In a letter, about 50 labor groups urge congressional leaders to reject Uber CEO's March 23 proposal to create a new legal category for its workers
Johana Bhuiyan / Los Angeles Times : Tweets: @32bjseiu , @nicoemoe , @californialabor , and @legalaidnyc Tweets: @32bjseiu : Uber's CEO is using the coronavirus as an excuse to try to take away workers' rights. Today, we are urging Congress to ensure all working people have protections on the job. @NelpNews @domesticworkers @MaketheRoadNY @GigWorkersRise https://twitter.com/... Nicole Moore / @nicoemoe : Still really mad that Uber went to DC to tell “help drivers” by suggesting they don't need basic labor rights, and that the federal government should finance for Uber what other companies pay as a payroll tax. Great article here: https://www.latimes.com/... California Labor Federation / @californialabor : “When you see precarious low-paid individuals who have to work through a pandemic just to make rent & to pay the bills, it really shows the lie in how much economic flexibility workers really have. Precarity & poverty are not flexibility.” #SickofGigGreed https://www.latimes.com/... @legalaidnyc : “Rather than stand up for his employees, Mr. Khosrowshahi is seizing an unprecedented public health crisis to push forward a radical annihilation of our labor laws. He... has undermined the quality of life for Uber drivers and other workers.” https://www.latimes.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Ten days earlier, Uber's CEO sent a letter to Trump asking Congress for a "third way" classification between contractor and employee — a federal version of the carve-out the company has pursued state by state. The reply came fast: about 50 labor groups, including SEIU locals and the California Labor Federation, are now telling congressional leaders to reject it, arguing the pandemic is being used as cover to strip workers of rights while Uber's own sick pay policy keeps shifting and excludes some drivers who need it.
The letter also carries the weight of California's fight, where Rideshare Drivers United — whose Nicole Moore is among the critics quoted — helped push gig labor legislation through, and where Uber has since blamed driver-friendly policies for hurting its business.
First-order effects
- Congressional leaders now hold two competing asks on gig classification — Uber's 'third way' proposal and a unified labor counterproposal — making worker status a live item in any pandemic-era relief or labor legislation rather than a state-level fight.
Second-order effects
- The labor coalition's framing — pandemic relief should not subsidize companies that avoid employee costs, as driver advocate Nicole Moore argues — pressures Congress to attach worker protections to any federal aid touching gig platforms, and hands ammunition to state-level campaigns Uber is already fighting abroad, like Spain's law treating drivers as employees.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, gig classification hardens into a standing federal lobbying battleground: platforms fund 'third category' proposals and PR campaigns like the harassment of an AB5-supporting law professor, while organized labor and driver groups counter with legislation — leaving state laws like California's as the template either side tries to nationalize or neutralize.
The trend: Gig worker classification is escalating from scattered state battles into a coordinated federal fight, with platform-proposed 'third way' categories met by national labor coalitions demanding full employee protections.