The Freelance Busting Dictionary
A guide to everything you see in the media about independent-contractor policymaking.
Given how flat-out biased so much of the media coverage is about the independent-contractor issue, it seems to me that we need a thinking person’s guide to some of the language the press typically uses.
With deep admiration for Ambrose Bierce, I hereby offer The Freelance Busting Dictionary—a compendium that will be continually updated as new definitions enter the vernacular.
If you have ideas for entries, feel free to send them my way.
ABC Test (California version)
regulatory language that says a person shall be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business, among other factors
regulatory language at the heart of California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), which Democrats and unions touted as a way to protect independent contractors, but which instead destroyed their incomes and careers
regulatory language in the federal PRO Act, sponsored by U.S. Congressman Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia who had this exchange with a Democratic Party witness while attempting to convince Americans that widespread reclassification of independent contractors would be a good thing:
regulatory language that dates back to the 1930s and dangerous factory jobs, but that is now being used to try and limit the business relationships of modern-day independent contractors in hundreds of professions
synonym: American Dream destroyer
Assembly Bill 5 (AB5)
California law introduced by Assemblywoman/union leader Lorena Gonzalez, D-Teamsters, that passed in 2019 as what Governor Gavin Newsom called a step toward creating pathways for independent contractors to form and join unions
California law that applied to at least 1 million independent contractors in more than 600 professions; led to a 10.5% decrease in self-employment and a 4.4% drop in overall employment; prompted some people to leave the state just to continue earning a living; led the legislature to enact a sweeping cleanup bill less than a year later, ultimately exempting more than 100 professions; and is still being litigated in the courts today
exceptionally effective tool for organizing widespread opposition to labor unions and lawmakers who threaten the chosen livelihoods of independent contractors
synonym: total disaster
data and statistics
often used to claim, accurately, that about 70% of Americans support the existence of labor unions
rarely used to point out, accurately, that 80% of Americans either do not wish to join a union or are at best neutral on the subject
often used to claim, including from the Biden-Harris White House, that more than half of non-union workers want unions, sometimes as justification for reclassifying independent contractors as employees
rarely used to point out that researchers actually hedged, saying their results included “a higher percentage of low income workers than in the national population,” as well as a much smaller percentage of independent contractors than other research indicates, suggesting they found that about half of Americans already classified as employees in low-paying jobs would join a union if they could
rarely used to point out, accurately, that some 80% of independent contractors prefer to be self-employed
how to use: read the fine print
extending union rights
the practice of using legislation, regulatory rule-making, electoral ballot measures, activist judicial decisions or any other means to give labor-union organizers legal access to independent contractors who wish to remain self-employed and be left alone
antonym: Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which reflected Congress’ perception that some union conduct needed correction, and limited unfair practices by labor unions
gig work
task such as rideshare driving performed for an on-demand company
rarely a main source of income
term used as a slur in an attempt to minimize the economic importance and entrepreneurial mindset of most independent contractors
synonym: leading target of union organizers
Fight For Freelancers
a nonpartisan, grassroots coalition founded in 2019 to stop New Jersey Senate Bill 4204, which attempted to copy California Assembly Bill 5. The coalition later grew to help stop the federal PRO Act, and its leaders sued the federal government over bureaucratic rule-making about independent contractors
a coalition of thousands of everyday Americans that includes writers, photographers, illustrators, website developers, video editors, social-media experts and others who are media-savvy, articulate and highly motivated to stop lawmakers from threatening or outlawing their careers
every freelance buster’s worst nightmare
synonyms: freedom fighters, caped crusaders
Freelancers for the PRO Act
a front group for the Democratic Socialists of America that, in coordination with the AFL-CIO and Freelancers Union, waged a media campaign against legitimate freelancers
sources quoted as if they were trustworthy in The New Republic and Law 360
synonym: astroturf
labor policy expert
anyone who wishes to empower labor-union organizers at the expense of everybody else, and who is willing to be quoted in the press
synonym: university professor
independent contractor (noun)
person who earns income without being an employee, sometimes having established a limited liability company or S corporation, and sometimes earning more than $100,000 per year in professions that include but are not limited to law, marketing, real estate, financial services, data science, engineering, journalism, graphic design, trucking, accounting, translation services and medicine
nonemployer firm, often woman- or minority-owned, that helps to generate more than $1.3 trillion for the U.S. economy annually
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy often, in mainstream legacy media and union-backed think tank reports, “an Uber driver” or “a janitor”
synonyms, per the freelance-busting brigade: exploited victim, scab, pressing social issue
synonyms, per reality: freelancer, consultant, owner-operator, entrepreneur, solopreneur, microbusiness owner, small-business owner
Minnesota Advisory Task Force on Worker Misclassification
task force created by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison that began meeting in 2023 to recommend solutions for employee misclassification
task force about independent-contractor policymaking whose members include multiple union leaders, but only a single independent contractor
task force where Brian Elliott, executive director of the SEIU State Council in Minnesota, said union busting is real, but “the term freelance contractors is bullshit. Freelance busters is bullshit.”
warning: empowered to make legislative recommendations for 2025
misclassified employee
sometimes, a person doing employee-level work for a bad-actor company that is unfairly skirting its obligation to pay employee-level benefits and wages by calling that employee an independent contractor
more often, anyone that a labor-union organizer wishes to target through reclassification as an employee
often confused with: legitimate independent contractor
New Jersey Senate Bill 4204 (S4204)
legislation introduced in 2019 by New Jersey Senate President/union leader Steve Sweeney, D-Ironworkers, to try and copy California’s Assembly Bill 5, purportedly to address misclassification of employees as independent contractors
failed bill backed by the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters and Sweeney that would have destroyed independent contractors’ livelihoods and chosen careers
legislative defeat that weakened Sweeney’s political power, contributing to voters ousting him from office and replacing him with a truck driver from the Raymour & Flanigan furniture store
synonym: karma
professional freelance writer
person who writes and sells articles, books and other types of content
member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, which sued the State of California over Assembly Bill 5
co-founder of Fight For Freelancers
synonym, per Steve Sweeney: Russian operative
Report of Governor Murphy’s Task Force on Employee Misclassification
July 2019 report from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy with legislative recommendations that led to a package of new laws targeting business relationships involving independent contractors
July 2019 report that claimed the problem of misclassification had increased by approximately 40%—based on an article that actually stated the practice of independent contracting (which most independent contractors prefer) had increased by almost 40%
July 2019 report that purported to be about the modern workforce, but was based on an article citing a 2009 report that was based in part on data from 1984, and that actually stated “the national extent of employee misclassification is unknown”
relationship to Billboard Hot 100: based on misrepresented data as old as the song Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper
Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act
federal labor legislation known colloquially as the PRO Act and named for the former head of the AFL-CIO that proponents say would protect workers’ right to stand together and bargain for fairer wages, better benefits and safer workplaces
federal labor legislation actively supported by the Democratic Socialists of America and the Communist Party USA
federal labor legislation that opponents call “a radical wish list of union boss priorities that undermines the rights of workers,” including enshrining regulatory language from California’s disastrous Assembly Bill 5 into nationwide labor law and threatening the livelihoods of millions of self-employed Americans
also see: 2024 Democratic Party platform
synonym, per Kamala Harris: “freedom to join a union”
rank-and-file union member
most often, a good and hardworking person who wishes to have a higher income, a safe workspace and good-quality benefits
sometimes, a person who has a traditional job plus a side hustle as an independent contractor, to earn extra cash or pursue an entrepreneurial idea
rarely, a person who supports politicized union leaders’ attempts to financially destroy their family members, friends and neighbors who earn all kinds of livings as independent contractors
synonym: fellow grocery-bill and mortgage payer
staff writer
unionized employee who has never been an independent contractor, who writes about independent-contractor policymaking, and who believes that unionized employees are smarter and/or better than independent contractors
synonyms: legacy media labor reporter
The Fissured Workplace
2017 book about independent contractors by Ivy League academic David Weil, who has been trying to figure out how to make independent contractors unionizable employees since at least the 1990s
philosophy used by David Weil as the basis for a bureaucratic regulatory move during the Obama-Biden administration, ignoring decades of legal precedent; attempting to severely restrict the use of independent contractors through widespread reclassification as employees; kicking off the wave of freelance busting that continues nationwide today; and ultimately leading moderate Democrats to join with Republicans in blocking Weil from returning to the U.S. Labor Department as a Biden-Harris nominee
term used by some lawmakers, union-backed think tanks and union organizers to describe the independent workforce of the 21st century as a broken version of what they perceive as a preferred 20th century ideal
appropriate uses for this book: insomnia cure, flimsy doorstop
unions
groups that, historically, advocated to improve the incomes and working conditions of their members, often in the skilled trades
groups that, today, can be highly politicized and collectively spend more than $1 billion in a single campaign cycle, and that have most recently used their political power to try and limit every American’s freedom to choose self-employment
groups that should have a proportional seat at the policymaking table based on the 10% of the American workforce they represent, but that should never be the primary voice in creating independent-contractor regulations or legislation, as they were during the Biden-Harris administration
primary reason for pushing freelance busting: all-time-low membership numbers