Labour bites

Pension protests persist

Faced with historic and unrelenting protests against proposed reforms to France’s pension system, President Emmanuel Macron’s government has temporarily withdrawn the proposed changes that would have seen the full benefit retirement age raise from 62 to 64, among other significant changes. Unions claim this means people will be made to work longer for lower pensions, and that weakening France’s pension system now will leave it open to further diminishment in the future.

The government’s concession, on 11 January, came after teachers, nurses and lawyers joined the marathon transport strike that had been crippling the country for the previous five weeks. Electrical unions have used their considerable power and influence to express solidarity with striking workers, with strategic power outages affecting facilities in the lead up to Christmas, including the infamously anti-worker employer Amazon. The strikes have also touched upon France’s cultural exports. The Louvre – the world’s most visited museum – was targeted by strikers, who prevented visitors from entering the museum. Ballet dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet, opera singers, technicians, and artisans also joined the strikes, as the proposed changes prove themselves to be almost universally unpopular.

The rail stoppage, which began on 5 December, is France’s longest strike since 1968, and the longest continuous train strike since the creation of the national rail service in the 1930s. Unsatisfied with the proposal’s temporary withdrawal, union leaders urged workers to remain strong and the strike has continued, with protestors demanding the pension reform plan be scrapped entirely, rather than be placed upon the shelf to be reintroduced at a later time. While it is unclear if they will be successful in the total abolition of Macron’s broad reform plan, these historic strikes have managed already to extract major concessions from the French government, including pay rises to teachers equalling around $1000 a month. (Source: New York Times)

Gig bill a big deal

A new law in California is challenging the ways technology has upended the nature of work, by seeking to reclassify what it means to be an employee.Known informally as the gig economy bill, or AB5, the new law went into effect on 1 January, seeking to compel all companies – but notably those like Uber and Lyft – to treat their workforce as employees. The bill has already inspired similar legislation in New York, New Jersey and Illinois, and has received the formal support of Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

The roots of the bill emerged from a 2018 California Supreme Court ruling, that redefined the distinction between employment and contracting in a decision written for a case filed by a delivery driver. The driver argued that he performed all the same tasks as an employee, despite being classified as an independent contractor. The court agreed and established a new standard to make it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors as a means of cutting labour costs.

The test, commonly called the ABC test, said workers could only be classified as an independent contractor if they can prove that the worker is free from the company’s control; is doing work that isn’t central to the company’s business and has an independent business in that industry. If they don’t meet all three of those conditions, then they must be classified as employees and entitled to all entitlements and provisions that classification includes.

The bill faces powerful opposition from a number of Californian businesses. Lyft, Uber, and DoorDash have warned they are ready to spend around $110 million on a ballot initiative to overturn AB5, with Californian labor unions vowing to fight back in support of the bill. The new law will also reportedly benefit the state of California, which estimates it loses$7 billion in tax revenue each year from companies that misclassify employees. (Source: Vox)

Gig bill a big deal

A new law in California is challenging the ways technology has upended the nature of work, by seeking to reclassify what it means to be an employee.Known informally as the gig economy bill, or AB5, the new law went into effect on 1 January, seeking to compel all companies – but notably those like Uber and Lyft – to treat their workforce as employees. The bill has already inspired similar legislation in New York, New Jersey and Illinois, and has received the formal support of Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

The roots of the bill emerged from a 2018 California Supreme Court ruling, that redefined the distinction between employment and contracting in a decision written for a case filed by a delivery driver. The driver argued that he performed all the same tasks as an employee, despite being classified as an independent contractor. The court agreed and established a new standard to make it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors as a means of cutting labour costs.

The test, commonly called the ABC test, said workers could only be classified as an independent contractor if they can prove that the worker is free from the company’s control; is doing work that isn’t central to the company’s business and has an independent business in that industry. If they don’t meet all three of those conditions, then they must be classified as employees and entitled to all entitlements and provisions that classification includes.

The bill faces powerful opposition from a number of Californian businesses. Lyft, Uber, and DoorDash have warned they are ready to spend around $110 million on a ballot initiative to overturn AB5, with Californian labor unions vowing to fight back in support of the bill. The new law will also reportedly benefit the state of California, which estimates it loses$7 billion in tax revenue each year from companies that misclassify employees. (Source: Vox)