In an emergency that has made trucking, logistics, and home delivery uniquely important, fractured the schedules of countless parents and caregivers, and sent the services sector reeling, it would be nice if California and other states were not making war on the work arrangements needed for the situation. That’s why California’s AB5 fiasco (earlier here, here) along with similar moves in New Jersey and elsewhere, come at the worst time.
- “Lisa Yakomin, president of the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers… said the California bill is expected to cost tens of thousands of truckers their jobs.” [Dana Rubinstein, Katherine Landergan and Anna Gronewold, Politico; Deborah Lockridge, TruckingInfo; California independent trucker coalition] Operating in New Jersey trucking under an independent contractor model “is becoming incredibly risky,” as the state assumes power to shut down alleged violators by issuing stop work orders [David Kim and Salvador Simao, Ford Harrison]
- Jugglers unite: “My full-time job is being a mother, my second is cleaning houses. New Jersey please keep it that way.” [Antonette McKay, Star-Ledger]
- Musicians on the ropes as venues shut down. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could look forward to returning to an existent gig industry? [Fight for Freelancers NJ, Brian Ralston et al., Kim Kavin, Daily Kos (“The state could argue that by hiring you to play your French horn two nights a week, the theater violated prong A of the ABC test”), Michael Tanner (Lake Tahoe Music Festival), Ravi Rajan, Orange County Register]
- What hope for legal challenges to AB5? [Stephen Melnick, WLF]
- Audio/video: Reason video with John Osterhoudt on the California mistake; “State regulators and the gig economy” [Federalist Society teleforum with Alexander MacDonald]
- Getting services distributed to dispersed at-home locations is going to create a host of new communication challenges, but good luck with that: “The California legislature designed AB5 in a manner that completely disregards how professional translators and interpreters work.” [Philip Shawe, Crain’s New York]
P.S. Related Cato post now up. Truckers especially have many more problems than this right this moment responding to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, read about some of them here (and help if you can!) They have begun getting direly needed removals of regulations. But don’t let this one slip off the list.
2 Comments
I’m surprised I haven’t seen arguments that California’s AB5 was designed to encourage an economy consisting of a small number of very large corporations profiting off the labor of low paid former freelancers.
I’m also surprised some enterprising person hasn’t figured out how to create a shell “employer” for freelancers so they can continue to work more or less as they have in the past. If day labor is still legal in California I’d think a freelancer version could be created.
One could also argue AB5 is a tax measure. I imagine most local musicians never bothered to report their income on taxes (to be fair, most local musicians don’t make very much either). I’m sure this is true of other traditional freelance work. Meeting employment requirements means reporting income and withholding taxes.