Make America Work Again

With upcoming Labor Department choices, the Republican Party has a chance to grow its tent in a big, smart way. Here's how they can do it.

I was on the phone until after midnight last night. My inbox and voice mail were jammed when I woke up at 5:30 this morning. All because Politico dropped this story just before dinnertime yesterday:

Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer is a Republican from Oregon who just lost her bid for re-election. She was among only a handful of Republicans in the House of Representatives to support the union-backed Protecting the Right to Organize Act—which is kryptonite for independent contractors’ careers.

Passing the PRO Act is a goal that’s written into the Democratic Party platform. Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned for it—and lost in a landslide. The bill is supported by the Democratic Socialists of America as well as the Communist Party USA. The reason this extreme bill didn’t get through Congress to President Biden’s desk was because moderate Democrats rightfully joined with the majority of Republicans to block it.

Among other horrible ideas, the PRO Act would take the disastrous freelance-busting regulatory language from California’s Assembly Bill 5 and spread it nationwide. Independent contractors all across the country have spent the past five years trying to stop this kind of policymaking, so that we will not lose our livelihoods the way so many independent contractors in California did.

Thus, you can understand why self-employed Americans were terrified to see not only the Politico story about a PRO Act supporter being considered for the role of U.S. Labor Secretary, but also this tweet from Sean O’Brien, the head of the Teamsters union that has been pushing hard for freelance busting and the PRO Act:

I’ve been working the phones last night and this morning.

Here’s my take on what’s happening right now.

We might be witnessing a media campaign by the Teamsters, with no actual support for a freelance-busting Labor Secretary nominee within the transition team or the broader Republican Party.

We might be witnessing a sincere attempt by reasonable Republicans in Congress to find a way to help the GOP be a party that represents the whole of the 2025 workforce, as opposed to prioritizing only a union-style workforce from 1955.

I don’t think it’s Pollyanna to believe the latter is true right now. One of the Republicans sitting at that table with Mr. O’Brien is my own congressman from here in New Jersey, Tom Kean, Jr. He has had our backs as independent contractors from the start, at the same time he has kept the support of traditional trade unions that represent people like police officers, firefighters and the building trades. He understands that there should be a place for us all.

Because of that, I think the Republican Party has a real chance right now to grow its tent, bigly, in a way that is smart.

Republicans don’t have to make the same mistake the Democratic Party made, when it decided that policy had to be for unions versus all the rest of us.

Instead, the GOP can create an inclusive table where policy is made for us all.

Give Us A Seat Too

Ever since I co-founded the nonpartisan grassroots coalition Fight For Freelancers back in 2019, our message has remained the same: Every American should have the freedom to choose a traditional job and whether to join a union, and the freedom to choose an independent contractor career.

Heck, every American should be able to choose both at the same time. Have a traditional job and a side hustle if that’s what you want. Bring home the bacon while trying to do your own thing on nights and weekends. That approach has long been key to achieving the American Dream.

Policy should be about protecting everybody’s freedom to earn a living in whatever way works best for us, even if those ways keep changing, all throughout our lives.

The problem with Democratic Party labor policy is that it is written of, by and for unions, and unions alone. That’s what turned off so many independent contractors like me. I’m a pro-choice suburban white woman who earns more than $100,000, and I walked into the voting booth this month knowing full well that it was my career or the Democrats’ careers. My ballot was almost entirely red. I have received the excruciatingly clear message that Democrats have been sending to people like us, and it absolutely helped to give the Republican Party trifecta control in Washington, D.C.

There are about 14 million union members in America today. The Teamsters union represents about 1.3 million of them.

By contrast, there are as many as 72 million independent contractors—Americans who are earning some or all of our livelihoods by being self-employed.

The workforce of 2025 is not the same as the workforce of 1955. We are an independent-led workforce, at a time when the majority of Americans say we would prefer to be our own bosses.

That means union leaders like Sean O’Brien should absolutely have a seat at the table—but they should not be allowed to run the table or control our nation’s labor policy, the way unions do with the Democratic Party.

President Trump, during his first administration, took steps to try and protect our freedom to choose self-employment from this deeply misguided unions-vs.-everyone policymaking.

JD Vance talked on the campaign trail about how legislation like the PRO Act is the wrong way for America to go. He said:

“The problem with the PRO Act is in some ways, it doubles down on a lot of the failed things that we’ve done instead of looking at American labor policy as something that’s going to be better for the 21st century than it was in the 20th century.

“If you actually—and look, I believe in the right of workers to unionize if they choose to do so—but private sector union participation went from about 33 percent when my papaw was a union steel worker, he was actually a welder, just like Bill. Um, 33 percent to now it’s about 7%. So we have to ask ourselves: What public policies have we enacted that have driven private sector union participation so low?

“I don’t think we double down on what’s— on the failed model. We’ve got to think about a new model for the 21st century, because that’s going to be better for American workers, it’s going to be better for American companies, and most importantly, it’s going to mean higher pay for people who work hard and play by the rules, and that’s what Donald Trump and I are all about.”

Vice President-elect Vance was saying much the same thing that independent contractors like us have been saying all along, and that is entirely consistent with what President Trump did to try and protect our careers in his first term.

Americans should have the right to unionize if they choose to do so. All the GOP needs to add to that sentence, and to this week’s news, is that we also have the right to hang out a shingle and be our own bosses if we choose to do so.

Republicans have an opportunity right now to be the party of us and them. Not us or them.

Give independent contractors a seat at the table too. Give us the same 30 minutes and a photo op with a room full of Republican House members.

I will personally get on the train to Washington, D.C., any day of the week and explain how we can Make America Work Again by supporting independent contractors and employees who wish to join unions.

We have been asking for a long time now, quite loudly, for this opportunity to have a say in Labor policy. I’m currently the top “real person” vote-getter on the website that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. set up to crowdsource names for possible policy advisers who come from outside of Washington, D.C.

Look at what America’s independent contractors are telling the incoming Trump-Vance administration in those comments. These are people from the trucking industry. The publishing industry. The video industry. Other industries. All kinds of people asking for the opportunity to have a strong voice present for policy decisions that directly affect us as independent contractors:

My resume is on the transition team’s table. It’s been sent to them multiple times, by multiple people. My phone number is right at the top. I’m very easy to find.

Give me a call, please. I’ll be on the first train to Washington to help in any way that I can to craft policy that works for us all.

Please, let’s Make America Work Again.

For us all.