6 Questions for Harris and Trump

As one of millions of independent contractors who will be watching tonight's debate, here's what I'd like to see the moderators ask.

Depending on whose numbers you believe, 22 million to 72 million Americans earn some or all of our income as independent contractors. We are projected to comprise more than half the U.S. workforce in the next handful of years.

That’s a lot of livelihoods. The moderators of tonight’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump should ask each candidate at least one question about policy issues that directly affect self-employed Americans.

Here are six questions that I’d like to see answered.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

Question 1

Vice President Harris, when you were a U.S. Senator from California, you supported the state’s Assembly Bill 5. That law led to the widespread reclassification of independent contractors as employees, often against their will. It caused so much public outcry and lost income that the state Legislature passed an emergency measure less than a year later, ultimately exempting more than 100 professions so people could continue earning a living. Do you regret your support for AB5?

Question 2

President Trump, when you were in the White House, your Labor Department imposed a rule that your labor secretary said was intended to protect independent contractors from an outcome like California’s. President Biden has since rescinded and replaced that rule with one that most independent contractors opposed during the public-comment process. If you are re-elected, how would you address Labor Department rule-making with respect to independent contractors?

Question 3

Vice President Harris, the policy platform you unveiled this week includes a half dozen bills you’re promising to sign into law. One of them is the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. The PRO Act would take independent-contractor regulatory language from California’s Assembly Bill 5 and apply it to nationwide labor law. In California, Governor Newsom said AB5 would help to create “lasting economic security,” but instead, economists have shown that AB5 decreased self-employment by 10.5% and decreased overall employment by 4.4%. Why do you believe the outcome would be any different for people’s livelihoods nationwide with the PRO Act?

Question 4

President Trump, unions in the United States are legally required to organize companies one at a time. The idea is that each company’s employees get to vote on whether or not to join the union. Your running mate, Senator JD Vance, has promoted the idea of a sectoral organizing model that could give unions control over entire sectors of the economy. This control could extend, say, over the entire auto industry, or the entire publishing industry, without any vote by the employees or independent contractors who work in those industries. Do you agree with Senator Vance that America should consider a system of sectoral organizing?

Question 5

Vice President Harris, according to a Gallup survey this past summer, 62% of American adults say they would prefer to be their own boss, while only 35% would prefer to work as an employee for someone else. Gallup has further found that while most Americans approve of unions overall, a sizable 80% of Americans either don’t want to join a union or are neutral on the matter. In your policy plan unveiled this week, you refer to yourself as “Vice President of the most pro-labor administration in history” and promise that you will “fight for unions.” Given that unions only represent 10% of U.S. workers, and most other Americans don’t want to join unions, aren’t you promising to work against the wishes of most Americans?

Question 6

President Trump, you recently invited Sean O’Brien, the head of the Teamsters union, to speak at the Republican National Convention. The Teamsters, since at least 2007, have been pushing for legislation that would result in the reclassification of self-employed Americans as unionizable employees—something the government’s own research shows the vast majority of self-employed Americans do not want. Do you agree with the Teamsters and Sean O’Brien that these tens of millions of independent contractors should be reclassified as employees who can be unionized, even if it’s against their will?