Posts tagged ballot measure

    Minnesota’s Misguided Crackdown Of Independent Contractors

    November 1, 2023 // Much to the chagrin of Minnesota regulators, rideshare drivers overwhelmingly identify as independent contractors and not employees. Uber and Lyft drivers have, instead, advocated for portable benefits as a means to insulate themselves from forced reclassification. Utah recently became the first state to pass this reform, while states like Massachusetts are mulling similar bills and will also have an opportunity to vote on a 2024 ballot measure to maintain their IC status. Minnesota should study California Assembly Bill 5 and similar efforts that displaced workers and left them worse off under the guise of “fighting” misclassification.

    California fast food workers to get $20 minimum wage under new deal between labor and the industry

    September 12, 2023 // Before the law could take effect, the fast food industry gathered enough signatures to qualify a referendum on the law in the November 2024 election. That meant the law would be on hold until voters could decide whether to overturn it. Furious, labor unions sponsored legislation this year that would have made fast food companies like McDonald’s liable for any misdeeds of their mostly independent franchise operators in the state. Democratic lawmakers also restored funding to the Industrial Welfare Commission, a long-dormant state agency that has the power to set wage and workplace standards for multiple industries.

    Two states, two visions for the future of labor “Right-to-work” is on the ballot.

    October 3, 2022 // Two economic papers published in the last year also reached different conclusions about the consequences of right-to-work laws. The first found right-to-work laws associated with increased manufacturing employment, increased employment, and greater upward mobility. The second found that right-to-work laws lower wages and unionization rates.

    Opinion: States should protect caregivers’ Medicaid funds from union skims

    June 27, 2022 // Yet, while a number of states including Michigan have taken action to prohibit the dues skim, a May rule by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reversed a Trump administration effort to stop the skim nationally. A separate 9th Circuit decision last week also continues to allow unions to trap home care providers into paying them. Robert and Patricia Haynes, cerebral palsy, Gov. Rick Snyder, Harris v. Quinn, Cindy Ochoa, most pro-union president ever,