drivers like him had to be employees to get basic protections like guaranteed minimum wage and workers compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An Uber spokesperson says the company changed the pop up recently to be more informational and give drivers an option to close it. Also, the spokesperson said that the pop up should have only appeared one time when drivers go offline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But drivers sometimes log off when they switch between all different apps they work for, which means they could have to click through the pop up repeatedly. Castellanos estimates that he was seeing it 25 or 30 times a day.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/SamWHarnett/status/1318289882347786240?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber isn’t the only company using workers to spread pro-Proposition 22 messages to consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kp5yq/instacart-asked-its-gig-workers-to-distribute-propaganda-that-would-hurt-them\">Instacart asked workers through the app\u003c/a> to put pro-Proposition 22 stickers in customers’ orders at a Bay Area store. \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/10/16/21520005/doordash-prop-22-gig-workers-ab5-apps\">DoorDash is providing free pro-Proposition 22 food delivery bags\u003c/a> to restaurants, which workers then have to use to bring food to customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11842965\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11842965\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-470x470.jpg 470w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the millions of pro-Proposition 22 delivery bags that DoorDash sent to restaurants, and that gig workers have to use to deliver food to customers. \u003ccite>(DoorDash)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Stanford law professor William Gould says all three of these instances could be violating the protected speech of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If ever there was compelled speech, and an interference with a right of freedom of speech, which is protected in California for private sector workers, this is it,” Gould said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federally these workers have little protection. Since the Supreme Court protected the speech of corporations as if they were people in its 2010 Citizens United decision, companies have had far more ability to \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/07/politics-at-work-employee-mobilization-lobbying\">mobilize their workers toward particular political goals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However what these gig companies have made workers do “could be in violation of California \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1101&lawCode=LAB\">labor code sections 1101 and 1102\u003c/a>,” said David Levine, a law professor at UC Hastings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those sections prevent an employer from attempting to control or direct the political activities or affiliations of their employees. The gig companies contend their workers are actually contractors not employees – which means they would not be protected by these sections of the labor code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, that very employment status is the central issue at stake with Proposition 22 – and if it passes, gig companies would have a much easier time having workers distribute political materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the assertion that distributing these materials infringed on freedom of speech, a spokesperson for the Yes on Prop. 22 campaign said “Each company is communicating with their customers in various ways because of the high stakes in this election.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After backlash online, Instacart is no longer asking workers to add stickers to orders. But DoorDash is continuing to send pro-Prop. 22 delivery bags to restaurants. The company says it has sent more than 4 million of the bags to over 600 restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Update: \u003c/em>\u003cem>A spokesperson for DoorDash says more than 4 million bags have been requested by restaurants, but that the company has only sent out around 150 thousand.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Even as gig companies \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_22,_App-Based_Drivers_as_Contractors_and_Labor_Policies_Initiative_(2020)\">spend a record amount\u003c/a> of advertising money on Proposition 22, they’re making their gig workers help them market the ballot initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proposition 22 would create a carve out from \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5\">California labor law\u003c/a> to allow a handful of gig companies to continue classifying their workers as contractors, making them ineligible for employee protections and benefits like unemployment insurance and workers compensation. Lyft, Uber, Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates have spent almost $200 million on the pro-Proposition 22 campaign. Where does the money go? Ads, obviously, and political consultants – but it’s also going to in-app messages, flyers and takeout packaging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve taken a ride with Uber or Lyft recently, you’ve probably seen a pro-Proposition 22 ad in the app. That marketing is also directed at drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month at work, Hector Castellanos started seeing it while he was driving for Uber. Under a dialog box emblazoned with “Prop 22 is progress,” Castellanos had to click either “Yes on Prop 22” or “Okay.” At the same time, his riders were getting pop ups that said their drivers support Proposition 22 and that they should talk with them about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843019\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 577px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843019\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Pop-Up-Drivers-e1603233411510.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"577\" height=\"575\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Pop-Up-Drivers-e1603233411510.jpeg 577w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Pop-Up-Drivers-e1603233411510-160x159.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot from Uber driver Hector Castellanos’ phone. There was no option for him to click ‘no’ to close the pop up. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Hector Castellanos)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Castellanos drives full-time, and throughout the work day, he kept seeing the pop up again and again. “Drivers have to click ‘yes’ even if they don’t want it,” he said. “They have to click yes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was particularly upsetting to Castellanos because he opposes Proposition 22. A few years ago, he got into an accident while driving for Lyft and needed surgery on his shoulder. He couldn’t work for eight months, and because he is not an employee, he did not get worker’s compensation. His oldest daughter had to drop out of college and go to work to help the family pay the bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was something that really got to my heart,” Castellanos says, “I was probably just one case in thousands like me.” He decided drivers like him had to be employees to get basic protections like guaranteed minimum wage and workers compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An Uber spokesperson says the company changed the pop up recently to be more informational and give drivers an option to close it. Also, the spokesperson said that the pop up should have only appeared one time when drivers go offline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But drivers sometimes log off when they switch between all different apps they work for, which means they could have to click through the pop up repeatedly. Castellanos estimates that he was seeing it 25 or 30 times a day.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber isn’t the only company using workers to spread pro-Proposition 22 messages to consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kp5yq/instacart-asked-its-gig-workers-to-distribute-propaganda-that-would-hurt-them\">Instacart asked workers through the app\u003c/a> to put pro-Proposition 22 stickers in customers’ orders at a Bay Area store. \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/10/16/21520005/doordash-prop-22-gig-workers-ab5-apps\">DoorDash is providing free pro-Proposition 22 food delivery bags\u003c/a> to restaurants, which workers then have to use to bring food to customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11842965\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11842965\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/Prop-22-Bags-470x470.jpg 470w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the millions of pro-Proposition 22 delivery bags that DoorDash sent to restaurants, and that gig workers have to use to deliver food to customers. \u003ccite>(DoorDash)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Stanford law professor William Gould says all three of these instances could be violating the protected speech of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If ever there was compelled speech, and an interference with a right of freedom of speech, which is protected in California for private sector workers, this is it,” Gould said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federally these workers have little protection. Since the Supreme Court protected the speech of corporations as if they were people in its 2010 Citizens United decision, companies have had far more ability to \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/07/politics-at-work-employee-mobilization-lobbying\">mobilize their workers toward particular political goals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However what these gig companies have made workers do “could be in violation of California \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1101&lawCode=LAB\">labor code sections 1101 and 1102\u003c/a>,” said David Levine, a law professor at UC Hastings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those sections prevent an employer from attempting to control or direct the political activities or affiliations of their employees. The gig companies contend their workers are actually contractors not employees – which means they would not be protected by these sections of the labor code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, that very employment status is the central issue at stake with Proposition 22 – and if it passes, gig companies would have a much easier time having workers distribute political materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the assertion that distributing these materials infringed on freedom of speech, a spokesperson for the Yes on Prop. 22 campaign said “Each company is communicating with their customers in various ways because of the high stakes in this election.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After backlash online, Instacart is no longer asking workers to add stickers to orders. But DoorDash is continuing to send pro-Prop. 22 delivery bags to restaurants. The company says it has sent more than 4 million of the bags to over 600 restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Update: \u003c/em>\u003cem>A spokesperson for DoorDash says more than 4 million bags have been requested by restaurants, but that the company has only sent out around 150 thousand.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s not every day a worker in the tech sector will speak on the record, let alone two dozen of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies like Google, Facebook and Apple make workers sign nondisclosure agreements, and typically demand employees run all media requests through their human resources departments. On top of that, workers who do make public remarks have no union to protect them from being fired if the company is unhappy with what they say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I once had an eyewitness at a fire in San Francisco decline to give a comment because he worked at Apple. As the apartment building burned in front of us, he told me he’d be uncomfortable commenting unless his managers signed off on the statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Clarissa Redwine\"]‘Having power and having a voice in the workplace are different things. A lot of us feel like we have a voice and can speak up, but does that actually change anything?’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the story is different at Kickstarter, where over 24 current and former employees have given lengthy interviews about their experiences working for the crowdfunding platform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The interviews are featured in “\u003ca href=\"https://eclive.engelberg.center/\">Kickstarter Union: Oral History\u003c/a>,” a recently released podcast by former employee Clarissa Redwine that documents how workers at the company succeeded earlier this year in forming \u003ca href=\"https://kickstarterunited.org/\">the first white-collar union\u003c/a> at a tech startup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine says the effort led to her and others being forced out of the company. But now that the union is there, she says, workers have more power and protection to speak out in public.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Organizing Challenges\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The story of what happened at Kickstarter shows how difficult it is to organize workers at a company that primarily relies on programming and the internet to do business, and the unique challenges involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine says she hopes her oral history project encourages other tech workers to unionize and provides a roadmap for them to avoid the pitfalls that stymied her team. The interviews and recordings she has gathered provide a unique inside look at a modern tech company from the perspective of those who are usually unable or unwilling to tell their stories publicly.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Clarissa’s Path\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In 2015, Redwine got her dream job at Kickstarter, managing fundraising projects in the tech and design category. “I was ecstatic,” she said. “When I got the email that I would be joining Kickstarter, I flipped out. I was so excited.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11841339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11841339\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1-632x474.png 632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1-536x402.png 536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clarissa Redwine making ramen for her co-workers in the Kickstarter kitchen (when she still worked there). \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Clarissa Redwine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, five years later, Redwine is not even working in tech anymore — she’s a fellow at New York University, where she’s producing the podcast project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Redwine got into the tech industry, she never expected things would play out like this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t necessarily have a strong understanding that the way that tech is traditionally infused with capital is harmful,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Kickstarter, Redwine felt empowered, she recalls, like she was doing important work. And she was content with the job for her first three years there — up until the “Always Punch Nazis” incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Power Struggle\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“Always Punch Nazis” is a comic book. In 2018, its writers were trying to raise money on Kickstarter, and they posted a video with dramatic music and images of cartoon characters punching Nazis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last year or so, there had been growing unrest at the company. The former CEO, Perry Chen, had returned after a four-year hiatus, and not all employees were happy about it. \u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/kickstarter-perry-chen-founder-worship-turmoil\">In interviews with Buzzfeed\u003c/a>, some employees accused Chen of being domineering and making unilateral decisions, and about 50 of them either left or were fired shortly after his return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it was the “Always Punch Nazis” situation that brought tensions at the company to a boiling point and that would eventually catalyze the union organizing effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the fundraising page for the comic appeared on Kickstarter in August 2018, bloggers for the right-wing website Breitbart began complaining that the comic promoted violence and violated the company’s guidelines. In response, Kickstarter management said they’d take the project down. But many employees advocated for it to remain up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine has a recording of an emergency meeting at the height of the controversy. One employee stood up and said, “I just want to put on the record that not all of us are happy about this. This is super not chill and there is no other way to describe the feeling of being told in a room why we should be okay with this decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employees eventually pressured the company to keep the project on the site. But, according to Redwine, managers started retaliating against some of the employees involved, reprimanding them for publicly speaking out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The whole episode got Redwine and others thinking about how little power they actually had at the company; when it came to making big decisions, employees wouldn’t actually have much say unless they banded together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having power and having a voice in the workplace are different things,” Redwine said. “A lot of us feel like we have a voice and can speak up, but does that actually change anything? Through this experience, I learned no, no it doesn’t. It doesn’t change anything unless you link arms with your fellow co-workers, and use your collective power to challenge management.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Banding Together\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Redwine and others started meeting at a co-worker’s apartment — a tiny studio just around the corner from Kickstarter’s offices. They’d cram in and talk about what was bugging them at the company. In addition to the recent incidents, some of them also voiced concern about recent hiring and firing decisions, and the dearth of women and people of color in senior management. The issues varied, but it all boiled down to a general lack of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"tech-industry\"]Although Kickstarter was then a company of less than 100 people, the issues raised by its employees were concerns shared by many workers at larger tech companies. For instance, during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11714714/time-is-up-employee-unrest-grows-at-silicon-valley-companies\">Google Walkout in 2018 \u003c/a>a worker took the stage and said, “We demand structural change. We demand transparency, accountability and equity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google employees have since spoken out against the company’s contracts with the U.S. military, its two-tier class system that separates employees and contractor and sexual harassment issues. But unlike Kickstarter, Google workers have never come close to forming a union.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Getting the Ball Rolling\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>At the meetings in the cramped studio, the group of Kickstarter employees decided they should affiliate with the Office and Professional Employees International Union. Redwine said OPEIU seemed the most committed to helping them unionize and using the effort as a template for organizing workers at other tech firms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine and her co-workers presumed Kickstarter management would embrace the union or at least not actively fight against it. Many of them believed the company truly did strive to have a less hierarchical management structure, as they had consistently claimed. But OPEIU advisors warned them not to be so trusting, and Redwine says they were right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Redwine describes it, management got wind of the organizing effort and started to push back. In meetings, she says, managers spoke about how Kickstarter didn’t need a union, and sent around emails to staff trying to dissuade organizing efforts. Management then outed the unionizing effort, announcing it to the whole company before organizers had contacted everyone individually, she says. And that’s when the group realized management was going to aggressively fight the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, it’s like, ‘Fool me once, fool me twice…’ I think we got to like fool me 10 times,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kickstarter denies that it was opposed to the organizing effort. In a statement for this story, a Kickstarter spokesperson said, “We fully support and respect our staff’s decision to unionize earlier this year, and we’re proud of the fair and democratic process that got us to where we are today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11841340\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1290px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11841340\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1290\" height=\"860\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2.png 1290w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2-1020x680.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2-160x107.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clarissa Redwine giving a talk at Kickstarter headquarters. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Clarissa Redwine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Redwine says to pull off the union, they had to convince the software engineers to join. Much like in other tech firms, engineers — who keep the tech running — have far more power than employees in sales or marketing, and typically receive better pay and perks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group worked hard to get engineers on board, Redwine says, and after a concerted outreach effort, managed to convince many of them to join the cause. In the end, employees voted 46-to-37 in favor of unionizing, and in February officially formed \u003ca href=\"https://kickstarterunited.org/\">Kickstarter United\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Personal Loss, Group Gain\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Employees who are still with the company say that because of the union, management has been more receptive to worker grievances, especially now during the pandemic. Employees were able to ensure that staff who got laid off received severance packages and are currently in the process of hammering out a collective bargaining agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the formation of the union came at a cost to individual workers. Last fall, the company fired or pushed out three organizers, herself included. She says she was fired after a complaint by her manager following a meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine was shocked. She had just had one of the best sales quarters of her career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whenever I think back on it, I think it was a little bit of that classic tech culture individualism that made me feel a little more confident than I should have been,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a spokesperson for Kickstarter said that Redwine was “terminated for legitimate issues that were well documented long before any organizing effort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine’s colleague and fellow organizer Taylor Moore was fired around the same time she was. Last month, the National Labor Relations Board found sufficient evidence that Kickstarter retaliated against Moore for his organizing work. According to Vice News, \u003ca href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/article/xg8n37/kickstarter-settles-complaint-that-it-retaliated-against-union-organizer\">the company recently settled with Moore\u003c/a>, compensating him for more than $36,000 in backpay.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Lessons Learned\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the end, the union did bring Kickstarter managers to the bargaining table. But the larger goal was always to inspire other tech workers to organize, Redwine says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hopes the new podcast will help other tech worker organizers avoid the mistakes that she and her co-workers made, like trusting their company’s management and thinking it would be easy to undo existing hierarchies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups like the \u003ca href=\"https://techworkerscoalition.org/\">Tech Workers Coalition\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.gameworkersunite.org/\">Game Workers Unite\u003c/a> are trying. They just had success in England, \u003ca href=\"https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/g5p333/uk-tech-workers-launch-first-national-effort-to-unionize-tech-industry\">where several dozen tech workers joined\u003c/a> the Communications Workers Union. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.uniglobalunion.org/news/after-500-days-striking-oracle-korea-workers-union-win-a-recognition-agreement\">in South Korea\u003c/a>, programmers working for companies like Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Oracle are unionized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, though, workers at only one other U.S. tech company have successfully followed Kickstarter’s example: the 50 employees at the video game company Glitch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s not every day a worker in the tech sector will speak on the record, let alone two dozen of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies like Google, Facebook and Apple make workers sign nondisclosure agreements, and typically demand employees run all media requests through their human resources departments. On top of that, workers who do make public remarks have no union to protect them from being fired if the company is unhappy with what they say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I once had an eyewitness at a fire in San Francisco decline to give a comment because he worked at Apple. As the apartment building burned in front of us, he told me he’d be uncomfortable commenting unless his managers signed off on the statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the story is different at Kickstarter, where over 24 current and former employees have given lengthy interviews about their experiences working for the crowdfunding platform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The interviews are featured in “\u003ca href=\"https://eclive.engelberg.center/\">Kickstarter Union: Oral History\u003c/a>,” a recently released podcast by former employee Clarissa Redwine that documents how workers at the company succeeded earlier this year in forming \u003ca href=\"https://kickstarterunited.org/\">the first white-collar union\u003c/a> at a tech startup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine says the effort led to her and others being forced out of the company. But now that the union is there, she says, workers have more power and protection to speak out in public.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Organizing Challenges\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The story of what happened at Kickstarter shows how difficult it is to organize workers at a company that primarily relies on programming and the internet to do business, and the unique challenges involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine says she hopes her oral history project encourages other tech workers to unionize and provides a roadmap for them to avoid the pitfalls that stymied her team. The interviews and recordings she has gathered provide a unique inside look at a modern tech company from the perspective of those who are usually unable or unwilling to tell their stories publicly.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Clarissa’s Path\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In 2015, Redwine got her dream job at Kickstarter, managing fundraising projects in the tech and design category. “I was ecstatic,” she said. “When I got the email that I would be joining Kickstarter, I flipped out. I was so excited.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11841339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11841339\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1-632x474.png 632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine1-536x402.png 536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clarissa Redwine making ramen for her co-workers in the Kickstarter kitchen (when she still worked there). \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Clarissa Redwine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, five years later, Redwine is not even working in tech anymore — she’s a fellow at New York University, where she’s producing the podcast project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Redwine got into the tech industry, she never expected things would play out like this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t necessarily have a strong understanding that the way that tech is traditionally infused with capital is harmful,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Kickstarter, Redwine felt empowered, she recalls, like she was doing important work. And she was content with the job for her first three years there — up until the “Always Punch Nazis” incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Power Struggle\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“Always Punch Nazis” is a comic book. In 2018, its writers were trying to raise money on Kickstarter, and they posted a video with dramatic music and images of cartoon characters punching Nazis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last year or so, there had been growing unrest at the company. The former CEO, Perry Chen, had returned after a four-year hiatus, and not all employees were happy about it. \u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/kickstarter-perry-chen-founder-worship-turmoil\">In interviews with Buzzfeed\u003c/a>, some employees accused Chen of being domineering and making unilateral decisions, and about 50 of them either left or were fired shortly after his return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it was the “Always Punch Nazis” situation that brought tensions at the company to a boiling point and that would eventually catalyze the union organizing effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the fundraising page for the comic appeared on Kickstarter in August 2018, bloggers for the right-wing website Breitbart began complaining that the comic promoted violence and violated the company’s guidelines. In response, Kickstarter management said they’d take the project down. But many employees advocated for it to remain up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine has a recording of an emergency meeting at the height of the controversy. One employee stood up and said, “I just want to put on the record that not all of us are happy about this. This is super not chill and there is no other way to describe the feeling of being told in a room why we should be okay with this decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employees eventually pressured the company to keep the project on the site. But, according to Redwine, managers started retaliating against some of the employees involved, reprimanding them for publicly speaking out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The whole episode got Redwine and others thinking about how little power they actually had at the company; when it came to making big decisions, employees wouldn’t actually have much say unless they banded together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having power and having a voice in the workplace are different things,” Redwine said. “A lot of us feel like we have a voice and can speak up, but does that actually change anything? Through this experience, I learned no, no it doesn’t. It doesn’t change anything unless you link arms with your fellow co-workers, and use your collective power to challenge management.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Banding Together\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Redwine and others started meeting at a co-worker’s apartment — a tiny studio just around the corner from Kickstarter’s offices. They’d cram in and talk about what was bugging them at the company. In addition to the recent incidents, some of them also voiced concern about recent hiring and firing decisions, and the dearth of women and people of color in senior management. The issues varied, but it all boiled down to a general lack of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Although Kickstarter was then a company of less than 100 people, the issues raised by its employees were concerns shared by many workers at larger tech companies. For instance, during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11714714/time-is-up-employee-unrest-grows-at-silicon-valley-companies\">Google Walkout in 2018 \u003c/a>a worker took the stage and said, “We demand structural change. We demand transparency, accountability and equity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google employees have since spoken out against the company’s contracts with the U.S. military, its two-tier class system that separates employees and contractor and sexual harassment issues. But unlike Kickstarter, Google workers have never come close to forming a union.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Getting the Ball Rolling\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>At the meetings in the cramped studio, the group of Kickstarter employees decided they should affiliate with the Office and Professional Employees International Union. Redwine said OPEIU seemed the most committed to helping them unionize and using the effort as a template for organizing workers at other tech firms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine and her co-workers presumed Kickstarter management would embrace the union or at least not actively fight against it. Many of them believed the company truly did strive to have a less hierarchical management structure, as they had consistently claimed. But OPEIU advisors warned them not to be so trusting, and Redwine says they were right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Redwine describes it, management got wind of the organizing effort and started to push back. In meetings, she says, managers spoke about how Kickstarter didn’t need a union, and sent around emails to staff trying to dissuade organizing efforts. Management then outed the unionizing effort, announcing it to the whole company before organizers had contacted everyone individually, she says. And that’s when the group realized management was going to aggressively fight the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, it’s like, ‘Fool me once, fool me twice…’ I think we got to like fool me 10 times,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kickstarter denies that it was opposed to the organizing effort. In a statement for this story, a Kickstarter spokesperson said, “We fully support and respect our staff’s decision to unionize earlier this year, and we’re proud of the fair and democratic process that got us to where we are today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11841340\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1290px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11841340\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1290\" height=\"860\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2.png 1290w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2-1020x680.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/redwine2-160x107.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clarissa Redwine giving a talk at Kickstarter headquarters. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Clarissa Redwine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Redwine says to pull off the union, they had to convince the software engineers to join. Much like in other tech firms, engineers — who keep the tech running — have far more power than employees in sales or marketing, and typically receive better pay and perks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group worked hard to get engineers on board, Redwine says, and after a concerted outreach effort, managed to convince many of them to join the cause. In the end, employees voted 46-to-37 in favor of unionizing, and in February officially formed \u003ca href=\"https://kickstarterunited.org/\">Kickstarter United\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Personal Loss, Group Gain\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Employees who are still with the company say that because of the union, management has been more receptive to worker grievances, especially now during the pandemic. Employees were able to ensure that staff who got laid off received severance packages and are currently in the process of hammering out a collective bargaining agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the formation of the union came at a cost to individual workers. Last fall, the company fired or pushed out three organizers, herself included. She says she was fired after a complaint by her manager following a meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine was shocked. She had just had one of the best sales quarters of her career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whenever I think back on it, I think it was a little bit of that classic tech culture individualism that made me feel a little more confident than I should have been,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a spokesperson for Kickstarter said that Redwine was “terminated for legitimate issues that were well documented long before any organizing effort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redwine’s colleague and fellow organizer Taylor Moore was fired around the same time she was. Last month, the National Labor Relations Board found sufficient evidence that Kickstarter retaliated against Moore for his organizing work. According to Vice News, \u003ca href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/article/xg8n37/kickstarter-settles-complaint-that-it-retaliated-against-union-organizer\">the company recently settled with Moore\u003c/a>, compensating him for more than $36,000 in backpay.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Lessons Learned\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the end, the union did bring Kickstarter managers to the bargaining table. But the larger goal was always to inspire other tech workers to organize, Redwine says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hopes the new podcast will help other tech worker organizers avoid the mistakes that she and her co-workers made, like trusting their company’s management and thinking it would be easy to undo existing hierarchies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups like the \u003ca href=\"https://techworkerscoalition.org/\">Tech Workers Coalition\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.gameworkersunite.org/\">Game Workers Unite\u003c/a> are trying. They just had success in England, \u003ca href=\"https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/g5p333/uk-tech-workers-launch-first-national-effort-to-unionize-tech-industry\">where several dozen tech workers joined\u003c/a> the Communications Workers Union. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.uniglobalunion.org/news/after-500-days-striking-oracle-korea-workers-union-win-a-recognition-agreement\">in South Korea\u003c/a>, programmers working for companies like Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Oracle are unionized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, though, workers at only one other U.S. tech company have successfully followed Kickstarter’s example: the 50 employees at the video game company Glitch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California companies must warn their workers of any potential exposure to the coronavirus and must pay their employees workers compensation benefits if they get sick with the disease under two laws that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom, a Democrat, signed the laws over the objections of business groups, who have said they are “unworkable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1159\">One of the laws\u003c/a> makes people who have the coronavirus eligible for workers compensation benefits. It takes effect immediately and applies to all workers in the state, but it treats first responders and health care workers differently than other employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police officers, firefighters and health care workers — including janitors who are in contact with COVID-19 patients — are eligible if they get infected while on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All other workers are eligible only if their workplaces experience an outbreak. For companies with between five and 100 employees, the law defines an outbreak as four or more infected workers who work at the same location within a two-week period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For companies with more than 100 employees, outbreaks are defined as at least 4% of workers working in the same location being infected during a two-week period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rules for first responders and health care workers are permanent. The rules for everyone else expire on Jan. 1, 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers don’t have to prove they were infected on the job to get benefits because the law assumes they got it while working. Instead, employers must prove that their workers did not get the virus while on the job to deny coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/CAgovernor/status/1306669752908017664?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to the state Legislature last month, business groups said they supported that for first responders and other groups at high risk of contracting the disease. But they said it wasn’t fair to do that for other occupations with a lower risk of infection. They called the law “unworkable for employers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom signed the law, authored by state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, during a Zoom call with supporters, including labor union leaders and members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monique Hernandez, a nurse, said nine of her fellow nurses were infected, though she works in an area called a “clean unit” where she does not have contact with coronavirus patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no such thing as a clean unit when it comes to COVID-19,” she said. “I took that very personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB685\">The second law\u003c/a> that Newsom signed mandates that companies tell employees if they have been exposed to someone who has either tested positive, been ordered to isolate or died because of the virus. That law, authored by Assemblywoman Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, takes effect Jan. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies must do so within one business day of learning of the exposures or they can face fines issued by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, opposed the bill because they said the law is vague and will be difficult for businesses to comply with, resulting in “good employers” facing hefty fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom countered that the two laws “prioritize our workforce,” including front-line workers he said politicians “pay a lot of lip service to, but often we don’t back up.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In a letter to the state Legislature last month, business groups said they supported that for first responders and other groups at high risk of contracting the disease. But they said it wasn’t fair to do that for other occupations with a lower risk of infection. They called the law “unworkable for employers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom signed the law, authored by state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, during a Zoom call with supporters, including labor union leaders and members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monique Hernandez, a nurse, said nine of her fellow nurses were infected, though she works in an area called a “clean unit” where she does not have contact with coronavirus patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no such thing as a clean unit when it comes to COVID-19,” she said. “I took that very personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB685\">The second law\u003c/a> that Newsom signed mandates that companies tell employees if they have been exposed to someone who has either tested positive, been ordered to isolate or died because of the virus. That law, authored by Assemblywoman Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, takes effect Jan. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies must do so within one business day of learning of the exposures or they can face fines issued by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, opposed the bill because they said the law is vague and will be difficult for businesses to comply with, resulting in “good employers” facing hefty fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom countered that the two laws “prioritize our workforce,” including front-line workers he said politicians “pay a lot of lip service to, but often we don’t back up.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The symptoms for COVID-19 hit Larry Williams pretty fast. He got sweaty, disoriented. His blood pressure dropped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They told me that they feared that I was going to have a heart attack or heart failure,” Williams said by phone from San Quentin State Prison, where he is incarcerated. “They thought I was going to crash.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams, who has underlying health conditions that put him at risk for dying from COVID-19, tested positive for the virus on June 11, a day after a correctional officer asked him to help move hundreds of boxes from the bottom floor of a prison unit to a higher tier. After taking a couple loads, he asked whose belongings they were moving. He said the officer shrugged and told him the property belonged to 121 inmates who had transferred there at the end of May from the California Institution for Men in Chino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty-five of those men subsequently tested positive for the virus, and were believed to be the source of what’s become the largest COVID-19 outbreak in a California prison, infecting more than 1,600 men incarcerated at San Quentin and killing seven.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Larry Williams, COVID-19 survivor incarcerated at San Quentin\"]‘They need to provide a better facility that they can keep COVID-free, because right now, I’m one of the lucky ones.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most inmates at the prison in Marin County are being restricted to dorms or cells to prevent further spread of the virus, some routinely left those cells to provide essential work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dorm porters like Williams clean group living spaces, including inmate’s toilets and showers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most prison jobs pay between $.09 to $1.40 an hour, but Williams said he was not financially compensated for his work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our pay was being able to come out [of our cells], stay out a little extra, being able to use the phone,” he said. “We moved the boxes because we were afraid of losing our privileges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11828235\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11828235\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Williams, who is incarcerated at San Quentin and has underlying health conditions that put him at risk of dying from COVID-19, tested positive for the virus after a correctional officer asked him to help move hundreds of boxes that had belonged to infected inmates transferred from Chino.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1767\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ-800x736.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ-1020x939.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ-160x147.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ-1536x1414.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Larry Williams, who is incarcerated at San Quentin and has underlying health conditions that put him at risk of dying from COVID-19, tested positive for the virus after a correctional officer asked him to help move hundreds of boxes that had belonged to infected inmates transferred from Chino. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Larry Williams)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Dana Simas responded to the allegations in a July 8 email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our top priority is the health and safety of all those who live and work in our state prisons, including the incarcerated population that fulfill critical work assignments,” Simas wrote. “We are taking every precaution possible to protect the critical worker population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those precautions include providing surgical masks during critical workers’ shifts, personal protective equipment if warranted and training on infection control, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an essential worker at San Quentin who cleaned the rooms of COVID-19 patients recently told a filmmaker such protections were not in place for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The worker] told me that his initial COVID training didn’t require them to use masks when they were cleaning areas where people who had been infected had been,” said Adamu Chan on a phone call from San Quentin last week. “Some of his coworkers had become infected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan, who makes films about life at the prison through the nonprofit program \u003ca href=\"https://restorecal.org/firstwatch/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">First Watch\u003c/a>, recently interviewed a member of a team that cleaned COVID-19 treatment rooms. That worker said he felt the team had been coerced into going into dangerous sections of the prison without proper protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of his coworkers had just stopped going to work because they didn’t feel like it was safe,” Chan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA), a civilian-led program inside California prisons that employed more than 7,000 inmates statewide in 2019, confirmed that some of their workers at San Quentin clean medical treatment rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Though these workers have been deemed ‘critical,’ none are being forced to report to work,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Eres in a July 8 email, which also laid out precautions the program is taking to protect inmates, including providing them with masks, protective eyewear and hand sanitizer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on the type of work assignment, CALPIA said they provided additional protection through Tyvek suits or smocks and N95 masks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='san-quentin']The program directors also encouraged physical distance, Eres wrote, and when working in areas where that was not possible, “CALPIA has utilized barriers between each work area or has reorganized areas to ensure staff and offenders can maintain the six-feet-apart distancing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eres said CALPIA closed programs at San Quentin on June 22 and has shut down 43 other programs at various prisons throughout the state due to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED has also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11827142/lawmakers-want-stronger-covid-19-protections-in-california-prisons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported\u003c/a> on allegations that incarcerated workers at the California Institution for Women in Riverside also contracted the virus while working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At San Quentin, Larry Williams has nearly recovered from COVID-19, and continues to speak out about conditions in the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that the state aims to release thousands of inmates with lower-level offenses soon from San Quentin and other state prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams, a father of four who is serving time in San Quentin for a parole violation, hopes to be one of them. He has nearly recovered from COVID-19, but thinks more should be done to control the outbreak at the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People like me that have underlying health conditions, we should be looked at and possibly allowed to go home on an ankle monitor,” he said. “Or they need to provide a better facility that they can keep us COVID-free, because right now, I’m one of the lucky ones.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The symptoms for COVID-19 hit Larry Williams pretty fast. He got sweaty, disoriented. His blood pressure dropped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They told me that they feared that I was going to have a heart attack or heart failure,” Williams said by phone from San Quentin State Prison, where he is incarcerated. “They thought I was going to crash.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams, who has underlying health conditions that put him at risk for dying from COVID-19, tested positive for the virus on June 11, a day after a correctional officer asked him to help move hundreds of boxes from the bottom floor of a prison unit to a higher tier. After taking a couple loads, he asked whose belongings they were moving. He said the officer shrugged and told him the property belonged to 121 inmates who had transferred there at the end of May from the California Institution for Men in Chino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty-five of those men subsequently tested positive for the virus, and were believed to be the source of what’s become the largest COVID-19 outbreak in a California prison, infecting more than 1,600 men incarcerated at San Quentin and killing seven.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most inmates at the prison in Marin County are being restricted to dorms or cells to prevent further spread of the virus, some routinely left those cells to provide essential work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dorm porters like Williams clean group living spaces, including inmate’s toilets and showers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most prison jobs pay between $.09 to $1.40 an hour, but Williams said he was not financially compensated for his work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our pay was being able to come out [of our cells], stay out a little extra, being able to use the phone,” he said. “We moved the boxes because we were afraid of losing our privileges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11828235\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11828235\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Williams, who is incarcerated at San Quentin and has underlying health conditions that put him at risk of dying from COVID-19, tested positive for the virus after a correctional officer asked him to help move hundreds of boxes that had belonged to infected inmates transferred from Chino.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1767\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ-800x736.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ-1020x939.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ-160x147.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/Larry-Williams-caught-Covid-19-at-SQ-1536x1414.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Larry Williams, who is incarcerated at San Quentin and has underlying health conditions that put him at risk of dying from COVID-19, tested positive for the virus after a correctional officer asked him to help move hundreds of boxes that had belonged to infected inmates transferred from Chino. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Larry Williams)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Dana Simas responded to the allegations in a July 8 email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our top priority is the health and safety of all those who live and work in our state prisons, including the incarcerated population that fulfill critical work assignments,” Simas wrote. “We are taking every precaution possible to protect the critical worker population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those precautions include providing surgical masks during critical workers’ shifts, personal protective equipment if warranted and training on infection control, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an essential worker at San Quentin who cleaned the rooms of COVID-19 patients recently told a filmmaker such protections were not in place for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The worker] told me that his initial COVID training didn’t require them to use masks when they were cleaning areas where people who had been infected had been,” said Adamu Chan on a phone call from San Quentin last week. “Some of his coworkers had become infected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan, who makes films about life at the prison through the nonprofit program \u003ca href=\"https://restorecal.org/firstwatch/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">First Watch\u003c/a>, recently interviewed a member of a team that cleaned COVID-19 treatment rooms. That worker said he felt the team had been coerced into going into dangerous sections of the prison without proper protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of his coworkers had just stopped going to work because they didn’t feel like it was safe,” Chan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA), a civilian-led program inside California prisons that employed more than 7,000 inmates statewide in 2019, confirmed that some of their workers at San Quentin clean medical treatment rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Though these workers have been deemed ‘critical,’ none are being forced to report to work,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Eres in a July 8 email, which also laid out precautions the program is taking to protect inmates, including providing them with masks, protective eyewear and hand sanitizer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on the type of work assignment, CALPIA said they provided additional protection through Tyvek suits or smocks and N95 masks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The program directors also encouraged physical distance, Eres wrote, and when working in areas where that was not possible, “CALPIA has utilized barriers between each work area or has reorganized areas to ensure staff and offenders can maintain the six-feet-apart distancing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eres said CALPIA closed programs at San Quentin on June 22 and has shut down 43 other programs at various prisons throughout the state due to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED has also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11827142/lawmakers-want-stronger-covid-19-protections-in-california-prisons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported\u003c/a> on allegations that incarcerated workers at the California Institution for Women in Riverside also contracted the virus while working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At San Quentin, Larry Williams has nearly recovered from COVID-19, and continues to speak out about conditions in the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that the state aims to release thousands of inmates with lower-level offenses soon from San Quentin and other state prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams, a father of four who is serving time in San Quentin for a parole violation, hopes to be one of them. He has nearly recovered from COVID-19, but thinks more should be done to control the outbreak at the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People like me that have underlying health conditions, we should be looked at and possibly allowed to go home on an ankle monitor,” he said. “Or they need to provide a better facility that they can keep us COVID-free, because right now, I’m one of the lucky ones.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Since Uber and Lyft launched almost a decade ago, their drivers have lacked most basic worker protections, including a guaranteed minimum wage, overtime pay, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because, from the onset, the two ride-hailing giants categorized drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, a tactic adopted by subsequent startups like DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart. It’s at the heart of the business model that fuels what is now called the “gig economy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for years, drivers and other workers in the gig economy have been fighting to be recognized as employees and have pushed to get the backing of lawmakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, they scored a big victory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, joined by city attorneys in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and other jurisdictions across the state, filed a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft over their use of contractors. The suit aims to force the two companies to recognize their workers as employees under the authority of Assembly Bill 5, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773833/california-legislature-passes-ab-5-but-uber-says-it-might-refuse-to-follow-it\">a state law\u003c/a> that went into effect this year that significantly limits which workers can be classified as contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"California Attorney General Xavier Becerra\"]‘Sometimes it takes a pandemic to shake us into realizing what [worker classification] really means and who suffers the consequences of it.’[/pullquote]In announcing the lawsuit, Becerra outlined its three goals: to stop misclassifying workers, assign penalties and seek restitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The litigation, he said, is based on the premise of “unfair competition” — which asserts that Uber and Lyft have an advantage over other businesses that are following the law and providing their workers with employee protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the effort is successful, the two companies could be forced to pay a penalty of as much as $2,500 per driver, which would amount to billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These companies are willing to take these workers’ labor as drivers,” Becerra said at a press conference Tuesday. “But they don’t want to accept the worker protections that should go with that work, as these employees should get.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement sent to KQED, Lyft said, “We are looking forward to working with the Attorney General and mayors across the state to bring all the benefits of California’s innovation economy to as many workers as possible.” Uber said it would contest the suit in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of protections for Uber and Lyft drivers has come to a head in the current pandemic. Stay-at-home orders have left hundreds of thousands of ride-hail drivers in California with little to no work, forcing them to apply for unemployment benefits. But because of their status as contractors, they have never paid into the state’s unemployment fund. And that means \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11812496/uber-and-lyft-arent-paying-for-drivers-unemployment-you-are-confirms-newsom\" rel=\"noopener\">the state is currently covering the cost\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becerra said the lawsuit has been in the works for months, but admits that the pandemic sped up the process. Of worker misclassification, he said, “Sometimes it takes a pandemic to shake us into realizing what that really means and who suffers the consequences of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit is another step in a years-long legal battle over gig worker classification in California, one that has involved the state’s Supreme Court, Legislature and now, its executive branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But workers have been arguing that they are employees, not contractors, since the inception of Uber and Lyft. For years, the companies have used arbitration clauses in their contracts to resolve any worker claims behind closed doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in 2018, the state Supreme Court issued a ruling, known as “Dynamex,” making it harder for companies to classify their workers as contractors. AB 5 codified that ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the law took effect in January, however, many gig companies have fought in court against the law’s application and continued to treat their workers as contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drivers like Al Aloudi, who works for Uber and Lyft in the Bay Area, are fed up with how long it has taken the government to recognize what he says has been hurting workers for nearly a decade. Soon after he began driving for Uber and Lyft in 2013, Aloudi began organizing other drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"ab-5\"]“We know always that Uber and Lyft don’t obey the law,” Aloudi said. “They move so fast. The government is always going slowly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aloudi said he is happy that the state is finally taking action on AB 5, albeit five months after it became law. He hopes this lawsuit compels the companies to finally start paying for basic worker protections. But he said he’s also concerned it will get snared in the court system and drag on at a time when so many drivers desperately need protections and benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Uber and Lyft have a giant army of attorneys,” Aloudi said. “I worry this could last for months or years. … Maybe I won’t see AB 5 in my lifetime. But I hope my kids at least do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becerra and city attorneys said they were more hopeful about a speedy resolution. And although no timeframe has yet been laid out, they are seeking an injunction to immediately halt worker misclassification. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020-05-05-Complaint-Filed.pdf\">A full copy of the lawsuit is available here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the litigation only targets Uber and Lyft, city attorneys on Tuesday suggested it could impact the entire gig economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This lawsuit is going to have a ripple effect that radiates out through the gig economy,” Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often the language we use here gets kind of sanitized,” Feuer added. “Misclassification means cheating. We are here to assure that no company gets an unfair advantage, particularly at the expense of the workers they employ and the taxpayers on whom all of us rely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said he hoped the lawsuit would help curb a disturbing trend in businesses, particularly those in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hopefully we are going to bring an end … to the mindset that has developed over the last 10 years or so that you don’t have to ask permission, you just need to ask for forgiveness,” Herrera said. “Responsible business leaders know that there’s a way to conduct yourself and a way not to. Folks like us shouldn’t be forced to have to bring repetitive actions to make sure companies are adhering to the law and acting in a responsible way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Since Uber and Lyft launched almost a decade ago, their drivers have lacked most basic worker protections, including a guaranteed minimum wage, overtime pay, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because, from the onset, the two ride-hailing giants categorized drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, a tactic adopted by subsequent startups like DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart. It’s at the heart of the business model that fuels what is now called the “gig economy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for years, drivers and other workers in the gig economy have been fighting to be recognized as employees and have pushed to get the backing of lawmakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, they scored a big victory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, joined by city attorneys in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and other jurisdictions across the state, filed a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft over their use of contractors. The suit aims to force the two companies to recognize their workers as employees under the authority of Assembly Bill 5, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773833/california-legislature-passes-ab-5-but-uber-says-it-might-refuse-to-follow-it\">a state law\u003c/a> that went into effect this year that significantly limits which workers can be classified as contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In announcing the lawsuit, Becerra outlined its three goals: to stop misclassifying workers, assign penalties and seek restitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The litigation, he said, is based on the premise of “unfair competition” — which asserts that Uber and Lyft have an advantage over other businesses that are following the law and providing their workers with employee protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the effort is successful, the two companies could be forced to pay a penalty of as much as $2,500 per driver, which would amount to billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These companies are willing to take these workers’ labor as drivers,” Becerra said at a press conference Tuesday. “But they don’t want to accept the worker protections that should go with that work, as these employees should get.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement sent to KQED, Lyft said, “We are looking forward to working with the Attorney General and mayors across the state to bring all the benefits of California’s innovation economy to as many workers as possible.” Uber said it would contest the suit in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of protections for Uber and Lyft drivers has come to a head in the current pandemic. Stay-at-home orders have left hundreds of thousands of ride-hail drivers in California with little to no work, forcing them to apply for unemployment benefits. But because of their status as contractors, they have never paid into the state’s unemployment fund. And that means \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11812496/uber-and-lyft-arent-paying-for-drivers-unemployment-you-are-confirms-newsom\" rel=\"noopener\">the state is currently covering the cost\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becerra said the lawsuit has been in the works for months, but admits that the pandemic sped up the process. Of worker misclassification, he said, “Sometimes it takes a pandemic to shake us into realizing what that really means and who suffers the consequences of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit is another step in a years-long legal battle over gig worker classification in California, one that has involved the state’s Supreme Court, Legislature and now, its executive branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But workers have been arguing that they are employees, not contractors, since the inception of Uber and Lyft. For years, the companies have used arbitration clauses in their contracts to resolve any worker claims behind closed doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in 2018, the state Supreme Court issued a ruling, known as “Dynamex,” making it harder for companies to classify their workers as contractors. AB 5 codified that ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the law took effect in January, however, many gig companies have fought in court against the law’s application and continued to treat their workers as contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drivers like Al Aloudi, who works for Uber and Lyft in the Bay Area, are fed up with how long it has taken the government to recognize what he says has been hurting workers for nearly a decade. Soon after he began driving for Uber and Lyft in 2013, Aloudi began organizing other drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We know always that Uber and Lyft don’t obey the law,” Aloudi said. “They move so fast. The government is always going slowly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aloudi said he is happy that the state is finally taking action on AB 5, albeit five months after it became law. He hopes this lawsuit compels the companies to finally start paying for basic worker protections. But he said he’s also concerned it will get snared in the court system and drag on at a time when so many drivers desperately need protections and benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Uber and Lyft have a giant army of attorneys,” Aloudi said. “I worry this could last for months or years. … Maybe I won’t see AB 5 in my lifetime. But I hope my kids at least do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becerra and city attorneys said they were more hopeful about a speedy resolution. And although no timeframe has yet been laid out, they are seeking an injunction to immediately halt worker misclassification. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020-05-05-Complaint-Filed.pdf\">A full copy of the lawsuit is available here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the litigation only targets Uber and Lyft, city attorneys on Tuesday suggested it could impact the entire gig economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This lawsuit is going to have a ripple effect that radiates out through the gig economy,” Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often the language we use here gets kind of sanitized,” Feuer added. “Misclassification means cheating. We are here to assure that no company gets an unfair advantage, particularly at the expense of the workers they employ and the taxpayers on whom all of us rely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said he hoped the lawsuit would help curb a disturbing trend in businesses, particularly those in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hopefully we are going to bring an end … to the mindset that has developed over the last 10 years or so that you don’t have to ask permission, you just need to ask for forgiveness,” Herrera said. “Responsible business leaders know that there’s a way to conduct yourself and a way not to. Folks like us shouldn’t be forced to have to bring repetitive actions to make sure companies are adhering to the law and acting in a responsible way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanford has continued to provide pay and benefits for its full-time and part-time employees. But some students at the university say those same protections don’t exist for some subcontracted employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford is continuing to pay its employees through June 15, whether or not they’re working on campus. But subcontractors hired by UG2, a custodial service company that provides the university with roughly 200 janitorial and custodial staff, \u003ca href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/22/stanford-contracted-workers-deserve-the-same-benefits-as-your-regular-employees/\">aren’t getting those same benefits.\u003c/a> [aside tag=\"coronavirus\" label=\"related coverage\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford University Provost Persis Drell on April 14 released a \u003ca href=\"https://healthalerts.stanford.edu/2020/04/14/supporting-our-stanford-workforce/\">letter\u003c/a> to students and staff assuring them that employees, even those represented by a union, would receive pay continuation and access to a grant program that would help support employees who are facing financial hardship. Arushi Gupta, a freshman and member of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/stanford_swr?lang=en\">Stanford Students for Workers’ Rights (SWR)\u003c/a>, believes the letter was a good step, but doesn’t go far enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While we were happy to see them make that commitment after a month of pushing Stanford to do something, it’s been over a week since [the letter came out] and workers haven’t heard anything, unions haven’t heard anything, subcontractors haven’t heard anything,” Gupta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gupta said her main frustration is that there doesn’t seem to be clear communication between the university, UG2 and SEIU United Service Workers West, the union organization which represents UG2 workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11813960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11813960\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x-1020x680.jpeg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stanford students participated in a May Day Rally in 2019 to demand better pay and benefits for subcontractors on campus. Now, students want subcontractors to get pay and benefits whether or not they’re working during the pandemic. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jessicka Antonio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we really want is for Stanford to really stand by their workers and talk to them directly and work with unions,” Gupta said. “You know, treat their service workers the way that they treat students and faculty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SWR wants three things for contracted service workers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Pay until June 15, like full-time and part-time university employees\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hazard pay of 10% for those who continue to work on campus\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Additional sick leave\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Junior Arielle DeVito points out that Stanford has one of the biggest endowments in the country, at nearly \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/2019/10/02/stanford-releases-annual-financial-results-investment-return-endowment/\">$27.7 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be, at this point, very easy for Stanford to provide for its subcontracted employees what it’s already providing for its direct hires,” DeVito said. “So, while we have sympathy that there are students, there are faculty, there are so many people that need help right now, it to me shows a lack of priorities rather than a lack of ability.” [ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford spokesman E.J. Miranda said the university cares about the health and safety of its employed and subcontracted service workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We perform routine safety checks to ensure that our custodial contractor is providing its employees with the appropriate level of protective gear depending on the cleaning needs — including gloves, face masks, safety glasses and coveralls,” Miranda said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university is also providing health care for all its employees under COVID-19, regardless of whether they are working or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford University Provost Persis Drell on April 14 released a \u003ca href=\"https://healthalerts.stanford.edu/2020/04/14/supporting-our-stanford-workforce/\">letter\u003c/a> to students and staff assuring them that employees, even those represented by a union, would receive pay continuation and access to a grant program that would help support employees who are facing financial hardship. Arushi Gupta, a freshman and member of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/stanford_swr?lang=en\">Stanford Students for Workers’ Rights (SWR)\u003c/a>, believes the letter was a good step, but doesn’t go far enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While we were happy to see them make that commitment after a month of pushing Stanford to do something, it’s been over a week since [the letter came out] and workers haven’t heard anything, unions haven’t heard anything, subcontractors haven’t heard anything,” Gupta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gupta said her main frustration is that there doesn’t seem to be clear communication between the university, UG2 and SEIU United Service Workers West, the union organization which represents UG2 workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11813960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11813960\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_1677_1920x-1020x680.jpeg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stanford students participated in a May Day Rally in 2019 to demand better pay and benefits for subcontractors on campus. Now, students want subcontractors to get pay and benefits whether or not they’re working during the pandemic. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jessicka Antonio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we really want is for Stanford to really stand by their workers and talk to them directly and work with unions,” Gupta said. “You know, treat their service workers the way that they treat students and faculty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SWR wants three things for contracted service workers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Pay until June 15, like full-time and part-time university employees\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hazard pay of 10% for those who continue to work on campus\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Additional sick leave\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Junior Arielle DeVito points out that Stanford has one of the biggest endowments in the country, at nearly \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/2019/10/02/stanford-releases-annual-financial-results-investment-return-endowment/\">$27.7 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be, at this point, very easy for Stanford to provide for its subcontracted employees what it’s already providing for its direct hires,” DeVito said. “So, while we have sympathy that there are students, there are faculty, there are so many people that need help right now, it to me shows a lack of priorities rather than a lack of ability.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"headTitle": "The Big Challenge of Being an ‘Essential’ Worker in a Global Pandemic | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>Tens of millions of workers in the U.S. with jobs once considered “low skill” — like grocery and drugstore clerks, delivery drivers and in-home care providers — have suddenly been recognized as “essential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with the coronavirus pandemic more than likely to remain a fact of life for months to come, some of these workers are now demanding higher pay and better working conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, many employers of low-wage workers have chipped away at benefits like paid sick time and health care, shifted positions from full- to part-time or contract work and suppressed wages. With the sharp decline of union membership and spike in personal debt, more of these workers have had to take on second and third jobs to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now on top of all this, they are on the front lines of a global pandemic, one that has exposed their precarious situation, while adding another layer of burden and responsibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Vanessa Bain, Instacart shopper\"]‘Right now there’s a heightened sense of awareness, thankfully, that our labor is essential, but it’s still not paying like it’s essential, and we’re still not being protected like we’re essential.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employed by businesses considered essential, these workers are putting themselves and their families at risk by continuing to go to work, enabling everyone else to access food and other basic necessities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, many of the workers KQED has interviewed in recent weeks said their employers have not provided sufficient safety protections or offered adequate additional compensation to account for the health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Instacart shopper Vanessa Bain put it, “Right now there’s a heightened sense of awareness, thankfully, that our labor is essential, but it’s still not paying like it’s essential, and we’re still not being protected like we’re essential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the coronavirus hit, a number of these workers were already struggling to make ends meet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the workers KQED has recently profiled: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11806175/coronavirus-poses-heightened-hardship-for-workers-who-cant-take-sick-leave-or-work-from-home\">Lyft and Uber driver Erica Mighetto \u003c/a>had been searching for a steady job for three years in Sacramento, and had started sleeping in her car and on friends’ couches after being kicked out of her apartment. Alina Martinez,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808522/chase-center-workers-left-unemployed-and-uninsured\"> a suite attendant\u003c/a> at San Francisco’s new Chase Center, was negotiating with her employer for health insurance, which she hasn’t had since September. Hotel housekeeper Larrilou Carumba had spent years paying down about $35,000 in credit card debt incurred after a personal disaster, and she was getting ready to finally move with her three kids out of her crowded sister’s house in San Leandro. And in-home health care provider Carnella Marks was being paid just over minimum wage in Chico to feed, nurse, bathe and tend to a patient with severe dementia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the coronavirus crisis has been a boon for many employers of low-wage workers. Grocery stores across the country are breaking sales records. App-based delivery services are being flooded with new users. Products are surging through the warehouses of Amazon and Walmart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To meet rising demand companies are hiring. Instacart alone plans to add 200,000 shoppers. Amazon said it’s looking to add 100,000 more workers in its warehouses. Individual grocery chains are adding on thousands and thousands of jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under pressure from workers, many of these companies are beginning to do things like provide hand sanitizer and let workers wear masks and gloves on the job. Some companies have started to offer hazard pay of an additional dollar or two an hour. Others are adding emergency paid time off for those who end up getting sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some of the workers KQED spoke to said these efforts fall far short, given the level of risk involved. And now, they have more leverage than they’ve perhaps ever had before, as demand for their services continues to rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED is keeping a running tab on the conditions of workers in a variety of different sectors who have been thrust onto the front lines of this pandemic. Below, we describe the conditions in some of the most impacted industries in California, links to related stories we’ve covered and resources for workers or those who want to support them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Grocery Store Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810502\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 4800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11810502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4800\" height=\"2973\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1.jpg 4800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1-800x496.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1-1020x632.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1-1920x1189.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4800px) 100vw, 4800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Items piled high at the checkout counter of a Ralph’s Supermarket in North Hollywood on March 19, 2020. \u003ccite>(Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until recently, most major grocery store chains were telling workers\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808742/grocery-store-workers-fight-to-wear-masks-gloves-while-on-the-job\"> they could not wear their own masks to work\u003c/a>, and in some cases even discouraged wearing gloves. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) has successfully pushed to have those restrictions lifted and helped some workers negotiate hazard pay raises of up to $2 an hour. The union represents some 1.3 million grocery and food service employees, but doesn’t include workers at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and a number of other massive grocery outlets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, workers at Whole Foods called for a nationwide “sickout” to push for higher pay and better working conditions. There have been reports of workers contracting coronavirus at Whole Foods stores in several major cities,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11809819/sf-whole-foods-employee-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-store-stays-open\"> including in San Francisco at the Upper Haight Street location\u003c/a>. Some Whole Foods employees who are continuing to work during the pandemic are asking for double the current hourly wage for employees, paid leave for all workers who have to stay home or self-quarantine and free coronavirus testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Pharmacists and Drugstore Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810417\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11810417\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Raymond Cheung, 49, a pharmacist at New Oakland Pharmacy on April 1, 2020. His business has started a delivery system to encourage customers to stay home and keep the number of people in the store to a minimum. He said the store has enough PPE for his employees to use, but currently has no extra stock to sell to customers. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many drugstore workers also belong to UFCW and are pushing for similar protections as their counterparts in grocery and retail. The lack of adequate paid time off has been a prime concern, prompting \u003ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-cvs-updates-policies-after-workers-petition-for-sick-leave-2020-3\">protests at CVS\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/richard-ashworth-hazard-pay-and-family-leave-for-walgreens-employees?recruiter=410752018&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition\">a petition for Walgreens employees\u003c/a> and other labor actions. KQED interviewed a drug store employee\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>who says she and several other coworkers went to work in recent weeks with flu-like symptoms because they could not get any paid sick days. Some workers are asking for major pharmacies to switch to a drive-thru model to limit exposure, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/cvs-pharmacy-make-pharmacies-drive-thru-only-during-the-corona-crisis?utm_source=grow_us&utm_medium=media\">over 100,000 people recently signed a petition\u003c/a> demanding that major drugstores like Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS make that change.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Warehouse Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11633738\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11633738\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy.jpg\" alt=\"Workers pack orders at an Amazon fulfillment center in Tracy.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1272\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-1180x782.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-960x636.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-240x159.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-375x248.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-520x345.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers pack orders at an Amazon fulfillment center in Tracy. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After an Amazon warehouse worker in Staten Island \u003ca href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/03/24/amazon-worker-in-staten-island-warehouse-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/\">tested positive for COVID-19\u003c/a> in late March — one of a growing number of Amazon warehouse employees across the country to contract the virus — workers at that location \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/30/21199942/amazon-warehouse-coronavirus-covid-new-york-protest-walkout\">staged a sickout\u003c/a> on March 30, demanding safer conditions, protective gear and hazard pay of double their regular salaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon recently raised worker pay by $2 an hour through the end of April and increased the rate of overtime pay, among other changes. The group Amazonians United New York City is continuing to gather signatures of workers pushing for improved conditions, and posted their demands \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@amazoniansunitednyc/we-amazon-workers-demand-coronavirus-protections-16f28ad8b15f\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Grocery Delivery Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810168\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11810168 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker.jpg\" alt=\"Instacart employee Monica Ortega wears gloves while using her cellphone to check orders while picking up groceries for delivery on March 19, 2020 in North Hollywood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1214\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker-800x506.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker-1020x645.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Instacart employee Monica Ortega wears gloves while using her phone to check orders as she picks up groceries for delivery on March 19, 2020 in North Hollywood. \u003ccite>(Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Workers at app-based delivery companies like Instacart, Postmates, and Shipt have also been demanding higher compensation and more protection. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11809184/instacart-workers-set-to-strike-on-monday-demanding-hazard-pay-and-protections\">Instacart workers on Monday participated in a one-day nationwide strike,\u003c/a> demanding hazard pay of an additional $5 per order, sick pay for anyone considered at-risk or needing to self-quarantine and personal protective equipment (PPE) like hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.Instacart has said it will provide the protective gear, but has so far not agreed to the additional hazard pay demand. Working with a group called the Gig Workers Collective, Instacart workers\u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@GigWorkersCollective/instacart-emergency-walk-off-ebdf11b6995a\"> posted their demands online. \u003c/a>The company also \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/shopper-news/shopper-health-safety-update-ec518ad3841c\">posted its response.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, app-based delivery companies are experiencing a surge in both customers and workers. Instacart has reported higher sales than ever before, and said it was now employing 40 percent more workers than normal, with 250,000 new workers added just in the last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Ride-Hail Drivers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11806429\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11806429\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ride-hail driver Erica Mighetto in Oakland on March 10, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft drivers have seen a decline in ridership and are asking for the state to ensure that they quickly get unemployment benefits. The lack of legal clarity over their employment category has led to many drivers having their claims denied or put on hold. Like Instacart and other grocery delivery workers, they share the burdens and requests of gig workers outlined below. Rideshare Drivers United, an advocacy group, \u003ca href=\"https://drivers-united.org/a/demand-coronavirus-relief-for-platform-workers\">has released a set of driver specific demands\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Restaurant, Bar and Food Service Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11806950\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11806950\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roberto Lopes works at Nick’s Lighthouse in Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Like many service industry workers, he worries about the decline in revenue at the restaurant and what that means for his job. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With bars and restaurants closed, or only offering takeout orders, many workers in the food service industry have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11807773/big-debt-little-savings-no-income-many-california-workers-need-help\">laid off or had their shifts cut significantly\u003c/a>. The maximum unemployment benefit in California is $450 per week, not nearly enough to cover most expenses — especially in places with high rent like the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some groups, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbgfoundation.org/beap\">Bartender Emergency Assistance Program\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.restaurantworkerscf.org/\">Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation\u003c/a>, are collecting donations to help workers in need, but can only accommodate a tiny fraction of the overwhelming number of suddenly unemployed restaurant workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Farmworkers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11781801\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11781801\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/IMG_7077-1-e1571854504431.jpg\" alt=\"A crew of migrant farmworkers harvest celery just outside Salinas.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crew of migrant farmworkers harvest celery just outside Salinas. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California’s farm belt pumps out more than a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts every year. But employers who manage the state’s orchards, packing sheds and fields of row crops are now faced with a dilemma: continue operating and hope their workers don’t get sick or shutter their businesses, forcing their workers (who are eligible) to file for unemployment and putting the country’s food supply at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-during-emergencies/food-safety-and-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19\">Food and Drug Administration is reassuring\u003c/a> consumers that there’s no evidence the coronavirus can be transmitted through food or food packaging. Another question, however, is how to keep farmworkers safe from exposure on the job, when social distancing is often difficult or downright impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United Farm Workers union is \u003ca href=\"https://ufw.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/COVID-19-2020-Open-Letter-from-UFW-FINAL.pdf\">calling on employers\u003c/a> to extend worker sick pay to 40 hours or more and to eliminate the 90-day waiting period for new employees to be eligible for sick pay, among other changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808267/farmworkers-cant-pick-crops-remotely-how-can-they-stay-safe\">Read more of this story \u003c/a>by KQED’s Sasha Khokha and Alexandra Hall\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>In-Home Supportive Service Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810359\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1913px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11810359\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_0164-e1585931231219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1913\" height=\"1497\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Low-wage in-home health service providers like Carnella Marks of Chico say they can’t get adequate protective gear to safely care for the sick and elderly. \u003ccite>(Photo courtesy of Amy Day)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are roughly half a million in-home supportive service providers in California. According to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.udwa.org/\">United Domestic Workers of America\u003c/a> (UDW), a union representing house cleaners and in-home child care providers, the average hourly pay in California is $13.43, and only 9 percent of workers get employee-sponsored health care. Contract negotiations for these workers often drag on for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like health care professionals in hospitals, these workers are not provided with nearly enough PPE. Masks and other protective gear are particularly crucial for them because they typically enter other people’s houses, and many of the patients they serve are elderly and immunocompromised. The UDW is asking Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office to order a handful of emergency measures, including paid sick leave for workers who need to self quarantine, free treatment for those infected, guaranteed unemployment insurance and increased recruitment of new providers to make sure care is not interrupted for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Domestic Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11810415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lourdes Dobarganes, a member of the San Francisco Women’s Collective and the California Domestic Workers Coalition on Treasure Island on April 1, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A growing number of domestic workers, including many child care providers and house cleaners, are being asked not to come to work by clients who do not want people entering their homes. Since many of these working arrangements are not officially on the books, it is difficult for these workers to apply for unemployment insurance or effectively advocate for themselves. Many workers are also undocumented, which bars them from applying for state or federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more coronavirus coverage\" tag=\"coronavirus\"]Some families that are able to work from home and continue to earn incomes are continuing to pay their domestic workers during the pandemic, even without receiving their services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Domestic Workers Alliance has \u003ca href=\"https://domesticworkers.org/coronavirus-care-fund\">set up a care fund \u003c/a>for these workers, and is accepting donations. It is also working on legislation — \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1257&version=20190SB125798AMD\">SB 1257 \u003c/a>— that would allow domestic workers to be covered under Cal/OSHA.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Gig Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Individual groups of gig workers and labor advocates in different industries have released specific demands, but the main ask is to gain employee status and have basic job protections. As employees, gig workers would be guaranteed minimum wage and overtime pay, unemployment insurance and workers compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driver advocacy groups like Rideshare Drivers United (RDU), along with some local leaders are calling for state Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Labor Secretary Julie Su to enforce AB 5, a measure that went into effect in January, making it harder for companies to classify their workers as contractors instead of employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Undocumented Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The $2 trillion \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821457551/whats-inside-the-senate-s-2-trillion-coronavirus-aid-package\">federal aid package\u003c/a> signed by President Trump last Friday will expand unemployment insurance and send cash to Americans hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn. But immigrants who lack work permits won’t benefit from those provisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though many undocumented workers collectively pay billions of dollars in taxes, they are excluded from unemployment insurance benefits — which require applicants to show federal work authorization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://legalaidatwork.org/releases/covid19-newsom/\">More than 125 organizations signed on to a letter sent to Newsom\u003c/a> and state legislative leaders to designate emergency funding to support undocumented residents and others who are ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11809657/new-covid-19-relief-benefits-leaves-out-some-undocumented-immigrants\">Read more of this story by KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘Essential’ or ‘Unessential’?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Retail chains like GameStop and manufacturers like Tesla have argued that they are essential in a bid to remain open during the pandemic. Both are now closed. Some establishments are more in the gray area, like cafes. Should places like Peet’s Coffee and Starbucks stay open if they are mainly serving coffee instead of food?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808489/your-boss-says-youre-an-essential-worker-what-if-you-disagree\">Workers have been pushing back\u003c/a>, urging employers to close so as not to put them in the position of having to stay home and earn no income or go to work and risk getting sick. If stores close or reduce hours, workers can collect unemployment benefits, but not if those businesses remain open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers or customers who believe a store is not essential and should be closed can contact city or county officials, but as yet, there is no state agency handling this issue\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Some counties, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/news/Pages/press-statement-032120-reporting-of-non-essential-businesses.aspx\">Santa Clara County,\u003c/a> have set up hotlines. In others, sheriffs’ offices are handling complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a continually updated post. If you know of resources for specific groups of workers on the frontlines, please send them to sharnett@kqed.org.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Low-wage service workers on the frontlines are pushing their employers for hazard pay raises, protective gear and paid time off if they get sick.",
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"title": "The Big Challenge of Being an ‘Essential’ Worker in a Global Pandemic | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tens of millions of workers in the U.S. with jobs once considered “low skill” — like grocery and drugstore clerks, delivery drivers and in-home care providers — have suddenly been recognized as “essential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with the coronavirus pandemic more than likely to remain a fact of life for months to come, some of these workers are now demanding higher pay and better working conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, many employers of low-wage workers have chipped away at benefits like paid sick time and health care, shifted positions from full- to part-time or contract work and suppressed wages. With the sharp decline of union membership and spike in personal debt, more of these workers have had to take on second and third jobs to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now on top of all this, they are on the front lines of a global pandemic, one that has exposed their precarious situation, while adding another layer of burden and responsibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Right now there’s a heightened sense of awareness, thankfully, that our labor is essential, but it’s still not paying like it’s essential, and we’re still not being protected like we’re essential.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employed by businesses considered essential, these workers are putting themselves and their families at risk by continuing to go to work, enabling everyone else to access food and other basic necessities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, many of the workers KQED has interviewed in recent weeks said their employers have not provided sufficient safety protections or offered adequate additional compensation to account for the health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Instacart shopper Vanessa Bain put it, “Right now there’s a heightened sense of awareness, thankfully, that our labor is essential, but it’s still not paying like it’s essential, and we’re still not being protected like we’re essential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the coronavirus hit, a number of these workers were already struggling to make ends meet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the workers KQED has recently profiled: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11806175/coronavirus-poses-heightened-hardship-for-workers-who-cant-take-sick-leave-or-work-from-home\">Lyft and Uber driver Erica Mighetto \u003c/a>had been searching for a steady job for three years in Sacramento, and had started sleeping in her car and on friends’ couches after being kicked out of her apartment. Alina Martinez,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808522/chase-center-workers-left-unemployed-and-uninsured\"> a suite attendant\u003c/a> at San Francisco’s new Chase Center, was negotiating with her employer for health insurance, which she hasn’t had since September. Hotel housekeeper Larrilou Carumba had spent years paying down about $35,000 in credit card debt incurred after a personal disaster, and she was getting ready to finally move with her three kids out of her crowded sister’s house in San Leandro. And in-home health care provider Carnella Marks was being paid just over minimum wage in Chico to feed, nurse, bathe and tend to a patient with severe dementia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the coronavirus crisis has been a boon for many employers of low-wage workers. Grocery stores across the country are breaking sales records. App-based delivery services are being flooded with new users. Products are surging through the warehouses of Amazon and Walmart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To meet rising demand companies are hiring. Instacart alone plans to add 200,000 shoppers. Amazon said it’s looking to add 100,000 more workers in its warehouses. Individual grocery chains are adding on thousands and thousands of jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under pressure from workers, many of these companies are beginning to do things like provide hand sanitizer and let workers wear masks and gloves on the job. Some companies have started to offer hazard pay of an additional dollar or two an hour. Others are adding emergency paid time off for those who end up getting sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some of the workers KQED spoke to said these efforts fall far short, given the level of risk involved. And now, they have more leverage than they’ve perhaps ever had before, as demand for their services continues to rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED is keeping a running tab on the conditions of workers in a variety of different sectors who have been thrust onto the front lines of this pandemic. Below, we describe the conditions in some of the most impacted industries in California, links to related stories we’ve covered and resources for workers or those who want to support them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Grocery Store Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810502\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 4800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11810502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4800\" height=\"2973\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1.jpg 4800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1-800x496.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1-1020x632.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/GettyImages-1207671809-1-1920x1189.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4800px) 100vw, 4800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Items piled high at the checkout counter of a Ralph’s Supermarket in North Hollywood on March 19, 2020. \u003ccite>(Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until recently, most major grocery store chains were telling workers\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808742/grocery-store-workers-fight-to-wear-masks-gloves-while-on-the-job\"> they could not wear their own masks to work\u003c/a>, and in some cases even discouraged wearing gloves. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) has successfully pushed to have those restrictions lifted and helped some workers negotiate hazard pay raises of up to $2 an hour. The union represents some 1.3 million grocery and food service employees, but doesn’t include workers at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and a number of other massive grocery outlets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, workers at Whole Foods called for a nationwide “sickout” to push for higher pay and better working conditions. There have been reports of workers contracting coronavirus at Whole Foods stores in several major cities,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11809819/sf-whole-foods-employee-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-store-stays-open\"> including in San Francisco at the Upper Haight Street location\u003c/a>. Some Whole Foods employees who are continuing to work during the pandemic are asking for double the current hourly wage for employees, paid leave for all workers who have to stay home or self-quarantine and free coronavirus testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Pharmacists and Drugstore Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810417\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11810417\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42501_004_KQED_Oakland_EssentialWorkers_04012020-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Raymond Cheung, 49, a pharmacist at New Oakland Pharmacy on April 1, 2020. His business has started a delivery system to encourage customers to stay home and keep the number of people in the store to a minimum. He said the store has enough PPE for his employees to use, but currently has no extra stock to sell to customers. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many drugstore workers also belong to UFCW and are pushing for similar protections as their counterparts in grocery and retail. The lack of adequate paid time off has been a prime concern, prompting \u003ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-cvs-updates-policies-after-workers-petition-for-sick-leave-2020-3\">protests at CVS\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/richard-ashworth-hazard-pay-and-family-leave-for-walgreens-employees?recruiter=410752018&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition\">a petition for Walgreens employees\u003c/a> and other labor actions. KQED interviewed a drug store employee\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>who says she and several other coworkers went to work in recent weeks with flu-like symptoms because they could not get any paid sick days. Some workers are asking for major pharmacies to switch to a drive-thru model to limit exposure, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/cvs-pharmacy-make-pharmacies-drive-thru-only-during-the-corona-crisis?utm_source=grow_us&utm_medium=media\">over 100,000 people recently signed a petition\u003c/a> demanding that major drugstores like Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS make that change.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Warehouse Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11633738\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11633738\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy.jpg\" alt=\"Workers pack orders at an Amazon fulfillment center in Tracy.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1272\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-1180x782.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-960x636.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-240x159.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-375x248.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/AmazonTracy-520x345.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers pack orders at an Amazon fulfillment center in Tracy. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After an Amazon warehouse worker in Staten Island \u003ca href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/03/24/amazon-worker-in-staten-island-warehouse-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/\">tested positive for COVID-19\u003c/a> in late March — one of a growing number of Amazon warehouse employees across the country to contract the virus — workers at that location \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/30/21199942/amazon-warehouse-coronavirus-covid-new-york-protest-walkout\">staged a sickout\u003c/a> on March 30, demanding safer conditions, protective gear and hazard pay of double their regular salaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon recently raised worker pay by $2 an hour through the end of April and increased the rate of overtime pay, among other changes. The group Amazonians United New York City is continuing to gather signatures of workers pushing for improved conditions, and posted their demands \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@amazoniansunitednyc/we-amazon-workers-demand-coronavirus-protections-16f28ad8b15f\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Grocery Delivery Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810168\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11810168 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker.jpg\" alt=\"Instacart employee Monica Ortega wears gloves while using her cellphone to check orders while picking up groceries for delivery on March 19, 2020 in North Hollywood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1214\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker-800x506.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/Instacart-worker-1020x645.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Instacart employee Monica Ortega wears gloves while using her phone to check orders as she picks up groceries for delivery on March 19, 2020 in North Hollywood. \u003ccite>(Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Workers at app-based delivery companies like Instacart, Postmates, and Shipt have also been demanding higher compensation and more protection. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11809184/instacart-workers-set-to-strike-on-monday-demanding-hazard-pay-and-protections\">Instacart workers on Monday participated in a one-day nationwide strike,\u003c/a> demanding hazard pay of an additional $5 per order, sick pay for anyone considered at-risk or needing to self-quarantine and personal protective equipment (PPE) like hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.Instacart has said it will provide the protective gear, but has so far not agreed to the additional hazard pay demand. Working with a group called the Gig Workers Collective, Instacart workers\u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@GigWorkersCollective/instacart-emergency-walk-off-ebdf11b6995a\"> posted their demands online. \u003c/a>The company also \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/shopper-news/shopper-health-safety-update-ec518ad3841c\">posted its response.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, app-based delivery companies are experiencing a surge in both customers and workers. Instacart has reported higher sales than ever before, and said it was now employing 40 percent more workers than normal, with 250,000 new workers added just in the last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Ride-Hail Drivers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11806429\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11806429\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS41942_005_KQED_Oakland_RideHail_03102020_-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ride-hail driver Erica Mighetto in Oakland on March 10, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft drivers have seen a decline in ridership and are asking for the state to ensure that they quickly get unemployment benefits. The lack of legal clarity over their employment category has led to many drivers having their claims denied or put on hold. Like Instacart and other grocery delivery workers, they share the burdens and requests of gig workers outlined below. Rideshare Drivers United, an advocacy group, \u003ca href=\"https://drivers-united.org/a/demand-coronavirus-relief-for-platform-workers\">has released a set of driver specific demands\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Restaurant, Bar and Food Service Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11806950\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11806950\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/03/RS42045_031_KQED_SanFrancisco_Coronavirus_03132020_-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roberto Lopes works at Nick’s Lighthouse in Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Like many service industry workers, he worries about the decline in revenue at the restaurant and what that means for his job. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With bars and restaurants closed, or only offering takeout orders, many workers in the food service industry have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11807773/big-debt-little-savings-no-income-many-california-workers-need-help\">laid off or had their shifts cut significantly\u003c/a>. The maximum unemployment benefit in California is $450 per week, not nearly enough to cover most expenses — especially in places with high rent like the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some groups, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbgfoundation.org/beap\">Bartender Emergency Assistance Program\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.restaurantworkerscf.org/\">Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation\u003c/a>, are collecting donations to help workers in need, but can only accommodate a tiny fraction of the overwhelming number of suddenly unemployed restaurant workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Farmworkers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11781801\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11781801\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/IMG_7077-1-e1571854504431.jpg\" alt=\"A crew of migrant farmworkers harvest celery just outside Salinas.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crew of migrant farmworkers harvest celery just outside Salinas. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California’s farm belt pumps out more than a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts every year. But employers who manage the state’s orchards, packing sheds and fields of row crops are now faced with a dilemma: continue operating and hope their workers don’t get sick or shutter their businesses, forcing their workers (who are eligible) to file for unemployment and putting the country’s food supply at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-during-emergencies/food-safety-and-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19\">Food and Drug Administration is reassuring\u003c/a> consumers that there’s no evidence the coronavirus can be transmitted through food or food packaging. Another question, however, is how to keep farmworkers safe from exposure on the job, when social distancing is often difficult or downright impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United Farm Workers union is \u003ca href=\"https://ufw.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/COVID-19-2020-Open-Letter-from-UFW-FINAL.pdf\">calling on employers\u003c/a> to extend worker sick pay to 40 hours or more and to eliminate the 90-day waiting period for new employees to be eligible for sick pay, among other changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808267/farmworkers-cant-pick-crops-remotely-how-can-they-stay-safe\">Read more of this story \u003c/a>by KQED’s Sasha Khokha and Alexandra Hall\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>In-Home Supportive Service Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810359\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1913px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11810359\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/IMG_0164-e1585931231219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1913\" height=\"1497\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Low-wage in-home health service providers like Carnella Marks of Chico say they can’t get adequate protective gear to safely care for the sick and elderly. \u003ccite>(Photo courtesy of Amy Day)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are roughly half a million in-home supportive service providers in California. According to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.udwa.org/\">United Domestic Workers of America\u003c/a> (UDW), a union representing house cleaners and in-home child care providers, the average hourly pay in California is $13.43, and only 9 percent of workers get employee-sponsored health care. Contract negotiations for these workers often drag on for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like health care professionals in hospitals, these workers are not provided with nearly enough PPE. Masks and other protective gear are particularly crucial for them because they typically enter other people’s houses, and many of the patients they serve are elderly and immunocompromised. The UDW is asking Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office to order a handful of emergency measures, including paid sick leave for workers who need to self quarantine, free treatment for those infected, guaranteed unemployment insurance and increased recruitment of new providers to make sure care is not interrupted for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Domestic Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11810415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11810415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/RS42506_001_KQED_TreasureIsland_EssentialWorkers_04022020-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lourdes Dobarganes, a member of the San Francisco Women’s Collective and the California Domestic Workers Coalition on Treasure Island on April 1, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A growing number of domestic workers, including many child care providers and house cleaners, are being asked not to come to work by clients who do not want people entering their homes. Since many of these working arrangements are not officially on the books, it is difficult for these workers to apply for unemployment insurance or effectively advocate for themselves. Many workers are also undocumented, which bars them from applying for state or federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Some families that are able to work from home and continue to earn incomes are continuing to pay their domestic workers during the pandemic, even without receiving their services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Domestic Workers Alliance has \u003ca href=\"https://domesticworkers.org/coronavirus-care-fund\">set up a care fund \u003c/a>for these workers, and is accepting donations. It is also working on legislation — \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1257&version=20190SB125798AMD\">SB 1257 \u003c/a>— that would allow domestic workers to be covered under Cal/OSHA.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Gig Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Individual groups of gig workers and labor advocates in different industries have released specific demands, but the main ask is to gain employee status and have basic job protections. As employees, gig workers would be guaranteed minimum wage and overtime pay, unemployment insurance and workers compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driver advocacy groups like Rideshare Drivers United (RDU), along with some local leaders are calling for state Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Labor Secretary Julie Su to enforce AB 5, a measure that went into effect in January, making it harder for companies to classify their workers as contractors instead of employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Undocumented Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The $2 trillion \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821457551/whats-inside-the-senate-s-2-trillion-coronavirus-aid-package\">federal aid package\u003c/a> signed by President Trump last Friday will expand unemployment insurance and send cash to Americans hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn. But immigrants who lack work permits won’t benefit from those provisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though many undocumented workers collectively pay billions of dollars in taxes, they are excluded from unemployment insurance benefits — which require applicants to show federal work authorization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://legalaidatwork.org/releases/covid19-newsom/\">More than 125 organizations signed on to a letter sent to Newsom\u003c/a> and state legislative leaders to designate emergency funding to support undocumented residents and others who are ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11809657/new-covid-19-relief-benefits-leaves-out-some-undocumented-immigrants\">Read more of this story by KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘Essential’ or ‘Unessential’?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Retail chains like GameStop and manufacturers like Tesla have argued that they are essential in a bid to remain open during the pandemic. Both are now closed. Some establishments are more in the gray area, like cafes. Should places like Peet’s Coffee and Starbucks stay open if they are mainly serving coffee instead of food?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808489/your-boss-says-youre-an-essential-worker-what-if-you-disagree\">Workers have been pushing back\u003c/a>, urging employers to close so as not to put them in the position of having to stay home and earn no income or go to work and risk getting sick. If stores close or reduce hours, workers can collect unemployment benefits, but not if those businesses remain open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers or customers who believe a store is not essential and should be closed can contact city or county officials, but as yet, there is no state agency handling this issue\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Some counties, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/news/Pages/press-statement-032120-reporting-of-non-essential-businesses.aspx\">Santa Clara County,\u003c/a> have set up hotlines. In others, sheriffs’ offices are handling complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a continually updated post. If you know of resources for specific groups of workers on the frontlines, please send them to sharnett@kqed.org.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"order": 9
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"order": 15
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 18
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
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"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
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"meta": {
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"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 11
},
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"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
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"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"planet-money": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
"subscribe": {
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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