At the same time, these companies are pressing to defend a controversial business model, in which they treat their workers as independent contractors, instead of employees who would be entitled to traditional benefits and protections, such as labor compensation, unemployment insurance, family leave, leave or the right to unionize.
“At the moment, we are at a crossroads,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston labor lawyer who has been challenging Uber and Lyft over the classification of workers in various lawsuits for seven years. “If he meets the challenge, Marty Walsh could have one of the biggest impacts on work in this country since Frances Perkins,” she said, referring to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, who was the chief architect of the New Deal .
New sector, family problems
Although Walsh has not yet delved deeply into the question of application-based job worker classification, job experts and friends who have known him professionally throughout his career say they are encouraged by his experience in defending construction workers, who long ago with the topic of incorrect classification.
“In construction, when contractors started to reclassify their workers from employees to independent contractors, it was just a fraud to save money,” said Mark Erlich, a member of Harvard’s Work and Life at Work Program who previously served as Secretary-Treasurer Executive of the New Regional Council of Carpenters in England who has known Walsh for about 20 years. “What is different now is that it is no longer [viewed as] a ‘coup’, is [positioned by the companies] how beautiful a scheme – a new conception of work in which you are your own boss, have scheduling flexibility – is really seen as desirable. “
Companies have long championed their business model, popularized by Uber during the last recession, claiming that workers have more flexibility when treated as self-employed than employees. But there is nothing to stop companies from offering flexibility to employees. Instead, it is a business decision – and one that critics say it exploits workers in an effort to keep costs low for companies.
Speaking, a spokesman for Lyft said the company expects to work with Walsh and the new management “to strengthen opportunities for application-based workers”. An Uber spokesman echoed the sentiment, saying it “supports efforts to ensure worker independence, while providing drivers and couriers with new benefits and protections.”
Instacart and DoorDash appointed CNN Business as a spokesperson for the App-Based Work Alliance, which is a coalition supported by Uber, Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates.
“Our country’s independent workforce has been instrumental in helping our communities to overcome the many challenges we faced during this pandemic. We are looking forward to working with the Biden-Harris administration, including the Secretary of Labor, to meet rapidly changing needs. evolution of the 21st century workforce, “said Whitney Mitchell Brennan, spokesman for the App-Based Work Alliance in a statement to CNN Business. “We encourage Mayor Walsh to commit to promoting federal policies that will support the growing economy on demand.”
Representatives from Walsh and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. Walsh’s appointment as Labor Secretary is pending Senate approval. At his confirmation hearing on Thursday, Walsh spoke of crucial moments in his life – from getting cancer as a child, to following in the footsteps of his father’s union work and recovering from addiction – that reported how he sees the Department’s work of work.
“Protection of workers, equal access to good jobs, right to join a union, continuing education and professional training, access to mental health and treatment for substance use. These policies are not just for me, I lived them, ”said Walsh. “Millions of American families now need them. I have spent my entire career at different levels fighting for them.”
Walsh was not asked about his position on the classification of workers, but indicated some support for the PRO Act, legislation that was reintroduced by Democrats on Thursday and that would significantly alter existing labor legislation and make it easier for workers to unionize. “This is a step towards helping people to organize freely. I believe in the right to organize. I believe in the right of people to be able to join a union, if they want to join the union. So, I certainly support that, “said Walsh.
The PRO Act would have implications for the gig economy, as it would implement an “ABC” test – against which the gig companies fought in California – to determine whether a worker is employed or hired, if approved.
The Walsh Department of Labor can have a significant impact on the classification of workers, not only by interpreting existing laws and using the office as a pulpit of intimidation, but also directing and coordinating enforcement actions against employers who may not be following the laws, according to labor experts.
Joanne Goldstein, who has known Walsh for 15 years through her various jobs, as head of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division and as the state’s Secretary of Labor and Labor Force Development, said she is more concerned with workers who have access to social and economic services Secure networks.
“We had a number of situations where he approached me in my ability to see what we could do in the context of the law to help workers get the wages, benefits, security and training that workers deserve,” Goldstein told CNN Business.
Rethinking the Trump administration’s stance on independent contractors
Given the current economic crisis, the question of the classification of the show worker may not be the first priority on Walsh’s list. But, as Becki Smith, director of structures for the National Employment Law Project, notes, “it is urgent that they be very clear about their interpretation of the law very quickly.”
“The first order of business will be to erase Trump’s policies that radically reinterpret who among us has access to basic legal protections,” said Smith. Much of this can be done administratively without changes to federal law, Smith added.
Still, the coalition supported by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart wasted no time in issuing a statement on Induction Day to congratulate Biden and Harris while pressing their agenda for “modern policies” that will give workers “access to benefits, protecting their flexibility to earn an independent income on your schedule. ”
To really leave a mark on the issue, Walsh will have to face “the entrenched people of Silicon Valley,” said Erlich. Among this group are former Obama administration employees who now hold senior positions in companies such as Lyft’s director of policies, Anthony Foxx, and Valerie Jarrett, Lyft’s board member. Uber’s legal director, Tony West, served in the Justice Department of the Clinton and Obama governments and is Harris’s brother-in-law.
As Liss-Riordan, the Boston lawyer, said: “This can be an extremely significant position and there are many people who place great hopes on Marty that he does what needs to be done.”