One of the big problems with forming a gig worker union is the same problem with gig work in general; you're disconnected with your coworkers and other firm participants.

Uber can press a button in response to a strike and send out a push notification to potential scabs offering a bribe to cross the digital picket line. The strikers both don't know and can't efficiently tell who scabs are, and as such can't put pressure for solidarity on them.

Some Uber drivers also use the Lyft app. Would they use a “DriveTogether” app for labor organizing? Is digital labor organizing more or less work than old-school organizing of workers in factories across a large geographic region?

Edit: looks like this is now legally permitted, https://tcf.org/content/report/virtual-labor-organizing/

”Due to a little-known, but far-reaching change made by the NLRB last year, virtual labor organizing by employees is now sanctioned by law in many situations and could possibly be transformative in the workplace ... NLRB recently reversed years of legal precedent that allowed employers to ban the use of workplace e-mail for organizing or communicating about the terms and conditions of work. Last year, in its decision in Purple Communications, Inc., the NLRB emphatically endorsed the right of employees to use workplace e-mail for such activities. It held that “employee use of email for statutorily protected communications on nonworking time must presumptively be permitted by employers who have chosen to give employees access to their email systems.” The NLRB added that: “Employees’ need to share information and opinions is particularly acute in the context of an initial organizing campaign.”

One major barrier is that you don’t have to meet any of your coworkers unless you explicitly seek them out, and your employer certainly isn’t going to help you. So yes I would say that labor organizing across a gig platform is considerably harder than for factories across geographic regions. The social fabric is a lot harder to construct

Many drivers (in NYC anyway) are members of online discussion forums, so they are connecting already. I read many a multi-hundred page threads of drivers ranting and deciding to strike several years ago over Uber forcing black cars to accept UberX rides. Them joining together is a major reason Uber backtracked that policy per Uber’s public statement about it.

I guess that the missing piece here would be better ways to organise strike funds and pay. Regarding the social aspect there's mostly a way if there's will.

Can anyone who drives for Uber/Lyft/Grab chime in here? Do you know your peers?

Some would say this is the killer-app of gig platforms - the picket lines and scabs are almost invisible, and workers are completely disconnected from each other unless they seek each other out. Makes organization and striking very hard

I'd argue that what people need is a "meta"-union with gig-specific chapters. Regardless of the type of employment, all people are human beings with needs, desires, and limitations. You could argue that government and political parties are supposed to be just that, but here we are.

Yes! Meta unions should be there for managing strike funds. This infrastructure seems like something that could be packaged in a reusable way. I don't think this should be part of the political establishment at all. Just as corporations should be kept separate from the state. The mechanics of labour unions are quite different.

See the case study of Nidan. They setup unions in India for informal workers. A union of unions so to speak.the centre that did the case study is one of the best to understand Systems change

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SF17_Case_Studies_02_Nidan_...