Aloudi says drivers like him can only get Lyft and Uber to give them a good deal if they have a strong community. Now, after seven years in the business, he has a really strong community.

“My power is knowing people,” Aloudi said. “I don’t know people just from the profile on Facebook. I know people in real life.” And he knows a lot of people. Aloudi whips out his phone and shows me his contacts. He’s got the names, numbers and emails of over 4,000 local drivers.

Aloudi said because of his organizing, he was contacted by Gig Workers Rising. The group promised to help drivers like him get what they want and to have their voices heard, he said. Aloudi trusted them, so he handed over the list of drivers he’d spent years building.

Organizing gig workers is difficult because companies still classify them as contractors, which has been used to bar them from joining a typical union. Companies like Uber and Lyft have fought hard and in various ways to keep their workers from being employees, and therefore allowed the right to unionize. This leaves drivers with far less options than workers have in other industries.

When drivers in New York City were clamoring for some kind of organization to represent them, Uber stepped in to help set up an organization called The Independent Drivers Guild. The guild receives money directly from Uber, and then funnels some of that money back to its union affiliate.

This kind of arrangement does not sit well with Aloudi and some of his fellow drivers in San Francisco. He doubts that the guild could really fight and represent drivers if it is taking money from Uber. Aloudi wants something different.

At first, Aloudi said, he thought Gig Workers Rising could help. He and his fellow drivers especially wanted them to help change the lack of benefits, the falling wages and the power Uber and Lyft have to deactivate drivers.

Over the last few months, Aloudi felt like he was listened to less and less at meetings. On top of that, he’s heard a few things that alarmed him about the big unions like Teamsters and SEIU, which are involved with Gig Workers Rising.

For one thing, there were reports last fall that the Teamsters and SEIU were talking with Uber and Lyft about watering down California’s landmark gig worker law, AB 5. Word spread that instead of designating drivers as employees, the unions would make a deal that would keep them contractors.