The battle over AB5 in California, which could turn drivers from independent contractors to employees, is heating up. RSG contributor Sergio Avedian visited the competing protests (for and against AB5), spoke to drivers, and shares his impressions below.
We’ve been covering the AB5 debate closely over the past few months, and this week we saw some big news out of Sacramento. There were two rallies, one against AB5 put on by Uber on Tuesday and one for AB5 put on by driver advocates on Wednesday.
The bill itself, which would codify a widely used workplace standard known as the “ABC” test to determine workers’ employment status into California Law was voted out of the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee on Wednesday afternoon. It will be moved to the Appropriations Committee in early August, after which it will be up for debate in the CA Senate and up for a final vote towards the end of the month.
This bill would only affect California drivers to start, but it could set a precedent for other states around the country.