US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) promised freelancers in an online webinar late last week that he would listen to their concerns and work with them to find a solution for the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO Act (H.R. 2474), marking the first time a prominent elected Democrat has acknowledged a major problem with the bill. … READ MORE …
Press and Releases
Many Freelancers Would Rather Quit Than Become Regular Employees
As reported in The Wall Street Journal, “Exporting California’s [AB5] approach nationwide would jeopardize creative business models that have provided so much to so many. We cannot assume that a 20th-century model still fits workers in the 21st century.” READ MORE …
Freelancers Nationwide Are Already Getting Caught in the ABC Test Net
As reported in Contently, “with national ABC Test legislation in Congress and public awareness rising, more freelancers report being turned away from work because they pose a legal liability to the publisher.” READ MORE …
Civil rights leader calls California’s AB5 Law, which the PRO Act would make federal, outright “racist”
Several newspapers nationwide published this op-ed by longtime civil rights leader Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. calling California’s AB5—which would become federal law under the PRO Act—“racist,” “regressive” and “unconstitutional.” READ MORE …
The pandemic has boosted freelance work — and hiring for these jobs is booming
I Don’t Want To Be Anybody’s Employee
As reported in Reason: “They all say their stance is about protecting workers, even though California’s example has taught us that such regulations cripple huge swaths of the middle class, denying people the flexibility they want and the cash flow they need. And flexibility and cash flow will both be all the more important as COVID-19 forces many of us to change the way we work.”… READ MORE…
Is Anyone Actually Editing The New York Times Editorial Page?
As reported on DailyKos: Nothing has changed for Uber drivers in California since the legislation went into effect six months ago. What has happened, instead, is a drawn-out legal battle between Uber and the state while thousands of other Californians are being thrown out of work in more than 300 professions documented so far — none of which The Times even bothered to mention, if the editors even realized it is happening at all. … READ MORE…
Unions Are Hurting Working People Under The Guise Of Protecting Them
As reported in Forbes: “The world has changed, and turning back time isn’t an option. Time for everyone, including the unions, to recognize that the country has significant economic problems at the individual level. Cutting the livelihood of millions—with the full knowledge that there aren’t enough jobs to place them into—is irresponsible, selfish, short-sighted, unrealistic, and heartless.” … READ MORE …
U.S. House of Representatives Passes PRO Act, Set to Devastate Independent Contracting and Small Businesses Nationwide
Welcome to Ms. Kavin’s Neighborhood. Today’s Lesson: The ABCs
From Daily Kos:
The issue of “worker misclassification” is becoming key to the Democratic Party’s campaign plans this election year, both at the federal and state levels. Presidential candidates Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders all have voiced support for a federal version of California’s recently enacted AB5, which would make everyone an employee until proven otherwise. … READ MORE …
