Some Uber and Lyft drivers are going public to demand an equal say in negotiations over whether they will become employees or remain independent contractors.

As California lawmakers weigh a bill that could change the drivers’ status, Uber, Lyft, labor leaders and government officials have been thrashing out ideas in formal talks, but drivers have not been present. They have, however, participated in other meetings with the governor’s office and unions who’d like to represent the drivers.

“Drivers need a seat at the table as equal partners to chart our path forward,” wrote representatives of two driver organizing groups, Gig Workers Rising and Mobile Workers Alliance, in an open letter to Uber and Lyft published in a full-page ad in Friday’s Chronicle. The ad was paid for by the two groups and SEIU California, a union that has helped drivers organize and is participating in the negotiations. Dozens of drivers from Los Angeles and the Bay Area plan to march to Uber’s Mid-Market headquarters Friday morning to present a blown-up copy of the ad to the company.

“We’re the experts who understand what it’s like on a day-to-day basis to work for these companies,” said Rebecca Stack-Martinez, a San Francisco Uber driver who signed the letter. “Drivers understand the daily impact that any decisions will have.”

The ad demands that state lawmakers give drivers “the ability to bargain through a strong, democratic, driver-led union” — something that could only happen under labor law if drivers were employees.

“We will continue to work collaboratively with our diverse community of drivers — and the legislators who represent them — to improve the quality and security of independent work,” Uber said. Both Uber and Lyft recently said they back the idea of creating an association to represent drivers’ interests.

“Lyft is advocating for an approach in line with the interests of our driver community, by modernizing century-old labor laws that make it difficult to provide both flexibility and benefits,” Lyft said. “That’s why we’ve been working with lawmakers and labor leaders on a different solution, so drivers can continue to control where, when and how long they drive. It’s encouraging that more groups are joining the conversation to preserve flexibility for drivers while also providing new benefits and protections.”

The independent-contractor status of Uber and Lyft drivers, as well as numerous others, was thrown into doubt by a groundbreaking 2018 state Supreme Court decision in a case involving courier service Dynamex. It said that workers should be classified as employees if they perform tasks integral to a company’s business, work under the company’s control and do not have their own independent enterprises doing that work.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, introduced AB5, which would codify and clarify the Dynamex decision, saying that workers deserve the protections of being employees, such as minimum wage, overtime, workers’ compensation, disability pay and other benefits. AB5, which has already passed the Assembly, exempts many occupations, such as doctors, dentists, architects, lawyers, stylists, barbers and others, generally with the unifying themes that they set their own rates and connect directly with their customers. Neither is true of ride-hail drivers.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has close ties to labor, which supports AB5, and technology companies, which oppose it, is urging them to continue meeting to reach a compromise. His office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Uber and Lyft, both newly public companies that already lose money hand over fist, would be on the hook for millions of dollars in additional labor costs if they had to cover employee benefits for drivers. Instead, the two rivals have joined forces to issue a counter-proposal offering to improve drivers’ working conditions with guaranteed minimum pay after expenses, flexible benefits and a drivers’ association. In exchange, the companies want legislation clarifying that drivers are independent contractors.

Drivers appear split on the issue. Uber and Lyft drivers, who are diverse and dispersed, range from a vast majority who put in just a few hours for supplemental income to people driving 50 or more hours a week as their sole source of support. Many drivers say they fear losing flexibility if they were to become employees — but AB5 supporters counter that employees can still have flexible schedules and that Uber and Lyft can apply technology and innovation to make that happen.

“While drivers may be divided on their classification status, we’re not divided on what we deserve,” Stack-Martinez said. “We deserve more and better than we’re getting right now.”

Uber and Lyft sent drivers in-app notifications and paid them up to $100 each for their time and expenses, the Los Angeles Times reported, to participate in an anti-AB5 rally in Sacramento last week. Unions chartered buses to ferry drivers to Sacramento the next day for their own rally supporting AB5. Numerous drivers spoke out both for and against AB5 at a state Senate committee hearing last week that passed the bill on to the Senate Appropriations committee. The bill should be heard by the full Senate by early September.

“This is a pivotal moment not only for gig workers, but for workers’ rights,” Stack-Martinez said. “This is an opportunity for California to lead the way once again and show the U.S. that gig workers can be treated fairly and have the protections that workers and labor organizers have fought decades for.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid