The AB5 Reckoning: How Union Power Finally Showed Its Hand

This Labor Day brings a stunning admission from California. After years of claiming AB5 was about “worker misclassification,” Governor Gavin Newsom just cut a deal that exposes what conservatives knew all along. This was always about union power.

The Big Lie Exposed

For five years, politicians sold AB5 as protecting exploited workers. They claimed gig companies were “misclassifying” employees as contractors to dodge labor laws. It was about fairness, they said. Worker protection. Basic rights.

What a load of garbage.

Last week’s deal between Newsom, Uber, Lyft, and unions tells the real story. Suddenly, ride-share drivers can unionize while staying contractors. All those “essential” employee protections? Not so essential after all.

The truth is simple: AB5 was union legislation from day one. They just lied about it.

How They Hid the Union Agenda

Back in 2019, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez pitched AB5 as fixing worker misclassification. (Gonzalez, no surprise, is now president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO – the first woman and first person of color to serve as chief officer of the AFL-CIO.)

But here’s what they didn’t say: unions couldn’t organize independent contractors at all. Federal labor law only lets employees unionize. So unions were locked out of the massive gig economy completely.

That’s when they went to their political friends with a plan: “We can’t organize contractors, but we can organize employees. Change their legal status first. Force them to become employees. Then we can get our hands on them.”

AB5 was the weapon they chose. The “misclassification” story was just cover.

The Dragnet They Never Mentioned

If AB5 was really about protecting ride-share drivers, why did it hit truckers, writers, musicians, and translators?

Because that was the plan all along.

The law created the brutal “ABC test.” Workers could only stay independent if their work was “outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business.” That’s union language designed to capture as many workers as possible.

A freelance writer working for a newspaper? That’s the usual course of business. Employee status.

A musician playing at a venue? Usual course of business. Employee status.

An independent trucker hauling freight? You get the picture.

Suddenly, millions of Californians who chose independence found themselves trapped. This wasn’t about misclassification. It was about forced classification.

The Real-World Carnage

The Mercatus Center studied AB5’s impact. Self-employment dropped 10.5 percent for affected workers. Overall employment fell 4.4 percent. That’s not helping workers. That’s destroying opportunity.

Ildiko Santana built a translation business over 20 years as an immigrant woman of color. AB5 wiped out all 50 of her clients overnight. She lost everything because politicians decided her successful business model was somehow exploitative.

The Sierra Madre Playhouse canceled its youth production when AB5 raised costs 70 percent. Even Vox Media – which published cheerleading articles about AB5 – laid off over 200 California freelancers before the law took effect. They knew what was coming.

Who Got Hurt

Writers Hit the Hardest

AB5 limited freelance writers to 35 articles per year for any publication. Write number 36? Boom, you’re an employee whether you want it or not.

This arbitrary cap destroyed careers. Many publications simply stopped hiring California freelancers.

The fallout was so severe that even Democratic insiders got caught. Willie Brown, the former Oakland mayor and powerful political columnist, found his weekly newspaper column threatened by AB5. When the political establishment’s own people started getting hit, suddenly exemptions became a priority.

Writers eventually got carved out of AB5, but only after the damage was done and the political class felt the pain personally.

Truckers Fought Back

Independent truckers fought AB5 in court for three years, winning temporary injunctions. But in June 2022, the Supreme Court declined to hear their case. Suddenly, trucking companies had to treat owner-operators as employees.

The result? Some carriers pulled out of California entirely. Independent truckers – many of them minorities and immigrants who valued being their own boss – lost their preferred way of working.

The Reckoning Arrives

Now we get to the bombshell. After five years of claiming AB5 protected workers through proper classification, Newsom just announced a deal letting ride-share drivers unionize as contractors.

Wait, what?

If employee status was so crucial for worker protection, why is contractor status suddenly fine? If the ABC test was about preventing exploitation, why doesn’t it matter anymore?

The answer is obvious: They got what they always wanted. A path to unionization.

The deal creates “collective bargaining rights” for contractors. That’s union speak for “we found another way to get our hands on workers’ paychecks.” They don’t need employee status if they can still collect dues and wield political power.

This admission destroys their entire justification for AB5. All that talk about misclassification and worker protection? Pure political theater.

Why This Matters to Conservatives

This Labor Day represents a watershed moment. We’ve watched government use deception to attack economic freedom and independent entrepreneurship. They claimed noble motives while serving special interests.

AB5 crushed small businesses, destroyed freelance careers, and forced workers into arrangements they didn’t want. All to boost union power and political control.

The recent deal proves conservatives were right all along. This was never about worker protection. It was about expanding union influence through government force.

The Broader Threat

California’s AB5 model is spreading. The federal Department of Labor issued similar rules in 2024. Other states are considering copycat legislation.

But now we have proof of the real agenda. When unions and politicians claim to fight “misclassification,” they’re really fighting worker choice and business flexibility.

The Real Labor Day Message

This Labor Day, remember what work means in America. It’s about opportunity, choice, and the freedom to build something of your own.

AB5 attacked those values while claiming to protect them. For five years, they maintained the fiction that it was about misclassification and exploitation.

Now the mask is off. It was always about union power and political control.

The reckoning is here. Conservatives have the truth on their side. Use it.

The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.