California Rideshare Drivers Clear Threshold for Nation's Largest Gig-Worker Union

California's Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) notified the California Gig Workers Union (CGWU) on Friday, August 7, that it had gathered authorization from at least 30% of the state's active Uber and Lyft drivers. That clears the bar set by Assembly Bill 1340, the 2025 law that gave rideshare drivers a path to unionize while keeping their status as independent contractors.

A 30-day clock is now running, according to CBS News and Bloomberg Law. During that window, any driver can try to submit evidence that at least 30% of active drivers don't want CGWU representing them. PERB itself said in its notice that no rival driver organization is currently eligible to compete for that support, which OnLabor's James Blanchfield and KQED's Samantha Kennedy both reported makes a successful block unlikely.

If certification goes through as expected, CGWU becomes the exclusive bargaining representative for hundreds of thousands of California rideshare drivers. Both companies have already signaled they'll deal with it.

"This certification is the next step in delivering on AB 1340, a historic compromise that gives drivers a pathway to representation while preserving the independence and flexibility they've consistently said they value the most," Uber's Western U.S. head of public policy and communications Ramona Prieto said, in language nearly identical to statements given to CBS News, the LA Times and Bloomberg Law. Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin said the company is "committed to engaging in good faith," adding "Lyft does well when drivers do well."

Uber's cooperation is notable because the company originally opposed AB 1340, according to the LA Times. It dropped that opposition late last year after a separate bill overhauled insurance requirements for the industry, a deal the LA Times described as part of a broader negotiation with Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers.

What drivers say they're after

CGWU is backed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which has organized rideshare drivers for more than a decade. Drivers interviewed by KPBS and KQED framed the fight in blunt economic terms.

"I was working more than 12-hour days, six to seven days a week, barely taking one day off when I can because I'm exhausted," Los Angeles driver and organizer Margarita Penalosa told KPBS. Hector Castellanos, a driver of about a dozen years, told KQED the certification would be life-changing for thousands of families: "It's so incredible that we're fighting for so long and finally we're certified as a union."

Pay is the central complaint. Lyft caps its own fee at 30% of a fare, according to the company's website, but drivers say the company and Uber's cut has grown while rider prices stayed flat or rose. "I'm making way less money compared to when I started," driver Librado Rivera told KPBS.

Because AB 1340 keeps drivers classified as independent contractors, they still won't get overtime pay or other protections guaranteed to employees under federal law. This trade-off is central to the law: collective bargaining rights without the employee classification that unions have fought for since Proposition 22 passed in 2020. The California Supreme Court upheld Prop 22 in 2024, closing off the legal route Castellanos and other drivers had pursued as plaintiffs.

Not every driver is on board

KPBS's Katie Hyson reported a genuine split among San Diego drivers. Librado Rivera, who also co-founded San Diego Drivers United, representing roughly 500 drivers, said his group has real reservations about union dues.

"We do have certain concerns about it, especially in regards to the dues that drivers have to be paying in order to be affiliated with receiving this benefit," Rivera said. "We feel like it's going to be one more burden on them, taking more from their rides." He said his group was initially excited about CGWU but has shifted toward pushing for change at the local government level instead. He also acknowledged some of his own members do support the union, calling it "a mix."

Drivers already say they're squeezed by rising costs and shrinking per-ride pay. Adding a mandatory dues structure on top of that is a legitimate trade-off question, not a fringe complaint. CGWU and SEIU haven't yet detailed what dues would look like once bargaining begins, since no contract exists yet.

The bigger pattern

California is following Massachusetts, where the App Drivers Union was certified in May 2026 to represent roughly 70,000 drivers, according to the LA Times. Illinois passed similar organizing-rights legislation in June, according to OnLabor. CGWU has called itself the largest rideshare driver union in the world.

For Lyft's investors, Simply Wall St flagged the certification as a regulatory-risk item that could pressure margins if bargaining produces higher wage, benefit or insurance costs, layering onto existing legal exposure the company faces from sexual assault litigation. Neither Uber nor Lyft has disclosed specific financial estimates tied to a first contract, because no contract talks have started.

The next concrete marker is the close of PERB's 30-day window, which runs from the August 7 notice. Barring a successful challenge that current reporting treats as improbable, CGWU would then move to the bargaining table, where the real fight over pay formulas, per-mile rates and dues structures actually begins.