The high-stakes battle between Uber executives and drivers in California, explained

Uber and Lyft really, really don’t want their drivers to be company employees. Both ride-hailing companies have launched an aggressive public campaign to escape California’s crackdown on the gig economy. In the past two weeks, they’ve published an op-ed in the San Fransisco Chronicle and are now enlisting drivers and lobbyists to help weaken AB 5, a bill that would make it harder for companies to label workers as independent contractors instead of employees — a common practice that has allowed businesses to skirt state and federal labor laws.