Gig workers, such as drivers for Uber or Lyft, could now have a path toward unionizing due to a new ruling, creating a way for them to organize and even strike.
The National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that safeguards the right to organize, and prevents and remedies unfair labor practices, issued a ruling on Tuesday that changes how independent contractors are classified.
“Applying this clear standard will ensure that workers who seek to organize or exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act are not improperly excluded from its protections,” Chairman Lauren McFerran said in a statement.
A quick definition: The gig economy is a labor market that relies on temporary and part-time positions filled by independent contractors and freelancers, according to Investopedia.
The NLRB decision threw out a previous standard implemented during the Trump administration for classifying workers that excluded independent contractors, Reuters reported. The new ruling broadens the factors that the government looks at for determining if a worker is an independent contractor or an employee, a return to an Obama-era test, according to The Washington Post.
Recent Comments