Western Electrical Contractors Association, Inc.

Already Belong? Login

News Detail

National

Thursday, October 17, 2019

California Contagion Spreads - New York is Next: According to POLITICO, "A new labor-backed coalition wants New York State to follow our lead in reclassifying gig-economy independent contractors as employees. The group wants the state to establish a three-part test to determine whether a worker should be compensated as an independent contractor or as an employee eligible for more protections and benefits. 'Tech organizations backed by companies like Uber and Lyft are resisting the effort, arguing that it makes no sense to impose an old fashioned employment model on a new way of doing business,'" they write. "'Instead, they argue for some sort of 'third way,' involving portable benefits and say they hope to work with the Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to build a system that works in the state.' The issue is expected to be addressed in the next legislative session, which starts in January."
 
Sanders Proposes Boost in Worker Ownership: POLITICO reported on a plan by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to boost his standing with the Socialists in the United States. "Sanders wants to provide workers with an ownership stake in their businesses," they write. "Under his proposal, employees at large companies would be given 20 percent of the shares. They would also have control of 45 percent of the seats on the board of directors." How it would work: "Companies that meet Sanders' guidelines - ones that are publicly traded or bring in $100 million or more in annual revenue - would be required to give at least 2 percent of their stock to their employees every year, until they reach 20 percent. The plan also would increase the corporate tax from 21 percent to 35 percent (where it stood before Republicans passed their tax overhaul in 2017)."
 
Alaska Cracks Down on Union Dues: The fake New York Times reported that Alaska's new governor, Mike Dunleavy, issued an administrative order that "'proposes to halt payroll deductions for union dues and require state workers to go through a cumbersome, multi-step process to restore that option.' Dunleavy said the plan was intended not to harm unions but to comply with the Supreme Court's ruling last year in Janus v. AFSCME, which barred government unions from collecting mandatory fees from non-union members to cover their share of collective bargaining costs. Under the policy 'state workers will have to declare that they want to opt into the union and sign an acknowledgement that they know they do not have to have such representation. They will then need a second layer of authentication, such as an email exchange, to reaffirm their intentions. And they will have to repeat the opt-in process every year.'"