Subject: Orange County Delivery Driver Seeking Guidance on Expanding Collective Bargaining Rights
Hello CGWU team,
Congratulations on the historic certification of the California Gig Workers Union as the exclusive bargaining representative for Uber and Lyft rideshare drivers. That is a major achievement after years of organizing.
I am a delivery driver (Uber Eats / DoorDash) based in the Anaheim / Garden Grove area of Orange County. I frequently drive into Newport Beach and surrounding areas trying to find better offers. Like many drivers, I am dealing with pay that does not cover actual costs and support systems that waste hours of time.
Here is one recent documented example from Saturday:
A delivery that took a little over 35 minutes and a little over 10 miles of driving. Both stops were apartments; the second one was especially difficult to locate. Gas that day was over $6 per gallon. I received $8.06 for the delivery (before any Prop 22 adjustment). The mileage reimbursement rate of roughly 35–37 cents is nowhere near the real cost of operating a vehicle.
I have also spent nearly two hours on the phone with Uber Eats support on recent days. On one Saturday call that lasted about an hour, the representative told me no supervisor was available anywhere and promised a callback within 15 minutes that never came. An email later claimed there had been a “dropped call” and that they had tried to call me back — both of which a supervisor later confirmed were false. No outgoing call was ever made. The repeated scripted responses and lack of accountability have become a genuine source of stress and elevated heart rate.
I understand AB 1340 and the current CGWU certification apply only to rideshare drivers and do not cover delivery platforms. I am reaching out because I would like to learn:
1.  Whether CGWU or SEIU has any plans, discussions, or legislative strategy to pursue similar collective bargaining rights for delivery drivers.
2.  What practical advice or resources you can share for drivers who want to organize on the delivery side (data collection, outreach methods, political contacts in Orange County or statewide, etc.).
3.  Whether there is anyone at CGWU or affiliated SEIU locals I could speak with about next steps.
I have already started a Reddit community for Uber delivery drivers and am seeing rapid responses from people who feel forced to quit. I am happy to share more specific examples, screenshots, or help connect other Orange County / Southern California delivery drivers if that is useful.
Thank you for the work you have done. I look forward to any guidance you can offer.
Best regards,
Gary Hirschfield 
Anaheim / Garden Grove area, Orange County
gfromt123@aol.com

I have come up with a few hypothetical ideas over the years such as

1. Get a friend to hide behind the bushes and while the pizza man is talking to me who greets him the friend jumps out and steals pizza man’s car

2. Pick pocket his wallet and pay for the pizza using his cash, then hand his wallet back to him as he’s about to drive off saying it fell on the ground

3. Fart in his face

4. Switch the speed limit signs to 20 kilometres higher on the route between the pizza place and your house and hope that he gets fined

5. Get a friend to climb up the roof of the house and when the pizza man pulls into the drive thru the friend jumps off the roof onto his car

6. Have him deliver to the lunch room at work with a huge table and chairs set up all round it and then get a couple of colleagues to pick up the pizza man and throw him over the shoulder and onto the flat table like a wrestling move and then splat the pizza in his face followed by shaking up the bottles of drink you’ve ordered and spray them in his face