Chronic Freelancer Mike Rowe Goes to Bat for Independent Contractors In America | The Way I Heard It

uh three cameras rolling comedy all right here it is I've spent most of my career working as an independent contractor and I've loved every minute of it I love being in charge of my own schedule I love working for people I choose to work for and I love the freedom that comes from being my own boss and I'm not alone nearly 70 million people in this country work the same way they don't want to be somebody's employee not that there's anything wrong with that and many of them don't want to join a union not that there's anything wrong with that what they want to do is assume the risk that comes with being an independent contractor in exchange for the many benefits a lot of these people don't work in my industry many of them are truck drivers dancers graphic artists writers real estate agents and so forth I want to introduce you to a couple of these people because right now all of them are about to lose their ability to work the way they want to work thanks to a really bad bill called the proa that's making its way through Congress happily I met a guy who's doing something about it and an organization that's determined to stop it from [Music] happening first things first AOS what is the proper way to say your last name chog how many times in your life or just in the last week have you heard people mangle it oh I I've done more conservative talk radio than you would ever think Mike I've heard that's akos he works at Americans for Prosperity and he believes that public policy exists to empower not to inhibit and that's what he focuses on public policy exists to empower not to inhibit and that's that's what we focus on see Akash is the perfect guy to explain how this really bad Bill made it all the way to Washington this one started in California back in 2018 and the question basically pertains around who is an employee versus who is an independent contractor in 2018 the California Supreme Court laid down three factors to determine who is an employee it's called the ABC test ab5 put those three factors into law it completely throws up in the air the distinction between an independent worker and an employee favoring the side being an employee more than 70 million Americans work as independent contractors that's a long form way of saying this labor rule is inhibiting freelance job opportunities no matter your politics it's un American that's will he works as a journalist and his job is to eliminate any kind of government barrier to freedom and prosperity my job is to eliminate any kind of government barrier to freedom and prosperity see will is committed to doing all he can to stop this really bad Bill from becoming a a really bad law what California was trying to accomplish was to address exploitation situations where freelance workers should have been technically full employees with real hourly pay and work schedules that were utterly predictable and benefits seems like a well-intended idea but what are the unintended consequences and who's really behind it the folks who backed ab5 particularly the Teamsters Union what they really wanted was a one-size fits-all kind of situation where all these freelance people were herded out of their independent little shops if you will and into large employers where they would be more easily organizing targets for Unions that's their whole goal in this thing again I'm not looking for trouble with the unions but thousands of Freelancers have already lost the right to work the way they want to work in California if this thing goes National we're talking about millions of Freelancers no longer free so if I live in you know Texas or Tennessee or Michigan Wisconsin you name it if I live anywhere else in the US and I look at this I I would be very afraid and people are afraid every day more and more of those 70 million independent contractors are beginning to realize exactly what's at stake and the importance of pushing back if the proact becomes federal law which President Biden has said he would sign this into law of Congress passed it everything you love about independent status ceases to exist and basically two things could happen your job entirely disappears because a business simply cannot afford to bring you on as a full-time employee with wages benefits Etc so they cease to hire you or they hire you and the flexibility the freedom the entrepreneurial opportunity that you liked to work for different people to set your own schedule set your own wage rates completely disappears and you become an employee a cog in the wheel this is not happening in the third world this is happening right here public policy is very easy to dehumanized right people that work in Congress work in Washington you're constantly surrounded by words and laws and policies and numbers and there are real people who are impacted by this I'll spend anywhere from a couple of days to a month just hauling Freight all across the country how many miles a year on average somewhere around 120 120,000 miles driving a truck is not a job it's a lifestyle that's Tom he's one of thousands of independent truckers who had no choice but to leave California now he's fighting against the proact to protect his lifestyle I've been in business just over two years now the proact would make it really hard to classify someone working for you as an independent contractor it would make it so that I can't grow the way I want my profit margin would suffer it wouldn't be great for my business that's Lauren she's an independent bookkeeper who hires independent contractors she's fighting against the proact to run her business the way she she wants to I've had a stellar career and I've worked literally all over the world doing all this kind of different independent Contracting frankly that's Peter he's an independent choreographer and he's fighting against the proa to make a living doing what he loves dance in a very blanketed kind of way it's like saying you cannot be an independent contractor so in the case of dance companies like mine I'm supposed to now bring in dancers as employees meaning that I need to guarantee them year round payroll my company wouldn't last really to the until the end of the month it literally kills the idea of becoming an entrepreneur you've kind of got to eat what you kill and you don't know from day to day to week to week so why does that work for you my wife got a really bad case of bronchitis if I'm an employee driver and I decide I'm going to stay home for a week and take care of my wife what's my employer going to do my employer's going to say nothing good Tom I can't leave that truck sitting still for a week they'll probably fire me as an independent contractor I can just tell dispatch I'm going to be gone for a week I'll let you know when I'm ready to go again that's the flexibility we talked about before and it vanishes in every state if it gets caught up in the slipstream of the pro act for lawmakers to hear those stories I think that's the most powerful thing that can move anybody I think on this issue in particular because it so directly impacts people's livelihoods if AOS sounds like he's taking all this very personally it's because he understands firsthand that the freedom to work the way we want is no different than the freedom to live the way we want and those freedoms always come with a measure of risk where's your family from Akash my parents were both born in India my dad came when he was 27 28 he came here with $26 in his pockets and traveled the country by overnight bus and ultimately found his first real job in America on the 89th day of his 90-day bus pass while that story is special to me it's not unique to America right that really is what what built this country it's people taking a chance and having the ability to determine their own circumstances in life not just a chance it's people betting on something the BET to leave India that's a big bet for Prosperity our system has empowered hundreds of millions of people across the world to leave poverty and you know create Better Lives for themselves I think that broader context is something that's always important to remember poor kid from Los Angeles quit school at 16 makes $146,000 I didn't start a business to just create a job for myself I started a business to have that freedom not just financially but my time my grandfather and my grandmother immigrated to the United States from Greece and like most immigrants he opened up his own business he had a shoe repair shop that's the American Spirit that's the American dream people immigrate to this country because they're looking for freedom and they're looking for opportunity and the proact completely takes all that away it kills it what kind kind of country are we going to be are we going to be a country where the circumstances of your birth don't determine the circumstances of your life in order for that to be the case government has to empower the private sector Empower individuals Empower employers Empower every American to pursue their own American dream that by and large involves public policy getting out of the way to do less rather than doing more and inhibiting that opportunity are we going to be the kind of country that allows and even encourages a person to get a 90 bus pass and get out there into the world to see what they can shake loose on their own or are we going to say no no no that could lead to sadness and disappointment that could lead to failure not even going to let you try the right to try to try to work the way I want to work to eat the way I want to eat to exercise the way I want to live the way I want I mean it's only everything right e

Channel: Mike Rowe

Views: 641,197

Keywords: dirty jobs, the way I heard it, mike rowe the way I heard it podcast, mike rowe the way I heard it, the way I heard it mike rowe, the way I heard it mike rowe podcast, California assembly bill 5, the pro act, pro act, collective bargaining, Akash Chougule, stand together, california independent contractor, assembly bill 5, ab5 uber, ab5 california, mike rowe, mike rowe dirty jobs, mike rowe podcast, mike rowe tbn, somebody's gotta do it, m1m2m3, m1k3r0w3, m1m2, j03s, r0w3

Id: RPYpdZ0oljA

Length: 10min 15sec (615 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 24 2024