Welcome back to the CSLI Weekly Roundup, our weekly collection of what we’re reading and thinking about on worker power, labor standards, economic security, and new approaches to strengthening the middle class.
This week, we’re looking at new models of worker voice, how states are filling gaps in federal protections, and the consequences of a labor market built around increasingly varied forms of work.
What We’re Reading
California’s rideshare drivers get a union. The California Public Employment Relations Board has certified the California Gig Workers Union to represent Uber and Lyft drivers statewide. The certification follows a decade of organizing and a 2025 state law that gave rideshare drivers bargaining rights while preserving their classification as independent contractors. It creates a new path to representation for workers excluded from the federal labor-law system and gives drivers a statewide organization through which they can seek improvements in pay, benefits, and working conditions. The next test is whether California’s unusual labor-business compromise can translate legal recognition into meaningful power for drivers. Read Capital & Main’s coverage of the California rideshare union.
What separates the best and worst states for workers? Oxfam America’s latest index evaluates every state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico across 37 policies governing wages, workplace protections, and workers’ ability to organize. California, Washington, D.C., New York, Illinois, and Oregon occupy the top five positions. North Carolina ranks last, followed by Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina. All five jurisdictions at the bottom retain the $7.25 federal minimum wage and lack statewide paid-family-leave and paid-sick-leave requirements. The index provides a useful inventory of the choices states make when federal standards leave workers exposed. Read WLOS’s coverage of the 2026 Best States to Work Index.
State retirement programs are reaching more workers. Fifteen states now operate automated individual retirement account programs for workers whose employers do not offer retirement benefits. More than 1.3 million workers had accumulated over $3 billion through the programs by June, while two additional states and Philadelphia were preparing to launch their own. The programs do not replace employer-funded retirement benefits, but they show how states can build portable infrastructure for workers who might otherwise have no practical way to save through payroll deductions. Explore Pew’s updated tracker of state auto-IRA programs.
How workers can help shape AI at work. As Tom Kochan argued in Labor Innovation earlier this week, workers need a voice in every phase of AI development and use. This MIT Sloan article explains the research behind that framework, which Kochan developed with five MIT colleagues after conducting more than 50 interviews. The researchers identify four points where workers should be involved: choosing the problems AI will address, designing the technology and related work processes, determining training needs, and planning for workers whose jobs may change. Bringing frontline employees into those decisions early makes it more likely that AI will improve their work instead of eliminating jobs or saddling workers with poorly designed tools. Read “The Secret to Successful AI Implementations? Worker Voice” from MIT Sloan.
Throwback Thursday
An early attempt to rethink independent work
In 2015, CSLI advisory board member Seth Harris and the late economist Alan Krueger argued that the traditional distinction between employees and independent contractors did not adequately describe workers using emerging online platforms. They proposed a new “independent worker” category that would preserve flexibility while extending protections including civil-rights coverage, tax withholding, and employer contributions toward benefits. Harris and Krueger clearly identified the problem: millions of workers exercise some control over when they work while the platforms still control essential terms of the job. Read “A Proposal for Modernizing Labor Laws for Twenty-First-Century Work” from the Brookings Institution.
We’ll be back next week with more of what we’re reading about worker voice, labor standards, state experimentation, and labor-market power.
Labor Innovation is edited by Richard Allen Smith.
