In today’s News and Commentary, rideshare drivers look to unionize in California, the United Food and Commercial Workers campaign against electronic shelf labels, and the Teamsters come out in support of New York City’s new bill.

The California Gig Workers Union is set to become the first bargaining representative of Uber and Lyft drivers in the state after receiving authorization from over 30% of active rideshare drivers. The California Public Employment Relations Board released a notice on August 7^th saying that the union had reached the 30% threshold required for certification. Under California law, certification can still be blocked if within 30 days the rideshare drivers demonstrate that at least 30% of them do not desire unionization. However, given the large support demonstrated in the Gig Workers union drive, blocking certification is seen as unlikely. California’s rideshare drivers continue the trend started in Massachusetts, which became the first state in the nation to form a rideshare drivers union back in May, as Anthony reported here. Illinois then followed suit by passing a similar bill in June, as I wrote here. The California Gig Workers Union has now called themselves the largest union of rideshare drivers in the world, with the hope that even more states may join the movement.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union has been actively campaigning against electronic shelf labels (ESLs) after Wal-Mart announced it plans to equip 2,300 of its stores with digital price tags by 2026. The union has warned that ESLs would negatively impact retail jobs by eliminating the manual labor required to update paper tags. There is also the concern of AI-driven “surge pricing” which would allow supermarkets and retail stores to suddenly hike prices during peak shopping hours, resulting in reduced price transparency for shoppers. Federal lawmakers are particularly worried about the latter problem, with a Senate Committee recently holding a hearing titled “Your Data, Their Profit: The Consumer Cost of AI Surveillance Pricing.” The store owners are pushing back, saying that fierce competition between stores incentivizes companies to keep prices lower and maintain consumer trust. The National Retail Federation is characterizing the change as brick-and-mortar stores merely adopting the same pricing technology that other sectors have used for years. UFCW is doubtful of this story, claiming that the stores are patenting technology to allow algorithms to hike prices in real time.

In New York City, the Teamsters union has come out in strong support of the proposed Delivery Protection Act. The new law, authored by City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, would require companies operating last-mile distribution factories to obtain city licenses, establish basic safety and training standards, and directly hire their delivery drivers. The Act specifically seeks to outlaw the Amazon Delivery Service Partner (DSP) system which allows Amazon to contract with independent small businesses to employ delivery drivers rather than employing the drivers directly. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has fully backed the bill, calling the DSP system “the most dangerous business model in America today” as it “allows Amazon to break the law while hiding behind shell companies it has total control over.” Union reps also point to abrupt job loss and poor treatment of delivery drivers as further evidence the bill is needed. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced his support for the proposal, saying, “It’s time to end the subcontracting model that puts profits over people and build an economy that works for working New Yorkers.”