Thoughtful workers from across the political spectrum come together to oppose Sweeney’s S-4204.

The politics of crony capitalism has distorted the political landscape, turning party ideology into a mask one wears to hide the agendas of Establishment interests. As the reform group RepresentUs notes, we have been on the road to where we are for a long time. But there is an answer… it is in the "fusion politics" that Ralph Nader wrote about a few summers ago in his book Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. And it is what keeps the Establishment up at nights. The open letter below illustrates why:

Dear Senator Sweeney:

On behalf of the Township of South Orange Village Board of Trustees, I urge you to withdraw S-4204 for consideration until a time when language can be properly integrated to ensure that the livelihood of our state’s legitimate independent contractors is not jeopardized.

As a governing body representing a very progressive community, it is seldom we find ourselves at odds with legislation introduced and supported by Senate and Assembly Democrats. I say this because we wholeheartedly support the goals of the legislation—specifically, proper protections for workers—and believe lawmakers are justified and morally compelled to act given the findings presented in Governor Murphy’s Task Force on Employee Misclassification (July 2019).

However, we oppose the language of the bill as introduced (and amended) and most recently discussed during the Senate Labor Committee hearing on December 5, 2019.

We respectfully, and with a sense of urgency, ask that the three prongs of the ABC test be amended and/or reimagined completely to reflect the new “gig economy,” comprised of successful entrepreneurs, that presents many valuable ways in which these workers—by choice—have created opportunities for themselves to earn a living on terms that work best for them and their families. The testimonies provided by these individuals, whom this bill will impact adversely, should provide sufficient evidence that more modifications are necessary.

In my experience, any bill that needs to carve out “exceptions” is a result of confusing language that can’t be universally applied to everyone in a concise manner. Moreover, while likely not intended, it also gives the appearance that certain professions, organizations, or lobbying entities had special access in the drafting of the bill.

Though the legislation has been described as a “pro-worker” bill, our objections to it do not make us “anti-worker” but rather, reflect our desire to ensure that all workers receive thoughtful and responsive consideration before passage. While New Jersey may have lost millions of dollars as a result of underreported wages, adoption of this bill in its current form can result in hundreds of millions of lost wages in unintended consequences to legitimate independent contractors. As evidenced in the hearings and echoed by the Chamber of Commerce, small businesses and startups will be disproportionately impacted, as they often rely on the gig economy to compete with larger corporations.

Our sentiments have been shared with our District 27 Representatives and I am grateful that Senator Codey, Assemblyman McKeon and Assemblywoman Jasey have heard and share our concerns. A legislative initiative can only be enhanced and improved upon when leaders at all levels of government listen and collaborate with stakeholders. 

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Sheena Collum
Village President

A two-minute video that accurately depicts what happened in Trenton yesterday (and you got the bill)

Senate President Steve Sweeney is a rather immoral guy. On a whole lot of levels. In a whole lot of ways.

He waits until after the November election to unfold a legislative agenda that was fashioned by a hellish cabal of special interests. Sweeney, as we know, is running for the Democrat nomination for Governor in 2021, so the campaign has already started, at least as far as lining up the money is concerned.

Sweeney wouldn’t dare do it before the election, when the voters would have had the opportunity to hold Sweeney’s fellow Democrats to account. He’s like the tradesman who gives his victim a pleasant estimate at the beginning… and then presents her with a grossly inflated bill after the job is done. It’s immoral.

Sweeney’s victims are working mothers and others who depend on the flexible arrangements that working as an independent contractor provides them. The Democrat wants to make such arrangements illegal in New Jersey. And true to form, many other Democrats are going to back his profoundly anti-worker legislation.

It’s called Senate Bill S-4204. The bill has one sponsor – Senate President Steve Sweeney. Yesterday, despite acknowledging that S-4204 was “flawed” and “confusing” and “disappointing”, the anti-worker Democrats on the Senate Labor Committee dutifully passed legislation – that they agree is a mess – out of committee and to the full Senate for a vote.

If these people were moral, if they possessed any integrity at all, they would not use the so-called “lame duck” session after an election to rush through all the controversial legislation they sat on all year long. It spits on notions of transparency, democracy, and honest government. But we all know what they are up to… these are just the games played by brutes in power…

We understand and respect the AFL-CIO’s impulses in supporting S-4204, but we believe they are wrong to conflate those who are forced to work as “independent contractors” with those who do so because they want to – because it is their choice to work that way. Sweeney’s legislation goes way beyond correcting the legitimate concerns raised by our brothers and sisters at the AFL-CIO. The Democrat’s legislation is a thuggish, barbaric attempt to force workers – mainly women – against their will into a working arrangement that is not in their interest. This is akin to slavery.

And it is a slavery that does great harm to the beautiful idea of the right of working men and women to freely organize and collectively negotiate to achieve better pay and conditions in the workplace. When you allow a politician like Senate President Sweeney to replace the word “free” with the term “compel” you brutalize the entire labor movement. An environment is created that brutalizes every worker.

The Cause of Labor is the Hope of the World. We believe that. But that cause can only be achieved when it is a compact between free men and women, freely joining together as a union – the benefits of which should be so transparent that workers should wish to join freely, of their own accord. Proselytize, convince, but do not compel.

Let’s have labor unions made up of free men and women. Not enslaved workers.

Dem activist to working moms: “We need to start our own world with out the white folks.”

“We need to start our own world with out (sic) the white folks.”

With one slight alteration, how would this read in its original German?
 
This individual is a Democrat activist from St. Louis, Missouri, commenting on a New Jersey blog as part of an effort to attack a group of working people from New Jersey – mainly women – whose perspective on the threat to their livelihoods was shared on that blog.  This is who the Trenton Democrats have got to shill for them.
 
What do Senators Fred Madden… Linda Greenstein… Joe Lagana have to say about supporters like the one above?  Are they down with this?
 
Working mothers and others depend on the flexible arrangements that working as an independent contractor provides them.  But such arrangements could soon be illegal in New Jersey, if Senate Democrats have their way.     
 
After Senate Bill S-4204 was passed out of the Senate Labor Committee on a 3 to 1 vote (Three Democrat YES votes – Fred Madden, Joseph Lagana, and Jim Beach – to one Republican NO, Tony Bucco.  The bill has one sponsor – Senate President Steve Sweeney.), a group of working professionals decided to do something to protect their livelihoods. 
 
The group is www.fightforfreelancers.com .  In under two weeks, they have attracted nearly 1,000 activists and its Facebook and web pages feature dozens of stories about the hardships S-4204 will bring. 
 
Other groups have formed as well – all to fight the ruinous provisions of Senate Bill S-4204.  In response, far-Left activists from around the country – from California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, and so on – have been called in by desperate Democrats in Trenton to attack the New Jersey women who are fighting for their livelihoods.  It is a very questionable reaction by the leadership of the Democrats who control the New Jersey Legislature.  They are attacking the New Jersey women on Facebook and on websites that carry their stories. 
 
You can do something to save the professions chosen by working moms and others.  The Senate Labor Committee is meeting again TODAY in Trenton – at 10am.  You can call or email the Senators responsible for voting for this atrocity and give them a piece of your mind…
 
Senate President Steve Sweeney (D)
856-251-9801
856-339-0808
sensweeney@njleg.org
 
Senator Fred Madden (D)
856-232-6700
856-401-3073
senmadden@njleg.org
 
Senator Linda Greenstein (D)
609-395-9911
sengreenstein@njleg.org
 
Senator Joe Lagana (D)
201-576-9199
senlagana@njleg.org
 
We have been happy to stand with the working moms and others who want to keep the option of working as sub-contractors.  Let it remain their choice. 

Working people in New Jersey are under enough pressure as it is.  Democrats like Governor Phil Murphy and Senate President Sweeney seem bent on turning New Jersey into an outpost of France – with the French-style labor laws that have given that nation high-unemployment and under-employment for generations.  Perhaps we should nickname them Pierre and Jacques and pop little berets on their heads in future?
 
In contrast to the plans Democrats like Murphy and Sweeney have for them:  Working class people prefer to work.  They don’t want to need the government, thank you.
 
This website has always been pro-working class.  That is simply another way of being on the side of the average American.  The working class is historically under-represented in the chambers of our so-called representative democracy. 
 
We recognize the inherent conservative nature of the working class.  People less well-off have always had to depend on each other.  They cleave to family and form extended communities for that purpose.  Only the rich can afford to kick out the pillars of society (safe in the knowledge that there will always be a way to buy oneself out of the consequences).  The working class is a movement that marches in the streets, but kneels in church.  

This is the reason the working class has been left behind by the Democrat Party. It is the reason that the vast majority of voters today have become orphans in our political process.

Writers like Ross Douthat (of the New York Times) and Reihan Salam (formerly of National Review, Slate, and The Atlantic) have suggested that the future of the working class is within the Republican Party. Time will tell. We are not sure about the residual presence of the Christie Whitman class and if it will be sufficient to bar the working class. Time will tell.

The American working class are the “forgotten people” of the global economy. Indeed, this can be said of working classes in post-industrial economies around the world. And we recall how one Democrat legislator, just a couple years ago, pointedly stated that “the New Jersey Legislature does not serve the ‘forgotten people'" in a direct reference to the working class.

We suspect that without knowing it, this Democrat legislator was acknowledging one of the great under-reported facts of American political life. In White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making, Duke University Professor Nick Carnes cites studies showing that while a majority of Americans work in blue-collar employment (and over two-thirds can be described as “working class”), only 2 percent of Congress were blue-collar workers before being elected and only 3 percent of State Legislators are employed as blue-collar workers. Carnes and others hold that this disparity reflects the economic decisions and priorities of legislative bodies in America.

This lack of blue-collar perspective shouldn't surprise anyone looking at the Legislature's agenda. And even when a blue-collar guy does get elected, he or she is one of so few that they are quickly pulled into the maelstrom of identity politics that so dominates and pollutes.

This is why Democrat political leaders in Trenton don't appear to care about New Jersey having the highest property taxes in America, or its highest in America foreclosure rate, or its worst business climate in America (as in… the worst place for job creation). Look at the legislative agenda and you will see what they’re about. It’s all ass, ass, ass… as a distraction to the real business of crony capitalism and wiring the system so that this interest or that can make a buck (and then kick back in the form of campaign contributions and such).

All this provides background to a growing body of academic research that shows, again and again, that we no longer live in a representative democracy, but rather an oligarchy. As a recent Princeton University study reported, "The preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."

See you at the Committee hearing…

Meet some of the people whose lives are being destroyed by Trenton Democrats

Working mothers and others depend on the flexible arrangements that working as an independent contractor provides them. It’s a global feature of what’s become known as the new “gig economy”. But such arrangements could soon be illegal in New Jersey, if Senate Democrats have their way.

Senate Bill S-4204 was recently passed out of the Senate Labor Committee on a 3 to 1 vote. That’s three Democrat YES votes – Fred Madden, Joseph Lagana, and Jim Beach – to one Republican NO (Tony Bucco). The bill has one sponsor – Senate President Steve Sweeney.

The Assembly Democrats also passed their own version of the bill out of committee on a 6 (Democrats) to 3 (Republicans) vote. The Democrats waited until after Election Day to introduce their bills in both chambers of the Legislature. Now it’s getting fast-tracked. How dishonest is that? Waiting until after the voters could do something about it.

As proposed by Sweeney, S-4204 “provides that, for the purposes of all State employment laws, individuals who perform services for remuneration are employees, not independent contractors, and are subject to the provisions of those laws… unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that:

a. The individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of the service, both under the individual’s contract of service and in fact; and

b. The individual’s service is either outside the usual course of the business for which that service is performed; and

c. The individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed.”

This is an incredibly stupid move for Senate President Sweeney, a potential candidate for Governor in 2021. But it gets worse because the guy Sweeney would be running against – incumbent Democrat Governor Phil Murphy – supports Senate Bill S-4204 too.

Who is affected by S-4204? Several Facebook groups have formed in response to the actions by Trenton Democrats. Some feature the stories of those whose livelihoods will be destroyed by the Democrats’ actions.

One such group is www.fightforfreelancers.com . In under two weeks, this group has attracted nearly 1,000 activists and its Facebook page features dozens of stories about the hardships S-4204 will bring.

Alida Kass of the New Jersey Civil Justice Institute is leading the fight against S-4204 and its companion legislation. NJ101.5’s Bill Spadea recently interviewed her…

You can do something to save the professions chosen by working moms and others. The Senate Labor Committee is meeting again on Thursday in Trenton. You can call or email the Senators responsible for voting for this atrocity and give them a piece of your mind…

Senate President Steve Sweeney (D)
856-251-9801
856-339-0808
sensweeney@njleg.org

Senator Fred Madden (D)
856-232-6700
856-401-3073
senmadden@njleg.org

Senator Linda Greenstein (D)
609-395-9911
sengreenstein@njleg.org

Senator Joe Lagana (D)
201-576-9199
senlagana@njleg.org

Trentonian: The lives of hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans are about to be destroyed.

The Trentonian newspaper put out a warning yesterday…

Attention fellow New Jerseyans: We are about to get screwed like we've never been screwed before by state Sen. President Steve Sweeney, the rest of the legislature, and Governor Phil Murphy.

…I need you to understand bill S4204, introduced by Sweeney in November, and fast-tracked for passage in the coming weeks. In short: It will eliminate the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans. Plain and simple.

The bill would upend the current system of people who operate as independent contractors. Basically, you won’t be allowed to offer your services unless you’re hired as an official employee of the business. That’s a simplistic reading of the bill, but that’s it in a nutshell.

For example: Let’s say you’re a kindergarten teacher and, on the side, you’re a wedding photographer. Maybe you shoot four or five weddings a year, and you get the work through Jimmy’s Wedding Photo Emporium. You like photography, you like weddings, it’s a fun little side gig for you, and Jimmy pays you $200 a wedding, and you’re happy. Or maybe you’re not a teacher; maybe you’re a stay-at-home mom trying to make a few bucks. Maybe you’re a college student looking to pay down your debt. Maybe you’re retired and you enjoy taking pictures. Doesn’t matter; unless Jimmy hires you as an employee, you will not be allowed to shoot weddings for him. You cannot be an independent contractor of wedding photography anymore.

So.

Are you a photographer? A truck driver owner-operator? A freelance writer? A tree trimmer? A dog groomer? A lawyer? A locksmith? A tow-truck driver? A million other things? Yeah. You’re screwed.

And woe is the small business owner, because this cuts both ways. Remember Jimmy, our old pal from Jimmy’s Wedding Photo Emporium? Yeah, he won’t be able to afford to hire all these employees, won’t be able to afford the taxes that go along with having all these employees. So yeah. If you’re Jimmy - or any small business owner that hires people to do piecemeal work, guess what? You’re screwed.

You can read Jeff Edelstein’s entire column here: https://www.trentonian.com/news/the-lives-of-hundreds-of-thousands-of-new-jerseyans-are/article_91e95642-0c08-11ea-a16d-e311dc18d1ae.html

Why are they doing this in the face of data that clearly indicates the current structure helps working mothers and others? United States Census data has chronicled this common route back to work for women trying to balance motherhood with gainful employment. And there is a large academic literature on the subject. As New Jersey 101.5’s Bill Spadea noted:

That's right, If you're a working mom who took some time off to have and raise your children, you may be at risk.

The latest attack on our economy from the radicals in Trenton is a new bill that would all but eliminate the ability for a person to work as an independent contractor in New Jersey…

The restrictions placed on employers in order to essentially force them to hire W2 employees only will be most hurtful to working moms. So many mothers need the flexibility of returning to work and controlling their own hours like ride share drivers, food delivery, special education providers, among many, many others.

As we know, the so-called 'gender pay gap' is a very complicated issue and has everything to do with choices many women make to stay home with their kids for a number of years. Naturally, returning to the workforce after a gap in experience results in reduction in pay as many women are essentially starting again. The idea of returning to work as an independent contractor offers the kind of additional income and flexible hours, which empowers moms to continue managing their homes, balancing child care and of course, paying NJ taxes.

We heard from Alida Kass on Monday from the NJ Civil Justice Institute prior to her testifying before the Assembly committee discussing the new law. Then Jon Bramnick, the recently re-elected Assembly Minority Leader, explaining that this is all about new taxes for NJ businesses and another reason that many business owners will look to leave NJ. They can simply head across the river to PA or DE and not pay the additional taxes at all.

Read More: Murphy's and Sweeney's new tax target: Moms returning to work

Hear Bill Spadea interview Alida Kass…

The NFIB noted that the New Jersey Democrats are merely copying a California law that totally screwed working mothers and small businesses in that state, but apparently those pushing this legislation don’t care. The only kind of business they favor is the crony capitalist kind – businesses big enough to collect corporate welfare and then kick-back to the right politicians and their superPACs. Real dirtbag stuff.

Hopefully there’s a Republican on the horizon who will stand up for moms and cut the nuts off these Democrats.

Trenton Democrats are making war on working mothers

Many working mothers depend on the flexible arrangements that working as an independent contractor provides them. But such arrangements could soon be illegal in New Jersey, if Trenton Democrats have their way.

Last week, Senate Bill S-4204 passed out of the Senate Labor Committee on a 3 to 1 vote. That’s three Democrat YES votes – Fred Madden, Joseph Lagana, and Jim Beach – to one Republican NO (Tony Bucco). The bill has one sponsor – Senate President Steve Sweeney.

On Monday, it was the turn of the Assembly Democrats, who passed their version of the bill out of committee on a 6 (Democrats) to 3 (Republicans) vote. Figures that creeps like Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling didn’t have the balls to take this vote before the election. In fact, the Democrats waited until after Election Day to introduce their bills in both chambers of the Legislature. Now it’s getting fast-tracked. How dishonest is that! Waiting until after the voters can do something about it – and then screwing mom. Hey, you know what that makes them?

As proposed by Sweeney, S-4204 “provides that, for the purposes of all State employment laws, individuals who perform services for remuneration are employees, not independent contractors, and are subject to the provisions of those laws… unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that:

a. The individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of the service, both under the individual’s contract of service and in fact; and

b. The individual’s service is either outside the usual course of the business for which that service is performed; and

c. The individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed.”

This is an incredibly stupid move for a potential candidate for Governor in 2021. Whoever advised Sweeney to do this must have been hitting the pipe overtime. But it gets worse because the guy Sweeney would be running against – incumbent Democrat Governor Phil Murphy – supports screwing over working moms too.

Why are they doing it in the face of data that clearly indicates the current structure helps working mothers? United States Census data has chronicled this common route back to work for women trying to balance motherhood with gainful employment. And there is a large academic literature on the subject. As New Jersey 101.5’s Bill Spadea noted:

That's right, If you're a working mom who took some time off to have and raise your children, you may be at risk.

The latest attack on our economy from the radicals in Trenton is a new bill that would all but eliminate the ability for a person to work as an independent contractor in New Jersey…

The restrictions placed on employers in order to essentially force them to hire W2 employees only will be most hurtful to working moms. So many mothers need the flexibility of returning to work and controlling their own hours like ride share drivers, food delivery, special education providers, among many, many others.

As we know, the so-called 'gender pay gap' is a very complicated issue and has everything to do with choices many women make to stay home with their kids for a number of years. Naturally, returning to the workforce after a gap in experience results in reduction in pay as many women are essentially starting again. The idea of returning to work as an independent contractor offers the kind of additional income and flexible hours, which empowers moms to continue managing their homes, balancing child care and of course, paying NJ taxes.

We heard from Alida Kass on Monday from the NJ Civil Justice Institute prior to her testifying before the Assembly committee discussing the new law. Then Jon Bramnick, the recently re-elected Assembly Minority Leader, explaining that this is all about new taxes for NJ businesses and another reason that many business owners will look to leave NJ. They can simply head across the river to PA or DE and not pay the additional taxes at all.

Read More: Murphy's and Sweeney's new tax target: Moms returning to work

Hear Bill Spadea interview Alida Kass…

The NFIB noted that the New Jersey Democrats are merely copying a FrCalifornia law that totally screwed working mothers and small businesses in that state, but apparently those pushing this legislation don’t care. The only kind of business they favor is the crony capitalist kind – businesses big enough to collect corporate welfare and then kick-back to the right politicians and their superPACs. Real dirtbag stuff.

Hopefully there’s a Republican on the horizon who will stand up for moms and cut the nuts off these Democrats.