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...
4/4 ... Maybe @RepMalinowski saw my name on a list of callers and just plain got scared.
Because when you co-sponsor indefensible legislation, your only option is to hide from the constituents whose lives you're about to destroy.🐔
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.
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.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...