All Hands on Deck Needed to Defeat the PRO Act

Details on how YOU can help defeat the PRO Act.

Mar 14, 2021

Hi everyone,

I’m glad today we are springing forward today. How about you!?

I also want to apologize for the radio silence here on Substack recently! I’ve been focusing on client work, preparing for an upcoming reporting/client trip to Florida, and relishing the final week of my 20s. I turn 30 on Tuesday, March 16th. (Oh my!) And I’ll be spending it in the backcountry and get some fishing in too.

This newsletter will largely be focused on the PRO Act and how to defeat it going forward.

The House Passes the Disastrous PRO Act (Again).

Last week, the House of Representatives (again) passed the PRO Act.

The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act has been billed as a “pro-worker” bill. But if you examine the bill further, you’ll see it’s a power grab for labor unions resentful over the demise of their workforce.

It contains a federal version of California Assembly Bill 5’s ABC test—which makes flexible workers, by default, employees. This has been a disaster in California, and should it pass the Senate or be implemented by executive order, will have equally—if not greater— ruinous effects on the gig economy at-large. Not only does it contain the ABC test, this federal bill would abolish right-to-work laws and give unions unchecked power over employment going forward.

Scary stuff…

In the House of Representatives last week, 225 House Democrats (including five Republicans) voted in favor of H.R. 842. Only one Democrat, Rep. Cuellar of Texas, joined the majority of Republicans to oppose the bill. Here’s a thread he tweeted:

Now, it heads to the Senate where it will be deliberated on. (As of this writing, the Senate bill hasn’t been introduced. Just this unlisted bill in Senate HELP Committee. Debate TBD.) Last go-around, the bill didn’t get a hearing. This time, with an evenly-divided Senate, it could make some movement.

That’s where YOUR help is needed. Joining the Fight for Freelancers Facebook Group is essential. Once accepted into the group, check out the available resources group moderators have provided. From there, you’ll learn how to contact your Senators.

If you think opposition to the PRO Act is simply a big business or Republican position, think again.

I’m in several freelancer forums on Facebook, and I’ve noticed the majority of members who post there are center-left folks unhappy with their partys betrayal on this front. (We on the Right knew Biden’s position on the PRO Act/ABC test, but let’s not get cocky. We welcome them becoming “woke” on this issue—one that truly unites people across all political stripes right now.)

I do also want to bring your attention to this NBCNews Think column titled, “I backed Biden and the Democrats. But their pro-union bill could kill my career.”

Here’s an excerpt:

Last year, like many other Democrats, I took action. I campaigned, responded to social media misinformation and donated money to candidates. I celebrated when Joe Biden was announced as the winner of the presidency and when Democrats took back the Senate.
I also wrote a book to remind myself — and all of us — that honesty was something that still mattered, despite having the most dishonest person imaginable leading our country. But now that Donald Trump is out of office, I'm facing a painful truth: The man I prayed would become president could sign a piece of legislation that would kill my career as a freelance writer.
It's the strangest political cognitive dissonance I've ever experienced.
Right now, my party is pushing a bill called the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or the PRO Act, in an ostensible bid to help gig workers exploited by employers who won't give them health care coverage and other benefits. But because of a problematic clause in the bill, it's far more con than pro for me. The bill could end my ability to be my own boss, set my own hours and otherwise live the American worker's dream.
…
Instead of listening, Democratic lawmakers are doing what I have long criticized Republicans for: resorting to talking points that play well to a base while overlooking the facts. House rules allowed this bill to be voted on Tuesday without full committee hearings — so no chance for testimony from freelancers like me.

OUCH. Democrats will be hearing more from their party’s voters about their displeasure with the PRO Act.

Even if the PRO Act were to die in the Senate, however, President Biden could dramatically alter labor law with respect to worker classification. Just look at what his Labor Department did this week: It revoked the Trump Labor Department’s gig worker rule.

Per Bloomberg Law:

The U.S. Labor Department proposed eliminating a signature Trump administration rule that would have made it easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors instead of employees under federal wage law.
In a step that would hurt gig-economy companies such as Uber Techologies Inc. and Instacart, the agency announced Thursday that it plans to collect public input on its proposal to withdraw the regulation, which was finalized two weeks before President Donald Trump left office but has yet to take effect.

Bad news for worker freedom.

As I’ve argued before, you can’t be pro-worker and anti-gig economy.

Freelancers comprise 36 percent of the total U.S. workforce with 59M participants strong. Our valuation in economic output amounted to $1.2 trillion per the most recent findings. Union workforce is at historic lows. It only comprises 10.8% of the U.S. workforce per recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) findings, so they are out for blood to make freelancers—all 59M of us—unionized.

If the details are hard to follow, watch this quick video explainer I made on the PRO Act:

Recent Media Appearances

I recently appeared on Trey Lowell’s “Gear and Beer” vodcast to talk about my foray into video content creation and why I love the Sony Alpha platform despite the learning curve.

I was recently interviewed by Fox Business about the PRO Act and offered my thoughts below:

Freelance media strategist and award-winning outdoor writer Gabriella Hoffman told FOX Business that she and other freelance workers "will become powerless and unable" to negotiate pay if they "are reclassified as employees and coerced into joining unions."
"Big Labor wants the American public to believe corporations are fueling opposition to the PRO Act. That couldn't be more false," she said. "Sure, there are organizations with big capital and lobbying power out there that do oppose the bill but opposition to this anti-worker bill is largely grassroots-driven."

Outsider on the Inside with Gabriella Hoffman

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