House Democrats this week are trying to impose the independent contractor-destroying, Right-to-Work banning, secret ballot-ending “PRO Act.” This legislation has also been endorsed by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Below is a compilation of testimonials from Americans opposed to the PRO Act:
Deborah Lynn Blumberg – “The #PROAct‘s #ABCTest will destroy my successful freelance career & the careers of millions of other freelancers. Freelancing is the only way I can take care of my children & my chronic health issue. Please don’t end my career. Replace the #ABCTest with the IRS Common Law test.” (Tweet, Feb. 24)
Ericka Chickowski – “Please don’t kill my small business with the #ABCTest in #PROAct. I am a successful independent contractor, sole bread winner and mom of two young girls. Please allow me to feed them & teach them that they can make it as entrepreneurs as long as they put the work in. #NoPROAct.” – (Tweet, March 2, 2021)
Natasha Gabrielle – “Please vote NO for Pro Act, @USRepMikeDoyle. This bill would make it almost impossible for so many freelance writers like myself to keep doing the work we do. We love our work! #NoProAct #FightForFreelancers #NoABCforUSA.” (Tweet, March 2, 2021)
Tom Mangan – “What kind of “fairness” would FORCE me to accept W2 employment – at a considerable loss in income if I could even find a W2 job in my field? The unions want the ABC test everywhere with no regard to the damage. #NoPROAct” (Tweet, March 5)
Briana Sharp – “With my clients, we agree on an outcome and a timeline. They contract with me for my expertise, and I control the method and my availability. This is nothing like an employment relationship. #FightForFreelancers #NoABCforUSA” (Tweet, March 2, 2021)
Sharon Goldman – “My state, NJ, is FULL of freelance writers, musicians, editors, photographers, designers, copywriters, accountants, marketers & more. #PROAct with #ABCTest will force many out of biz.” (Tweet, March 2, 2021)
Annie Logue – “The state is New Hampshire. Maybe a freelance editor would help you. They help me all the time. I am a freelance writer. I want the retain the right to operate my business as an independent contractor. #FightForFreelancers” (Tweet, March 2, 2021)
Juli Mandel Sloves – “I urge my reps: Don’t kill my business! I choose to be an Independent Contractor – I make more money and have the flexibility to care for my family. Vote NO on the ProAct. Remove the antiquated ABC. #FightForFreelancers” – (Tweet, March 2, 2021)
Jennifer L.W. Fink – “The PRO Act will destroy my freelance writing career and my ability to care for my family (children & aging parents) while also earning a living and contributing to our society. The ABC test is an outdated standard from the 19030s. #PROAct #FightForFreelancers” (Tweet, March 2, 2021)
Michelle Horn – “@SenToomey please vote no for the PRO Act with the ABC test. I already have protection via the IRS rule for independent contractors. No govt should force a client/contractor to be employer/employee. Protect PA from AB5 disaster in CA. #NoPROAct” (Tweet, March 5)
Poornima Apte – “Dear @RepStephenLynch the #PROAct threatens my livelihood as a freelance writer. Please replace the #ABCTest with IRS rules to protect business owners like me who are your constituents. #FightForFreelancers” (Tweet, March 2, 2021)
Karen Kroll – “Especially over the past few years, we’ve all seen W2 employees laid off. Job security is a myth at this point. As an independent contractor, multiple income streams mean a loss of one client is less likely to be financially devastating. #FightForFreelancers” (Tweet, March 1, 2021)
Kate Silver – “I’ve had a successful freelance writing business for 14+ years, and it if the Pro Act passes as is, it’ll threaten my career. This act would not only hurt freelancers, but editors and digital agencies who rely on them. This insightful post explains it well. #FightForFreelancers” (March 1, 2021)
Kim Kavin – “Dear @VP, Why don’t you also support the millions of us who choose independent contractor work across America? Why are you trying to outlaw our careers by copying the ABC Test from California’s #AB5 in the #PROAct?” (Tweet, March 1, 2021)
Michele C. Hollow – “Dear @SenBooker, I and so many #Democrats don’t want to change parties. I’m a lifelong democrat. But this party is going to kill my career if the ABC Test in the #PROAct passes. 1,000s of gig workers will lose their livelihoods. Please listen to us.” (Tweet, March 1, 2021)
Cheryl Maguire – “My pitch was accepted at a Hearst pub but I live in MA & MA uses the ABC test so I can’t be hired. This law is preventing me from freelance writing. Please help change it” (Tweet, March 1, 2021)
Jill Schildhouse – “@SenMarkKelly and @SenatorSinema. If the PRO Act is accepted with the current ABC test, I and countless other freelancers who have spent decades building successful businesses will lose them and be out of work. Please ask for this portion to be removed. #FightForFreelancers” (Tweet, March 1)
Paige Cerulli – ” @SenMarkey @SenWarren @RepRichardNeal The antiquated ABC test wasn’t designed for the modern-day freelancer. We don’t need or want to be employees, and we CHOSE to freelance for a reason. Don’t support the PRO Act with the ABC test. #fightforfreelancers #NoABCforUSA” (Tweet, March 1, 2021)
Roxanne Hawn – “Me too. 21+ years of successful independent work would go down the tubes if the ABC Test becomes national law with the PRO Act. #FightForFreelancers #NoABCforUSA Majority of independent contractors want to stay that way. Many of them women, people of color, and older workers.” (Tweet, March 1, 2021)
Catherine Dold – “@RepJoeNeguse @RepJasonCrow The ABC test will eliminate freelance careers, like mine. I don’t need or want to be an employee. Don’t support the PRO Act while it contains the ABC test.” (Tweet, March 1, 2021)
Michele Wojciechowski – “.@LeaderHoyer please change the ABC test in the PRO Act. I don’t want to be on the unemployment roster after spending decades building a successful freelance business. #FightForFreelancers Other businesses are exempt, but writers, editors, musicians, artists, photographers, etc.” (Tweet, March 1)
Natasha Gabrielle – “Please vote NO for Pro Act, @USRepMikeDoyle. This bill would make it almost impossible for so many freelance writers like myself to keep doing the work we do. We love our work! #NoProAct #FightForFreelancers #NoABCforUSA” (Tweet, March 1)
Gina Nicole Kelly – “Please update the PRO Act by swapping the ABC test with the IRS test. Millions of freelancers/ICs need this law to be changed otherwise you’re killing our livelihoods. I’m not sure why our pleas are falling on deaf ears. You can still protect unions but also protect us.” (Tweet, March 2)
Susan Johnston Taylor – “As a full-time #freelance writer of 13 years, I strongly urge you to replace ABC test with the IRS test in the #PROAct. I am a freelancer by choice (not an exploited or misclassified worker) & the ABC test would make it illegal for me to freelance for clients in my own industry.” (Tweet, March 2)
Debbie Abrams Kaplan – “Please don’t move on a #PROAct vote. You’ve not considered testimony from freelancers like myself, whose small biz will be decimated by bill passage. The ABC test is too narrow a test for legit indep contractors. #NoABCforUSA #FightForFreelancers” (Tweet, March 2)
Judi Ketteler – “We need to get the ABC test out of the PRO Act! I’ve been freelancing since 2002, make $100k+ a year, support my family of 4 and would fail the B prong. It is regressive, not progressive. I support protecting workers. This does NOT do that. It harms independent freelancers.” (Tweet, March 2)
Julia Dent Bocchese – “Vote NO on the PRO Act unless the ABC test is removed. The ABC test is detrimental to legitimate freelancers and independent contractors and would destroy the businesses we’ve worked so hard to build!” (Tweet, March 3)
Arnold Creative – “Please remove the #ABCTest from the #PROAct. Millions of families like mine will lose significant income because this bill will be the death of freelancers. Some of us rely not only on the income but the flexibility because our situations don’t bode well with FT employment.” (Tweet, March 2)
Amy Crea – “Take the ABC test out of the PRO Act. If you leave it in, you will literally kill thousands of small businesses. including mine. Just curious–have you even bothered to study the issue with the ABC test, or are you greenlighting something without understanding it?” (Tweet, March 2)
Michele Nebel Peake – “As #eventprofs we have suffered enough over the last 12 months. Taking away our businesses and ability to #freelance will devastate the industry. #meetingprofs groups need to support us, unite against the same rules that hurt our California colleagues.” (Tweet, Feb. 24)
Jen Singer – “The PRO Act’s ABC Test will shutter small businesses like mine, just like AB5 did in California. I make more money while also working around Covid-related heart failure on my own. Don’t close our businesses. #fightforfreelancers” (Tweet, Feb. 24)
Alexandra Jones – “The ABC test will be detrimental to my freelance business, which I’ve spent 4 years building. Please replace it with the IRS to protect self-employed small business owners like me.” (Tweet, Feb. 24)
Stephen Beale – “Please listen to the writers, musicians, photographers and others in CA whose livelihoods were upended by AB5’s ABC test. Many of us are Dems and labor supporters but this crosses party lines. I was only able to find f/l writing work after AB5 was amended to expand exemptions.” (Tweet, Feb. 24)
Wendi Koble – “STOP listening to unions. LISTEN to all these small businesses who are crying out for someone to HEAR THEM. The #ProAct will not help anyone…it’s only going to devastate businesses who are already hurting from the pandemic. Please be open-minded enough to hear us!” (Tweet, Feb. 24)
Kayt Sukel – “The ABC test will ruin my career — and that of other freelance writers and artists like me. This bill needs to be reconsidered.” (Tweet, Feb. 24)
SaVanna Shoemaker – “You can’t pass this bill without considering what the ABC test will do to freelance biz owners. Look at what AB5 has done to freelancers in CA – 1000s of careers destroyed in an instant. We want to work for ourselves!” (Tweet, Feb, 24)
Marisa Palmieri Shugrue – “Please, @LeaderHoyer @SenSherrodBrown, reconsider the ABC test portion of the #PROAct, which outlaws my ability as a freelancer to write or edit articles for magazines and other publications because that work is part of the “usual course of the hiring entity’s business.” (Tweet, Feb. 25)
Michael Stover – “Support the right of 59 million Americans to freelance without retribution and reject bills that forcibly reclassify us as employees against our will. #NoPROAct #FightForFreelancers #EmpoweredNotExploited” (Tweet, March 6)
Jake Poinier – “First change the destructive ABC test to the IRS test so you don’t screw over millions of #freelance workers and independent contractors…and then we can talk. Till then: #noABCforUSA #noPROAct #fightforfreelancers” (Tweet, March 5)
Brittney Thompson – “My biz isn’t a “lollipop” When my husband was laid off for 6 months last yr my freelance biz kept us afloat. If you want to protect workers don’t hurt freelancers while you’re doing it. It will destroy livelihoods and cripple an already hurting econ #NoProAct #NoABCforUSA #PROAct” (Tweet, March 2)
Pam Baker – “Say no to #PROact, @LeaderHoyer. I’ve been a freelance journalist for over 20 years BY CHOICE. I cannot make as much money as staff in a newsroom as I do now. Don’t take my livelihood away. #noPROact” (Tweet, March 2)