Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, gig workers and “independent contractors” put ourselves at risk to provide essential services. All the while, companies continue to undermine our protections, our pay, and our right to organize. Whether you’re an app-based worker or an independent musician, journalist, performer, or artist, the ongoing discussion about the rights of workers who aren’t “employees” has significant implications for our ability to make a living. It’s time for us to come together, take stock of the current moment, and build our collective power.

Join Gig Workers Collective and Coworker.org for Gig Worker Voice: Finding Yours, Building Ours, a two-part, worker-led event focused on building power in the gig economy among workers excluded from many traditional labor protections. The event is free, open to all gig workers, freelancers, independent performers, artists and our allies, and will take place virtually via Zoom.

In our first session, What They Don’t Tell You About Being a Gig Worker: From Algorithms to Independence, gig workers across industries will lead a discussion about what it means to be a gig worker and the unique challenges we face. We’ll identify our common struggles and talk about what we can do as workers to fight for a better future. Session 1 will be moderated by Coworker.org co-director Michelle Miller and will feature workers from Gig Workers Collective, Adult Performance Artists Guild, Rideshare Drivers United, Music Workers Alliance, and freelance journalist Kim Kelly.

We’ll return the following week with our second session, Empowering Gig Workers: Worker-Led, Worker-Run, Guerrilla Tactics. This panel discussion will feature gig workers striving to organize their industries who will share about what it means to be an organizer and how they've found success building collective power. We’ll talk about structures for organizing outside of the traditional union model, what our rights are, and what we’d like them to be. Panelists will share ways you can plug in to organizing that’s already happening in our sector, and answer your questions. Session two will feature organizers from Gig Workers Collective, Los Deliveristas Unidos, Music Workers Alliance, Haymarket Pole Collective, Amazon Organizer Adrienne Williams, and more to be announced.

RSVP below to reserve your spot and you’ll receive a confirmation email with links to join both events.