US labor board ruling could spur unionizing by gig workers, others
US labor board ruling could spur unionizing by gig workers, others
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday made it more difficult for companies to treat workers as independent contractors rather than employees, handing workers in the gig economy and other industries a potential path to join unions.
Sounds like a step back in the right direction!
It's a few months old now but there was also a bit of related news out of California recently. While the appeals court ruled that most of California Prop 22 was constitutional (overruling a lower court's decision that the entire thing was unconstitutional) they did throw out one bit of the law that made it all but impossible for the law to be amended. While the case will almost certainly be appealed once again to the State Supreme Court, the appeals court ruling does open up the possibility for legislation to be passed that'll allow CA gig workers to unionize.
Of course, if that actually did happen, I'm guessing that companies like Uber would either sue to get any unionization law overturned or spend another $200 million+ on another ballot initiative that undoes the law.