Two million independent contractors caught a break from the California supreme court when it recently upheld a ballot initiative that was intended to overcome Sacramento’s patently obvious effort to outlaw gig work. Any celebrations should wait, though. The administration wants to take California’s war on worker freedom national.
The PRO Act is not the federal identical twin of California’s Assembly Bill 5. But there is a striking similarity. AB 5 made it almost impossible to work as an independent contractor — it was a conscious intent to ensure that the only way to have a job in California would be as a hired employee. The PRO Act shares that same purpose.
Officially titled the Richard Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act — in honor of the late AFL-CIO president — the PRO Act has support in the White House, in the Naval Observatory (whose California occupant seems to have moved into the White House, and would sign the legislation if it were put before here), and from Julie Su, the acting labor secretary who, while she was California’s labor commissioner, threatened “investigations and audits” for companies that she felt weren’t in compliance with AB 5.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Kamala Harris Is Bad News for Gig Workers
Kerry Jackson
Two million independent contractors caught a break from the California supreme court when it recently upheld a ballot initiative that was intended to overcome Sacramento’s patently obvious effort to outlaw gig work. Any celebrations should wait, though. The administration wants to take California’s war on worker freedom national.
The PRO Act is not the federal identical twin of California’s Assembly Bill 5. But there is a striking similarity. AB 5 made it almost impossible to work as an independent contractor — it was a conscious intent to ensure that the only way to have a job in California would be as a hired employee. The PRO Act shares that same purpose.
Officially titled the Richard Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act — in honor of the late AFL-CIO president — the PRO Act has support in the White House, in the Naval Observatory (whose California occupant seems to have moved into the White House, and would sign the legislation if it were put before here), and from Julie Su, the acting labor secretary who, while she was California’s labor commissioner, threatened “investigations and audits” for companies that she felt weren’t in compliance with AB 5.
Click to read the full article in National Review.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.