Posts tagged Freelancers
Los Angeles Times Journalists Ratify New Labor Contract, Averting Strike
December 4, 2025 // The deal offers members thousands of dollars in raises. Employees at the Times will receive $3,000 in wage increases in the first year of the contract, $2,750 in the second year and $2,500 in the third year. Those who work at Times Community News will receive $5,000 raises in the first year of the deal and $4,000 in the second and third years. The contract also enshrines Juneteenth as a holiday, codifies protections around employees using their chosen names and pronouns and asserts that the paper must respond when members face online harassment. The deal requires that management disclose any mandatory drug testing in job postings and creates union-covered “per diem” positions (a move intended to limit the use of non-union freelancers and temporary workers).
GSI, Kavin Give More Reasons for NJDOL to Abandon Independent Contractor Rule
November 3, 2025 // despite more than 99% of opposing comments to it, there were two new developments this week to show even more reasons why the effort should be abandoned. A new analysis from the Garden State Initiative showed how the rule would effectively threaten the livelihoods of thousands of freelancers, caregivers, and small business owners across the state. The report, Independent Contractor Rules Threaten New Jersey’s Small Businesses and Jobs: Lessons from California’s Failed Approach, said the rule would disproportionately affect “women and men with young children who rely on flexible hours,” retirees supplementing their income, and “immigrants and minorities, many who use gig work as a first step into the American workforce.”
Op-ed: When Workers Have Other Options: Rethinking Power in the Multi-Earner Economy
October 5, 2025 // Well, monopsony is the flip side: when one (or just a few) buyers dominate a market. In labor markets, that “buyer” is your employer. And when employers have monopsony power, they can pay you less than what your work is actually worth—because where else are you going to go? Here’s the thing: you don’t need to live in a company town with one employer to experience monopsony power. It happens if the cost of leaving your job is too high. Maybe you need the health insurance.
Legislation helping independent workers access portable benefits introduced
July 10, 2025 // Currently, while 80 percent of independent workers would like access to workplace benefits, decades old federal labor and employment law prevent them from doing so. The legislative package is supported by independent worker organizations like Flex Association, the Institute for the American Worker and the National Retail Federation, to name a few. “The Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers Act is an important step toward addressing some of the federal legal hurdles that complicate efforts to connect independent contractors with portable benefits while ensuring that the millions of Americans who choose to earn on their own terms can continue doing so without risking the independence and flexibility they value. Flex looks forward to working with Senator Cassidy and other forward-thinking policymakers as there is additional work to be done on this issue at the state and federal levels,” Kristin Sharp, CEO of Flex Association.
One Big Beautiful Law on American Radio Journal
July 7, 2025 // This week on American Radio Journal: Lowman Henry talks with Vincent Vernuccio from the Institute for the American Worker about the proposed Employee Rights Act of 2025;
Op-ed–Kim Kavin: ‘Please Don’t Destroy My Career’
July 2, 2025 // The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors did a survey of its members during our shared battle in Congress over a federal freelance-busting bill, and found an unbelievably high desire to remain independent contractors. That survey found: Approximately 90% of NAIFA members receive income reported on an IRS form 1099 94% do not want to be treated as an employee for union organizing 95% operating as independent contractors wish to remain so
A Taft-Hartley Roundup of Recent Labor News
June 25, 2025 // For just shy of 80 years, conservative Americans and the Republican Party that provides their imperfect electoral vehicle have sought to advance a policy consensus on labor relations based on three principles: ensuring union membership and participation is voluntary, scrutinizing unions’ operations in exchange for their government-granted powers, and protecting the public from the fallout from labor disputes. As America sits by the pool at the beginning of what might prove to be a long, hot summer, what news is there about the Taft-Hartley consensus?
Freelance Busting: Heart’s Desire
June 10, 2025 // Indeed found that 48% of women who switched to contract work reported improved mental health, and of the women who changed to gig work, one-third (38%) reported improved mental health. GrowTal/Opinium reported that 72% of women freelancers say their overall mental wellbeing has improved since freelancing. Freshbooks Cloud Accounting determined that 59% of self-employed women say they have less stress, and 57% of self-employed women say they’re healthier.
Trump Labor Department Pauses Gig Worker Rule, Plans Repeal
May 5, 2025 // The announcement, made in an enforcement guidance May 1, brings to fruition plans to rescind the rule—which the Trump administration has signaled in response to pending litigation over the policy. “Agency investigators are directed not to apply the 2024 rule’s analysis in current enforcement matters,” according to a DOL press release. “This approach provides greater clarity for businesses and workers navigating modern work arrangements while legal and regulatory questions are resolved.”
What was the impact of AB5 on California’s marginalized communities?
March 31, 2025 // Esther Hermida, a representative of the American Alliance of Professional Translators and Interpreters (AAPTI) testified about AB5’s impact on thousands of citizens in her industry comprised of 75 percent women. One professional translator, Ildiko Santana, reported she started her small business in 2000 as an immigrant and woman of color. She lost all 50 clients and all her income in 2020 when AB5 went into effect.