Posts tagged independent contractors
Employee Rights Act Would Protect Hardworking Latinos & Expand Freedom for All American Workers
May 9, 2022 // The LIBRE Initiative supports the ERA and its efforts at protecting American workers from anti-choice legislation like the PRO Act and ensuring that they have the flexibility to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving economy.

The Employee Rights Act Puts American Workers, Not Union Bosses, in the Driver’s Seat
April 13, 2022 // The Employee Rights Act contains several other provisions to protect workers from union intimidation. The bill criminalizes union threats in the workplace and bans unions from using personal employee data for anything unrelated to campaigns, taking Big Labor’s most aggressive and unethical tactics off the table. The bill also prohibits union “salting,” a tactic where a union pays an individual to apply for a job within a company that has not yet been unionized. Instead of becoming a productive employee, the “salt” is there to organize a union and be Big Labor’s mole on the inside.

To Help Workers, Unions and Democrats Should Support Scott’s ERA
April 13, 2022 // The ERA’s policies are wildly popular. Recent polling shows that 70% of those polled – including 76% of individuals in union households – believe that workers should have the right to a secret ballot. Other major provisions – including the right to withhold dues from political spending, privacy protections, and the criminalization of union threats – poll at an average favorability of 70%.
Labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan snags government employee union endorsement in AG campaign
April 4, 2022 // The National Association of Government Employees, a Quincy-based union which represents 22,000 public-sector employees in Massachusetts and more than 40,000 nationwide, announced Tuesday that its members unanimously voted to back Liss-Riordan, who hopes to succeed Attorney General Maura Healey, who is running for governor.

BACKGROUNDER: Employee Rights Act
March 26, 2022 // The Employee Rights (ERA) Act was introduced this week by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). The legislation allows employees to receive merit-based pay raises outside of the wage scales set by their union’s collective bargaining agreement, guarantees the right to a secret ballot in union elections, provides new privacy protections, allows workers to decertify a union more easily, provides legal clarity for small business owners and gig workers, and more.
Senators Introduce Employee Rights Act of 2022
March 25, 2022 // The Employee Rights Act of 2022 is also co-sponsored by Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), and Senators John Thune (R-South Dakota), John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin). Representative Rick Allen (R-Georgia) is introducing companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
How should lawmakers promote the flexible work arrangements workers and families need?
March 12, 2022 // “Workers should be free to seek employment opportunities that use their unique skills to contribute to society, and businesses should have the flexibility to offer choices to diverse potential workers and clients.”

Opinion: Sorry Unions, Workers Just Aren’t That Into You
March 4, 2022 // Increasingly, workers have decided that union representation is not what they need. They’re not seeking it out, not signing onto unionization drives, and voting “no” in high profile ‘must win’ organizing drives where unions have brought out all the celebrity and political stops.
WH Labor Task Force Won’t Boost Most American Workers, Just Unionized Ones
February 16, 2022 // Labor activists often downplay their goals, suggesting few will be affected. But they would like to see all non-unionized workers, including independent contractors, universally unionized. Recently, Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien shared with Boston Magazine, “I’d like to see everything unionized, not just those companies. Look, I think we can all agree that over the years, the independent contractor model has skirted a lot of wage and hour laws, and basically circumvents unionization. I’d love to see every single industry represented by a union.”
Members of Congress Defend Independent Workers Mackinac Center and Institute for the American Worker assist with brief supporting independent workers
February 12, 2022 // “The NLRB is stepping outside its authority to make it more difficult for entrepreneurs to work for themselves and support their families,” said F. Vincent Vernuccio, president of the Institute for the American Worker and senior labor policy adviser for the Mackinac Center. “Reclassifying them as employees would bring added bureaucracy for employers and less flexibility for workers who value the opportunity to be their own boss.”