(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Catering to the Capitalist Class, the Right-Wing Republican majority on the House Education and the Workforce Committee has voted to let bosses classify more Workers as “Independent Contractors,” who are unable to Unionize and are ineligible for Jobless Benefits and Workers Comp. 

After the Panel’s party-line votes on July 23rd, the Republican majority on the Senate Committee dealing with Workers’ issues is moving in that direction, too.

And while they were at it, the House Republicans decided to let “joint employers” off the hook and ease restrictions on child labor.

National AFL-CIO Legislative Director Jody Calemine opposed the Senate’s ideas, which parallel the House’s, in language that covers both Independent Contractor Bills, as well as the others.

The key Bill, the so-called Modern Worker Empowerment Act, “makes it easier for employers to classify Workers as Independent Contractors and exclude them from labor protections,” Calemine wrote to lawmakers. 

The other Bill would let “Independent Contractors” have “portability” of benefits from job to job - if employers provide benefits such as pensions and health care.

Many Non-Union employers don’t.

Redefining “Employee” more narrowly and “Independent Contractors” more broadly, under both Labor Law and the Minimum Wage-Overtime law, “is a giveaway for Anti-Worker employers who do not want to provide workplace protections and benefits employees are guaranteed by law,” Calemine wrote.

Doing that would “make it easier to shirk employer mandates by pretending Employees are in fact Independent Contractors,” Calemine said.

One of those mandates under current law is that “Employees” - but not Contractors - have the right to organize.

Graphic From worklawyers.com.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Story, Go To: GOP says bosses can declare more workers ‘independent contractors’ – People's World