US followers: The ABC Test of the Pro Act is dangerously misguided.
TL;DR: Please call your representatives to speak out against the ABC Test, even though the Pro Act is great. It will ruin the gig economy nationwide.
Most of us would agree here that unions are good. Unions are great! There’s a bill in the House of Representatives right now that extends union and employee protections. It’s being voted on in the House in a few days. This is a great bill! However, one part of it is very misguided.
The bill makes the ABC Test federal, which is a test to determine if someone is a part of a company, or if they’re an independent (i. e. a freelancer). I won’t go into exactly how it determines this, but suffice to say, it means companies will have to hire people as employees instead of hiring them as independent contractors. On paper this seems good - more gig workers will get better protections from unions. However, it just means companies won’t hire independent contractors anymore. It’s a holdover from the 30s that isn’t accurate anymore.
A couple years ago, this went into effect in California. It wrecked the gig economy there, and was removed in 11 months. What will happen if this goes nationwide?
To clarify: I AM NOT AGAINST THE PRO ACT. I think it is a great step in the right direction. But the ABC test cannot be a part of this. The fact that both the House and the Senate are Democrat majority right now means this is very likely to go through if we don’t do something.
Please, please call your House representatives and senators to speak out against this. Make sure you clarify the PRO Act as a whole is great, but the ABC Test will be disastrous to the gig economy.
I’m going to reblog this with links to find your representatives and senators.
Thank you.
