Press Releases

WASHINGTON – President Biden is pushing to staff his administration with bureaucrats who favor Big Labor special interests over the American worker. Julie Su shares the president's skewed and dangerous vision for the future of our economy and the workforce. The Senate must stand up for working Americans and reject Su’s confirmation. 
 
In Case You Missed It, Tammy McCutchen—former Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division—wrote an op-ed in the Washington Examiner outlining how Julie Su’s potential rise to DOL Secretary would destroy the livelihoods of millions of independent workers, especially independent contractors. McCutchen recently testified at an Education and the Workforce Committee hearing examining Biden’s war on independent contractors.

Biden's Labor Department nominee would kill the independent workforce
By Tammy McCutchen
April 26, 2023
 
Almost 65 million Americans take part in the independent workforce. Independent workers control their own destinies…Most report that working independently is their own choice, as only 10% work independently because they cannot find a traditional job. Eighty-four percent are happier working on their own, 67% feel more secure working independently, and 80% say that working on their own is better for their health.

Yet these statistics are never reflected in the Left’s claims about independent contracting. Instead, the Left claims independent contractors are intrinsically exploited, deprived of wages, benefits, legal protections, and social insurance. And they seek to make it difficult, almost impossible, for a worker to be so classified, regardless of what the worker wants.

California is a major battlefront in this war, and President Joe Biden’s labor secretary nominee, Julie Su, was a field marshal.
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Critics of Su’s appointment have rightly pointed out that Su is likely being brought on to help the Biden administration make its own changes to independent contracting — changes the administration recently proposed. But during her confirmation hearing earlier this month, Su insisted that these regulatory changes regarding the federal independent contractor test are different from California’s AB5. Only Congress could impose AB5-like rules, she said.

I would like to be comforted by Su’s assurance, but I am not since the Labor Department does not appear to be following its current independent contractor regulations.
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Moreover, the Labor Department’s proposed new rules regarding independent contracting provide plenty of room for Su to impose AB5 on us all by fiat, without legislation or notice to the public.
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The independent workforce is the right choice for millions of workers. Choosing the freedom and flexibility of independent work over the control that employers must exercise is a rational choice.
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As Labor Secretary, Su will have the power to kill the independent workforce. The Senate must reject her confirmation.

Read the full op-ed here.