Tough Lessons of the CRA: Part 1
Much of Congress seems to believe—wrongly—that protecting independent contractors is anti-union
“They don’t want to take two votes in a row that would be seen as anti-union in an election year.”
It took me a hot minute to understand the full magnitude of that sentence the first time I heard it on Capitol Hill in recent weeks.
Today, with the benefit of hindsight, I know it’s one of the biggest problems that we independent contractors face as we try to stop freelance busting nationwide.
How They See Us
I was in Washington, D.C., asking lawmakers to support a joint resolution that would have blocked the U.S. Labor Department’s new independent contractor rule. (I’m also a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit trying to block it.) The effort in Congress had begun in March and April. It was spearheaded by Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. They introduced a joint resolution via the Congressional Review Act.
Months later, with summer coming up fast, the independent contractor CRA was still short on votes. This was frustrating, because a similar CRA effort to protect franchise owners from misguided rulemaking was moving right along with bipartisan support.
In other words, most members of Congress thought it was important to protect the business interests of Americans who own franchises on Main Streets, but they did not think it was important to protect those of us who run small businesses from home offices on Maple and Elm Streets.
That double standard is bad enough on its face, given that independent contractor businesses are often a way for women and minorities to succeed outside of traditional workplaces. Women own more than 41% of businesses that have no employees. Minorities own nearly 37%.
Just like the franchise owners that lawmakers voted to protect, most of us independent contractors wish to remain our own bosses.
That didn’t matter on Capitol Hill. Instead of passing our CRA after they were done with the franchise vote, they let our CRA fail.
Read the Quote Again
“They don’t want to take two votes in a row that would be seen as anti-union in an election year.”
Far too many members of Congress balked at the second CRA vote for fear of angering union bosses. That’s who wants our nation’s independent-contractor laws changed, so they can unionize us instead of remaining required to leave us alone.
For several years now, the AFL-CIO has threatened lawmakers’ careers if they refuse to make freelance busting the law of the land. The Teamsters tell lawmakers that freelance-busting policies “protect union members.” The SEIU urges members to “demand that elected officials rewrite the rules so that ALL workers have the right to form a union.”
Give me a break. Every single American already has the right to apply for a traditional union job. Today. This very minute. I could go do so right now if that’s what I wanted.
Instead, I’m like the majority of independent contractors who are choosing to exercise a different right: our right to be our own bosses.
That is the right that unions keep insisting lawmakers take away. That’s what freelance busting is. That’s what’s so wrong about this type of policymaking: Its goal is to restrict our right to choose self-employment.
This Problem is Significant
It is, of course, fully possible to support our right to get a traditional union job while also supporting our right to go into business for ourselves. It always has been. This is America. We’re all about freedom of choice and different strokes for different folks.
Today’s union bosses, though, keep telling lawmakers that the legal way to work should be “either/or.” Not both. That’s because union membership rates are at an all-time low, and most Americans have no interest at all in joining a union. Desperation has a way of making really bad ideas seem feasible.
Far too many of today’s lawmakers are succumbing to this deeply misguided thinking. Not a single Democrat in the House or Senate was willing to co-sponsor the independent contractor CRA. Republicans who refused in the Senate included J.D. Vance of Ohio and Josh Hawley of Missouri. In the House, they included Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey.
Lawmakers are supposed to work for us all. There are 14 million union members in America. Even by the lowest estimates, there are millions more independent contractors. By some estimates, there are 72 million of us.
We need our lawmakers to understand that we vote, too. As we head to the polls this fall, we need to elect lawmakers who understand that protecting our right to choose self-employment is not anti-union. It’s about maintaining our right to open a business for ourselves.