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Today is National Nurses Day, part of National Nurses Week! At IWF, we send a big thank you to our nation’s 3.1 million nurses. These women and men have been on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic since day one. They risk their health to secure ours.
Modern nursing was established by Florence Nightingale, a British woman who led a group of female nurses to deliver medical services to soldiers during the Crimean War in 1854. Nightingale brought women formally into the world of patient care by establishing nurse education programs in a number of British hospitals. In addition, she implemented handwashing and hygiene practices that are credited with saving lives. Handwashing is still an effective strategy in the fight against infections and viruses like the coronavirus today.
Regulations
The signal is clear: union power is more important than worker choices and flexibility. Min
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Biden administration canceled a Trump-era labor rule that would have made it easier for workers to be classified as independent contractors.
The Biden Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule today rescinding the rule issued in the final weeks of the Trump administration that brought needed clarity to determine whether a worker should be classified as an employee or independent contractor by offering a simplified two-factor test. The Biden DOL will return to the previous seven-factor test in an effort to crack down on independent contracting in the gig economy.
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The new Biden Labor Secretary is a big labor guy. Independent contractors should be on alert. Secretary Marty Walsh made comments days ago that signal this administration plans to crack down on independent contracting and push as many American workers back into the outdated model of work organized labor thrives on. Say ‘goodbye’ to flexibility, and ‘hello’ to union dues.
Walsh is a former union boss. He plans to execute on President Biden’s goals of boosting union membership and bringing organized labor back to prominence.
In an interview with Reuters, Walsh telegraphed that independent contracting nationwide might be in trouble:
(Martin Clarke/Michelle Janikian via AP)
It has been a little over a year since I started my fight against California’s AB5: the so-called “Gig Workers” law that was supposed to right the wrongs of misclassification of 1099 Independent Contractors who should have been employees.
Authored by San Diego Assemblywoman Lorena S. Gonzalez-Fletcher (D-Chula Vista), and backed by powerful unions such as the AFL-CIO, what this law did was remove a person’s right to choose to work as an Independent Contractor, freelancer, or gig worker in the state.
My life as a freelance writer, reinvention coach, and Yoga instructor was upended, as were the lives and livelihoods of millions of other independent professionals, from translators and interpreters, to musicians and the theater community. Even after all this time, a new crop of professionals are discovering that they too fall under the heavy boot of this poorly crafted law.