Posts tagged Gavin Newsom
The Highest Stakes Commentary: Kim Kavin
October 16, 2024 // In this version of the ABC Test, Part B states that a person can only be a legally operating independent contractor if: The person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business. That line has been an unmitigated income- and career-destroyer for Californians in more than 600 professions. It hit everyone from comedians who could no longer perform at comedy clubs to translators who could no longer provide translation services for translation companies to freelance writers who could no longer write articles for publishers. Owner-operator truckers are still battling in the courts and trying to explain how it could decimate the supply chain, with the threat of taking so many self-employed truckers off the road. The damage to people’s livelihoods was so significant that within a year—just one year—of AB5 going into effect:
New law bans California companies from forcing employees to meet on politics, religion or union issues
October 4, 2024 // But starting next year, California employers will no longer be able to force employees into so-called “captive audience” meetings about politics, including unions, or religion. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill Friday banning these compulsory meetings. The new law, which was supported mostly by unions, prohibits employers from retaliating against employees when they don’t attend a meeting related to religion or politics, including union organizing.
Report Rips Biden–Harris Labor Secretary Julie Su
September 23, 2024 // One individual used the name “Mr. Poopy Pants” on his official application and “received an approved claim.” Rapper Nuke Bizzle filed “92 fraudulent applications” and posted a video about the ease of ripping off California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) that gets a lot of attention in the “Widespread Fraud” report. “EDD, under leadership of Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) secretary Julie Su, made the decision early in the pandemic to ‘pay and chase’ after she was informed that keeping integrity checks in place would lead to a backlog in processing claims largely due to EDDs outdated IT,” the report says
‘Unprecedented’ lawsuit could roll back farmworker union wins from 2023 California law
August 25, 2024 // The Wonderful lawsuit is the latest legal challenge brought forth by employers against the ALRB and the state’s landmark 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act. This law was the first in the country to grant farmworkers the right to collective bargaining without retaliation, which farmworkers were not granted under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The exclusion was rooted in racism because, at the time, many of those workers were Black.
End of an era: California Trucking Association dropping appeal against AB5
August 23, 2024 // The high-water mark of CTA’s fight came on New Year’s Eve 2019 when Judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California handed down an injunction blocking AB5’s enforcement against trucking in the state. But from that point, the CTA suffered a series of losses. An appellate court in a 2-1 decision overturned the injunction in April 2021. The CTA took the appeal to the Supreme Court, which denied review in June 2022 and kicked the case back to the District Court.
Commentary: California’s Unions Lost Their Long Battle Against Uber and Lyft
August 13, 2024 // The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled that ridesharing drivers can be exempted from California's crackdown on independent contracting.
Commentary: Beware the Vanilla Slugger
August 8, 2024 // Study after study shows that the vast majority of independent contractors wish to remain as we are. Any government policy that limits our freedom to choose self-employment is a weaponization of regulatory language. It’s trying to force us to become something we do not want to be. It’s plain and simple freelance busting. Unionized employees and independent contractors are equals as Americans. We have the right to choose how we earn a living. Everyone should respect us and our rights, because that’s how we roll here in the land of the free. We’re all about liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Opinion: Union wants a second helping of nutso, corrupt Cali fast-food law
August 6, 2024 // Higher wages mean a higher bar of entry for kids looking for summer jobs and low-education adults looking for stable work. And higher prices for consumers already rocked by inflation. Sure seems like progressives don’t really care much about the little guy they allegedly stand up for.
AB 1955 Causes Elon Musk to Pull Out of California
August 6, 2024 // SpaceX and X are undisputed juggernauts in the economy of California. SpaceX is located in Hawthorne, CA, outside of the city of Los Angeles. The company reportedly provides almost 7000 jobs and employs approximately 16% of Hawthorne’s residents. Musk’s social media behemoth X, formerly known as Twitter, has most of its offices in San Francisco, CA. Taking X out of San Francisco will add more strain to an already hurting city—46% of offices and 40% of retail spaces in parts of the city are vacant. With litigation filed against the state, the loss of two huge revenue and job providers, and most likely another mass exodus of families all due to the enactment of AB 1955, California is in for more economic hurt.
COMMENTARY: No Means No
July 29, 2024 // Don’t let the language of protection and freedom fool you. When someone refuses to take no for an answer, that’s not protection. It’s an attack on our freedom to choose self-employment. It’s an attempt to change the laws and regulations that protect us from them. What we are experiencing has a name. This is what zealotry looks like. It’s the behavior of fanatics who are uncompromising in the pursuit of what they want, no matter how detached from reality their beliefs are, and no matter how many people they hurt in the process.