Testimony opposing HB1234

Thank you Chair Murphy, Chair Crighton, and members of the Joint Committee on Financial Services for the opportunity to testify,

The mission of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice is to defend working people’s standard of living, fight for job security, protect our right to organize and support contract campaigns and strikes.

We believe that for our society to work fairly for everyone, large tech companies, like Uber and DoorDash, should follow the same rules as every other business. For this reason, we oppose HB1234.

Uber and several of these giant tech companies do not pay into Social Security, do not pay important business taxes, and do not pay their workers fairly or consistently with the rules that apply to all businesses in Massachusetts.

Uber and Lyft the companies have filed HB 1234 and a ballot question in order to ask Massachusetts legislators and voters to grant them special exemptions from our labor, civil rights, and consumer protection laws.

The bill exempts these “gig economy” companies from paying into Social Security and unemployment, costing Massachusetts taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and weakening these programs for everyone. 

The bill would create a permanent underclass of low-wage, mostly Black, Brown, and immigrant workers by allowing these companies to pay their workers less than minimum wage and provide few, if any, benefits.

At a moment of racial reckoning in our country, the bill would exclude app-based workers from the robust protections against racial discrimination and sexual harassment under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, MGL c. 151B. According to many leading voices, passing this bill would be among the biggest steps backwards in the fight for equity and opportunity at work since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Last year, in California, the same companies pushing HB 1234 spent more than $200 million to win a  ballot campaign. These massive companies believe they can buy a law to avoid paying into Social Security, avoid paying taxes, and harm workers and consumers. 

We urge the Committee to join with workers, community, faith, environmental justice, racial justice, labor, civil rights, and consumer advocates to oppose the bill.