LAYOFFS COURTESY OF CORRUPT POLITICIANS

Not so funny… a politically correct online publication characterizes California’s destructive legislation as a win for workers and then is forced to announce the layoffs of hundreds of their valuable freelance workers. Some win!

Along with activist investors who impose their own management ideas — usually cost-cutting, divestiture, division/department shut-downs — comes corrupt politicians who act in the name of their special interest donors and lobbyists.

In this instance, we find that unions exerted tremendous pressure on politicians seeking to retain their cushy jobs with a request to classify the independent drivers of Uber and Lyft as company employees. The goal was to unionize these targeted workers and other independent contractors in the construction trades and hospitality industry.

Unfortunately, the legislation, written with the assistance of union-lobbyists was so broad as to encompass all individuals in the “gig” economy. Forcing thousands of people out of the freelance or part-time jobs.

For those who used this part-time income to help “future proof” their full-time jobs in a volatile economy, that protection has been removed for California workers.

While the law may be tested in a court of competent jurisdiction, companies are not taking any chance that they may be violating the law and thus laying off their independent and freelance contractors.

Another example of political special interest corruption disrupting lives that the politicians swore an oath to protect.

For those who want more information, California’s devastating job-destroying bill is known as AB-5 (California Assembly Bill 5) titled “Worker status: employees and independent contractors” and became effective January 1, 2020.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? IS THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL AT CRRC (MASSACHUSETTS)

Beijing, China-based CRRC, the world’s leading rail car designer and builder for high speed trains and mass transit vehicles, is facing a major political problem. The company’s Boston, Massachusetts facility may be facing mass layoffs should the U.S. decide to further punish China with additional tariffs and restrictions in the ongoing battle to open Chinese markets to American goods, eliminate currency manipulation that unfairly impacts U.S. businesses, force China to stop the theft of military, industrial, and commercial intellectual property, and reduce the risk of infrastructure sabotage.

In an effort to prevent our enemies, namely China, from introducing security risks into major American products and critical infrastructure, legislators have amended the $733 billion annual military appropriations bill to include a section to keep American corporations from receiving federal funding for rail equipment from companies associated or controlled by the communist Chinese government.

The Defense Appropriations Act which is necessary to fund military operations in 2020 contains an amendment (S. 846) known as the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act. This legislative addendum "protects federal dollars from being spent on Chinese buses and railcars, and improves cybersecurity in public transportation.” The rationale, “Federal dollars should not support Chinese state-controlled enterprises that want to undermine U.S. manufacturers and overtake our supply chain that supports rail and bus manufacturing.” For those wishing to read and/or track the legislation, it can be found at here.

There is no doubt that a number of unionized American workers could lose their current positions and a large number of new workers will never be employed.

Understand, there is more at stake than the number of union employees that will be affected. China believes that control over logistics, especially the ports, rail systems, and trucking, is to be able to exert control over a nation’s economy — and has the ability to cripple, delay, or destroy individual companies and military efforts.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?