1/10 So. There was quite the little dustup yesterday in the comments on this tweet from @LeaderHoyer about @TheDemocrats' intention to start trying to pass the #PROAct on March 8.

Let's discuss what these comments taught us.

2/10 Proponents of the effort to outlaw most IC work have one main talking point. It is the same exact talking point we have heard in calls with the staffers who work for the bill's sponsors. These people are all reading from the same script in trying to defend the #PROAct.
3/10 This talking point is some version of, "The ABC Test in the #PROAct is only for the purpose of union organizing. It doesn't affect wages, hours or terms of employment."

Here's why they're using that language, and why their argument is disingenuous.
4/10 @POTUS has clearly stated his plan to make the ABC Test from California the basis of all labor, employment and tax law.

Here's a screen shot of the president's own words, or you can find this same language on this page of his campaign website: joebiden.com/empowerworkers/
5/10 On a technical level, #PROAct proponents are saying the bill only uses the ABC Test for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act. That means labor law.

In other words, this is step one in president's plan. #PROAct is the labor part of "labor, employment and tax law."
6/10 When proponents say the bill doesn't encompass wage and hour law, it's because the #PROAct only adds the ABC Test to the National Labor Relations Act. It doesn't also add ABC into the Fair Labor Standards Act, for wage and hour.

But again, the #PROAct is just step one.
7/10 The bill for step two, to add the ABC Test into employment law (wage and hour) via the Fair Labor Standards Act, is already written. The same senator who is sponsoring the #PROAct also sponsored Bill No. 2 last year. Here's the press release.

help.senate.gov/ranking/newsro…
8/10 So, when #PROAct proponents say, "this doesn't affect wage and hour law," our answer is, "The PRO Act is step one in a plan to do exactly that by making California's ABC Test the law of the land."

You can back that up with the documentation above.

And then ...
9/10 ... when they say, "but the PRO Act only uses the ABC Test for unionizing, not for wages or terms of employment," ask them this:

What good is having a union if it can't do anything about wages or terms of employment?

(It's no good, unless it's part of the bigger plan.)
10/10 The fact that #PROAct proponents resort to this mind-numbing legalese tells us they can't defend the bill in plain English.

We can be clear: California's ABC Test law was a disaster. It cannot be replicated nationwide, as the #PROAct begins to do.

#FightForFreelancers

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More from @thekimkavin

26 Feb
1/4 Huh.

My cell rang about an hour ago. It was a recorded message from my congressman, @RepMalinowski, asking if I wanted to be on a live forum right now and ask him a question.

You bet I did.

I told the screener that my question was about @RepMalinowski co-sponsoring ...
2/4 ... the #PROAct, even though for more than a year, I've explained to him the problem with the ABC Test in it, and how just as happened to independent contractors in California when it was tried there, this ABC Test will outlaw careers like mine.

The call screener said ...
3/4 ... he was an IC too, and hadn't heard about the #PROAct, but was going to make sure to look into it now.

I was then put on hold for the full hour. The congressman never took my question.

Although, I did hear him yell "No!" twice when he appeared to believe he was muted...
Read 4 tweets
23 Feb
1/4 There is a disconnect in the @nytimes with reporting on PPP loans and reporting on the #PROAct.

This story on PPP states, "The adjustments are intended to increase aid to the very smallest businesses, many of which are run by women, Black people ...

nytimes.com/2021/02/22/bus…
2/4 ... and members of other minority groups." It also quotes @POTUS: “Getting our economy back means bringing our small businesses back." The changes “will bring much-needed, long overdue help to small businesses who really need help" ...
3/4 Whether @nytimes and other reporters realize it or not, many of these same small-business owners are the ones whose work would be outlawed under the ABC Test in the #PROAct, which @POTUS champions.

How, if we are small businesses worth saving now under PPP, are we also ...
Read 4 tweets
18 Aug 20
1/14 @TheDemocrats I am begging you to read this thread.

In 2019, when those of us who choose to earn a living as independent contractors realized your plan was to roll out ABC Test labor legislation nationwide, we thought you'd made an oversight. You started in California...
2/14 ... and then tried in New Jersey and New York with the same bills, which impose the 1930s ABC Test for labor law on our economy here in the year 2020.

Your message was that the law had to change because gig companies like Uber were out of control, misclassifying workers...
3/14 ... as independent contractors when they should have been employees with benefits. People like me--who make up the 70-80% of people who consistently say we prefer IC work--figured we were accidentally caught in the crosshairs of this policy, and that you'd exempt us ...
Read 14 tweets

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