No on 22 Press Releases

For Immediate Release
October 12, 2020
Contact: Mike Roth, 916-813-1554

Prominent Black and Latino Leaders Rebuke Uber, Lyft and DoorDash 

For Shamelessly Exploiting Movement for Racial Equity with $185 Million Prop 22 Campaign

For Drivers Who Are 78% People of Color, App Companies’ Initiative Means 

No Sick Pay, No Workers’ Comp, and No Unemployment Insurance

Sacramento, CA – Prominent Black and Latino leaders held a news conference today to dismantle Uber, Lyft and DoorDash’s false claims on Prop 22 and racial equity. The app companies’ shameless exploitation of the current racial justice movement is offensive and disingenuous, they said, as the Prop 22 campaign spends a record-breaking $185 million to strip their overwhelmingly non-white workforce of sick pay, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance.

“Today we are setting the record straight: Prop 22 will make racial inequality worse in California and at the worst possible time,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland). “Prop 22 was written to lock drivers - 78% of whom are people of color and nearly a quarter of whom are Latino - into permanently low-wage jobs and strip them of sick pay and benefits. Stand with Black and Brown communities and Vote NO on Prop 22.”

“This summer, we saw corporations pay lip service in the face of a racial justice reckoning, and Color Of Change has consistently called on them to go Beyond the Statement and make measurable change to support Black employees and consumers. App companies like Uber and Lyft have an opportunity to lead, but instead they are undercutting workers of color in California, paying millions of dollars to rob drivers of their employee protections and dignity. It’s a roll back to labor rights and a slap in the face to gig workers of color who are on the frontlines of the pandemic. I urge Californians to join me and the Color Of Change PAC in voting No on Prop 22," said Arisha Hatch, Executive Director of Color Of Change PAC.

“Prop 22 embodies the opposite of racial equity as it would leave Black and Brown drivers with NO sick pay, NO workers’ compensation and NO unemployment insurance because the app companies wrote the initiative to take these benefits away,” said Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs.

“Income inequality has hit our communities the hardest. Now, Uber and Lyft are spending almost $200 million to ensure communities of color — who comprise 78% of their drivers — are forever stuck in low-wage jobs with unaffordable healthcare and no basic benefits,” said Assemblymember and Latino Caucus Chair, Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego).

“Voters can see right through the transparently bogus campaign claims of app companies who amassed billions by exploiting people of color and now have the gall to claim they’re on the side of racial equity,” said Joseph Bryant, President, SEIU 1021. "How dedicated can these billion-dollar app companies be to the health and well-being of Black and Brown communities when they refused to provide PPE during the pandemic, and when they wrote this law to ensure these workers can’t collect unemployment insurance?  Vote No on 22"

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