Citations
[1] See Coalition for Workforce Innovation organizational website at https://workforceinnovation.net. The CWI is seeking “broad adoption” of what it describes as “independent work” “across all positions, platforms, and industries.” For the CWI, “independent work” refers to work done by independent contractors: see “Op-Ed: Independent Work Is Critical to Economic Recovery,” Coalition for Workforce Innovation, August 20, 2020, available at https://workforceinnovation.net/press-releases/f/op-ed-independent-work-is-critical-to-economic-recovery https://rilastagemedia.blob.core.windows.net/rila-web/rila.web/media/media/pdfs/letters%20to%20hill/hr/cwi-report-final.pdf.
[2] See Coalition for Workforce Innovation organization website, “Members,” accessed February 15, 2022, https://workforceinnovation.net.
[3] See National Employment Law Project, “Why the U.S. Needs a $15 Minimum Wage,” January 26, 2021 (Updated February 19, 2021), https://www.nelp.org/publication/u-s-needs-15-minimum-wage/; Center for Popular Democracy and State Innovation Exchange, “Restoring a Fair Workweek: State Policies to Combat Abusive Scheduling Practices,” January 2020, https://www.populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Fair_Workweek_Policy_Brief_2020.pdf; A Better Balance, “Overview of Paid Sick Time Laws in the United States,” October 18, 2021, https://www.abetterbalance.org/paid-sick-time-laws/?export; Heidi Shierholz and Margaret Poydock, “Continued surge in strike activity signals worker dissatisfaction with wage growth,” Economic Policy Institute, February 11, 2020, https://www.epi.org/publication/continued-surge-in-strike-activity/; Noam Scheiber, “How the Pandemic Has Added to Labor Unrest,” The New York Times, November 1, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/01/business/economy/strikes-labor-pandemic.html
[4] See Coalition for Workforce Innovation organizational website at https://workforceinnovation.net. The CWI is seeking “broad adoption” of what it describes as “independent work” “across all positions, platforms, and industries.” For the CWI, “independent work” refers to work done by independent contractors: see “Op-Ed: Independent Work Is Critical to Economic Recovery,” Coalition for Workforce Innovation, August 20, 2020, available at https://workforceinnovation.net/press-releases/f/op-ed-independent-work-is-critical-to-economic-recovery https://rilastagemedia.blob.core.windows.net/rila-web/rila.web/media/media/pdfs/letters%20to%20hill/hr/cwi-report-final.pdf
[5] See Maya Pinto, Rebecca Smith, and Irene Tung, “Rights at Risk: Gig Companies’ Campaign to Upend Employment as We Know It,” National Employment Law Project, March 25, 2019, https://www.nelp.org/publication/rights-at-risk-gig-companies-campaign-to-upend-employment-as-we-know-it/.
[6] See Coalition for Workforce Innovation organization website, “Members,” accessed February 15, 2022, https://workforceinnovation.net; Amazon is a member of the CWI via TechNet, see TechNet organizational website, “Members,” accessed November 27, 2021, http://technet.org/membership/members.
[7] See Juan F. Perea, “The Echoes of Slavery: Recognizing the Racist Origins of the Agricultural and Domestic Worker Exclusion from the National Labor Relations Act,” Ohio State Law Journal, Vol. 72:1, 2011, https://lawecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1150&context=facpubs.
[8] See Larry Dewitt, “The Decision to Exclude Agricultural and Domestic Workers from the 1935 Social Security Act,” Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 70:4, 2010, https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n4/v70n4p49.html.
[9] See Veena Dubal, “The New Racial Wage Code,” (May 27, 2021), Harvard Law and Policy Review, 2021, UC Hastings Research Paper Forthcoming, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3855094.
[10] Valerie Wilson, “People of color will be a majority of the American working class in 2032,” Economic Policy Institute, June 9, 2016, https://www.epi.org/publication/the-changing-demographics-of-americas-working-class/.
[11] Levi Sumagaysay, “The rise of the gig economy spells the end for these workers: ‘We’re the vestiges of the old system’,” MarketWatch, July 14, 2021 (Updated July 17, 2021), https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-rise-of-the-gig-economy-spells-the-end-for-these-workers-were-the-vestiges-of-the-old-system-11626283673.
[12] Coalition for Workforce Innovation, “CWI PRO Act Hearing Letter,” Letter to the House Education and Labor Committee, May 7, 2019, https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/afca31c0-5c41-4b51-a572-dc8f062842f4/downloads/CWI%20PRO%20Act%20Hearing%20Letter%20Final%20Draft.pdf?ver=1561575345887; Coalition for Workforce Innovation, “CWI PRO Act Hearing Final Letter,” Letter to the House Education and Labor Committee, July 24, 2019, https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/afca31c0-5c41-4b51-a572-dc8f062842f4/downloads/CWI_PRO_Act_Hearing_Final_Letter_7_25_18_pdf.pdf?ver=1564064534806; Coalition for Workforce Innovation, “CWI Oppose PRO Act Floor Vote,” Letter to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, March 5, 2020, https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/afca31c0-5c41-4b51-a572-dc8f062842f4/downloads/CWI%20Oppose%20PRO%20Act%20Floor%20Vote%20FINAL%20March%202021.pdf?ver=1614956243227; Coalition for Workforce Innovation, “CWI Oppose PRO Act 7-22 Hearing,” Letter to U.S. Senator Patty Murray, July 22, 2021, https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/afca31c0-5c41-4b51-a572-dc8f062842f4/downloads/CWI%20Oppose%20PRO%20Act%207-22%20Hearing.pdf?ver=1626812773131
[13] Seyfarth Shaw LLP on behalf of the Coalition for Workforce Innovation, Comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, RIN 1235-AA34, Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, October 26, 2020, https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/afca31c0-5c41-4b51-a572-dc8f062842f4/downloads/Coalition%20for%20Workforce%20Innovation%20Comments%20(a.pdf?ver=1603720004951; Seyfarth Shaw LLP on behalf of the Coalition for Workforce Innovation, Comments on the Notice of Withdrawal, RIN 1235-AA34, Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, April 12, 2021, https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/afca31c0-5c41-4b51-a572-dc8f062842f4/downloads/Comments%20filed%20by%20Seyfarth%20Shaw%20LLP%20for%20Coalit.pdf?ver=1614870475681
[14] CWI members Uber, Instacart, and TechNet lobbied Congress on H.R.1063 - Helping Gig Economy Workers Act of 2021, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1063/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22gig%22%5D%7D&r=2&s=2, see U.S. Federal Lobbying Report Form LD-2, Second Quarter 2020, filed by Capitol Tax Partners, LLP, for client Uber Technologies, Inc., July 20, 2020, https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/80b8ea32-c47c-4c99-b494-ff7cef0d2df0/print/; U.S. Federal Lobbying Report Form LD-2, Second Quarter 2020, filed by Harbinger Strategies, LLP, for client Maplebear Inc. d/b/a Instacart, July 20, 2020 https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/edd52715-a70c-47b1-ad20-d11186015d84/print/; U.S. Federal Lobbying Report Form LD-2, Fourth Quarter 2020, filed by Technology Network aka TechNet, January 20, 2021, https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/fc77cf59-b199-43e6-a57f-7d8fb5130b9e/print/.
[15] See Coalition for Workforce Innovation organizational website at https://workforceinnovation.net. The CWI is seeking “broad adoption” of what it describes as “independent work” “across all positions, platforms, and industries.” For the CWI, “independent work” refers to work done by independent contractors: see “Op-Ed: Independent Work Is Critical to Economic Recovery,” Coalition for Workforce Innovation, August 20, 2020, available at https://workforceinnovation.net/press-releases/f/op-ed-independent-work-is-critical-to-economic-recovery https://rilastagemedia.blob.core.windows.net/rila-web/rila.web/media/media/pdfs/letters%20to%20hill/hr/cwi-report-final.pdf.
[16] Maeve Allsup, “Biden’s Delay of Trump Gig Contractor Rule Challenged in Court,” Bloomberg Law, March 26, 2021, https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/bidens-delay-of-trump-gig-contractor-rule-challenged-in-court.
[17] The CWI and its members, from Uber and Kelly Services to Open Assembly and Seyfarth Shaw, have adopted the term “independent work” in newspaper opinion-editorials, financial disclosures, service pitches, and lobbying materials. They use the term to refer to a wide range of freelancing, self-employment, and employment disguised as independent contracting (e.g., work arrangements in which a worker can choose when to engage in paid work but a business entity manages and controls significant aspects of her work such as pay rate). By conflating people who are truly in business for themselves with workers who are not, the CWI not only inflates the size of the so-called “independent” workforce, but it also obscures the danger posed by stripping labor rights from millions of workers in underpaid sectors who are prone to independent contractor misclassification. For examples of the use of “independent work”, see Dara Khosrowshahi, “A Better Deal for European Platform Workers,” Uber, February 15, 2021, https://www.uber.com/newsroom/a-better-deal/; Kelly Services, 2020 SEC Form 10-K, p4, https://kellyservices.gcs-web.com/static-files/fe911c4a-bd16-4d87-a295-4a858cd869b3; John Winsor, “Independent Workers Can Fill In Your Skill Gaps—Here Are The Three Strategic Questions To Be Asking When Using Outsourced Talent,” Open Assembly, March 9, 2020, https://open-assembly.com/blog/independent-workers-can-fill-in-your-skill-gaps-here-are-the-three-strategic-questions-to-be-asking-when-using-outsourced-talent; Seyfarth corporate website, “Independent Worker Strategies,” Accessed November 22, 2021, https://www.seyfarth.com/services/practices/advisory/employment/independent-worker-strategies.html.
[18] See the “Mission” section at the CWI’s organizational website, https://workforceinnovation.net/.
[19] To generate evidence of those worker preferences, the CWI commissioned business advisory firm Ankura Partners, which supports businesses navigating “regulatory challenges,” to design and conduct an unscientific poll of 600 self-identified independent contractors. Results from the Ankura poll have been cited by CWI as evidence that “independent workers love how they work”. See Coalition for Workforce Innovation, “Survey: Independent Workers Love How They Work,” June 10, 2020, https://workforceinnovation.net/press-releases/f/survey-independent-workers-love-how-they-work; Seyfarth Shaw LLP on behalf of the Coalition for Workforce Innovation, Comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking supra note 70, see “Exhibit A”; Ankura Consulting Group, LLC, corporate website, “About Us,” accessed November 22, 2021, https://ankura.com/about/.
[20] In a recent letter to federal lawmakers, the CWI suggests that expanding access to employee status and labor rights has the effect of “reducing flexibility” for workers. See Coalition for Workforce Innovation, “CWI PRO Act Hearing Final Letter,” Letter to the House Education and Labor Committee, July 24, 2019, https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/afca31c0-5c41-4b51-a572-dc8f062842f4/downloads/CWI_PRO_Act_Hearing_Final_Letter_7_25_18_pdf.pdf?ver=1564064534806; Nayantara Mehta, “Flexible Work Hours and Employee Status: The Truth About AB 5,” National Employment Law Project, June 21, 2019, https://www.nelp.org/publication/flexible-work-hours-employee-status-truth-ab-5/.
[21] In recent years, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has been organizing retailers to use more “flexible” workforces. RILA collaborated with the Manpower Group to publish “Fully Stocked,” a 2019 report that provides a step-by-step guide for retailers to transition their employee workforces to on-demand independent contractor workforces dispatched through digital labor platforms. See Retail Industry Leaders Association and ManpowerGroup Solutions, “Fully Stocked: Alternative Workforce Models for Retail,” November 21, 2019, https://rilastagemedia.blob.core.windows.net/rila-web/rila.web/media/media/pdfs/reports/mpgs_fully_stocked_retail_report-finalv2.pdf?ext=.pdf.
[22] See iPSE-U.S., “Independent Workers Unite under IPSE-U.S.™ to Forge the Declaration of Independents ,” business Wire, July 2, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2018-07-02/independent-workers-unite-under-ipse-u-s-to-forge-the-declaration-of-independents; Annalise Frank, “New gig: Ex-Kelly CEO’s next act focuses on independent workers,” Crain’s Detroit, October 17, 2019, https://www.crainsdetroit.com/workforce/new-gig-ex-kelly-ceos-next-act-focuses-independent-workers.