Last night, I spent almost an hour with host Steve Johnson on the Rideshare Rodeo podcast, talking about where things stand here in New Jersey going into Election Day.
The long and the short of it is this: We have proposed rulemaking at the state’s Department of Labor & Workforce Development that attorneys say “almost entirely eviscerates” any chance of establishing independent-contractor status, and is “an existential threat to flexible, independent work.”
We also have what many pollsters tell us is a close gubernatorial race between two candidates who could not be more different in this policy area.
Jack Ciattarelli has laid out a detailed plan to stop this rulemaking after years of supporting independent contractors, after owning a business that included independent contractors in becoming a success, and after genuinely engaging on this policy matter with independent contractors like me:
Mikie Sherrill’s only statement about the Labor Department rulemaking has been that she wants to discuss it further, while her campaign is awash in the language of freelance busting, after she voted in Congress to spread California’s disastrous freelance-busting language nationwide, and as she is out campaigning arm-in-arm with top brass at the NJ AFL-CIO who are a driving force behind this madness:
You’ll hear me say on this podcast what I’ve been saying for years: Our freedom to be our own bosses should not be a partisan issue. We should not have to fight our own government to be able to earn a living, and I’m grateful to the Democrats at our State House who have spoken out to try and help us fix this mess.
But at the top of the ticket this year in New Jersey, only one candidate has demonstrated clear support for New Jersey’s estimated 1.7 million independent contractors.
That candidate is Jack Ciattarelli.
Now get out there and vote!