
By AWB President Kris Johnson
It was an impressive display of grassroots organizing. Arranged solely through a quick online effort, the state Senate Labor and Commerce Committee hearing was jam-packed with hair stylists, salon owners and cosmetologists on Jan. 28.
Thousands of people signed in to testify and a line of professionals stretched from the Senate hearing room outside to the domed building on the Capitol campus nearly a football field away.
Those small-business owners and independent contractors converged on Olympia on short notice from every part of the state to testify against bills that would severely restrict who can and cannot be classified as an "independent contractor" in Washington state.
It was a powerful sight and an inspiring illustration of democracy in action.
That bill, and others like it introduced this session, would severely hamper those entrepreneurs' ability to continue to operate as their own boss... |