To the Editor:
Re “The ‘Gig’ Label Is Being Used to Exploit Workers,” by Terri Gerstein (Opinion visitor essay, Jan. 29):
We’re the freelance writers and editors Ms. Gerstein talked about who’re suing the Department of Labor over the impartial contractor rule that may, as she mentioned, “make it harder for employers to deal with employees as impartial contractors slightly than workers.” So allow us to clarify.
The Division of Labor acknowledges in its 339-page rule printed Jan. 10 that a lot of the public feedback made by impartial contractors expressed opposition to the rule, “criticizing the Division’s proposed financial actuality check as ambiguous and biased in opposition to impartial contracting.”
There at the moment are more than 70 million impartial contractors, comprising a good portion of the U.S. work drive, and study after study exhibits that 70 p.c to 85 p.c of us want to stay self-employed. The impartial contractor rule is simply the most recent within the Biden administration’s ongoing freelance-busting assault on our rights to be in enterprise for ourselves.
Just like the overwhelming majority of impartial contractors in America, we select self-employment. This rule, slated to take impact on March 11, will prohibit our proper to interact in enterprise contracts with our purchasers on our personal phrases. We hope the district court docket will invalidate the rule and defend our careers.
Jen Singer
Kim Kavin
Debbie Abrams Kaplan
Karon Warren
The writers are the co-founders of Combat for Freelancers USA.
To the Editor:
Terri Gerstein conflates the gig economic system mannequin with the impartial contractor mannequin and blames it for the ills and exploitation of impartial contracting and gig work.
Ms. Gerstein makes use of the case of dishwashers exploited by a brief company. For such circumstances, federal and native statutes already on the books might tackle this minority of misclassification circumstances.
However in an effort to justify taking away the autonomy, rights and incomes potential of tens of tens of millions of impartial contractors, as the most recent Division of Labor rule seeks to do, Ms. Gerstein ignores the skilled class of “solopreneurs”: journalists, legal professionals, E.R. docs, nurse practitioners and musicians, in addition to the small-business house owners who depend on the sort of expert professionalism to take care of and additional their companies.
Ms. Gerstein barely mentions this class, which makes up nearly all of impartial professionals. As a substitute, she champions modifications in legal guidelines and rules that in the end would do nothing to assist the low-wage employees, whereas doing nice harm to true impartial contractors.
Jennifer Oliver O’Connell
Muscle Shoals, Ala.
The author, a small-business proprietor and impartial contractor, is a visiting fellow with the Heart for Financial Alternative at Unbiased Girls’s Discussion board.
Nikki Haley and a 2024 Calculation
To the Editor:
In my sixth decade of voting, I discover myself with a special perspective. Age and voting expertise have made me a bit much less idealistic, just a bit extra lifelike and, fairly frankly, much more frightened.
The yr 2016 modified issues for me. I wasn’t overly involved when Donald Trump first rode down the escalator. I didn’t consider he would ever win the nomination. And as he gained Republican delegates, I figured that wasn’t a nasty factor. He could be the best candidate to defeat.
Now solely Nikki Haley stands between Mr. Trump and the Republican nomination. Do I once more fall into the potential entice of believing that Mr. Trump is unelectable — and the best candidate to defeat?
President Biden has had unbelievable accomplishments, at house and overseas. His insurance policies are by far the perfect of any candidate, and I assist him enthusiastically.
However given 2016, ought to I hope Republicans see the sunshine and nominate Ms. Haley, who is much from good however, from appearances not less than, far much less harmful than Mr. Trump?
It’s doable I could not like the results of a Biden-Haley matchup, however not less than the survival of our democracy, and even perhaps world order, wouldn’t be on the poll.
Stephen Gladstone
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Fears of Extinction: ‘The Actual Deal’
To the Editor:
Re “Extinction Panic Is Back, Right on Schedule,” by Tyler Austin Harper (Opinion visitor essay, Jan. 28):
Mr. Harper desires us to really feel reassured that precise life-changing threats to human well-being are nothing greater than predictable bouts of “extinction panic” that quickly upend international complacency. You recognize, take some deep breaths and we’ll be high quality.
I can’t predict how and when international warming will truly overtake our potential to mitigate its penalties, or if A.I.-powered robots will ever supersede human dominance. However I do fear about two particular disasters that might rock our world imminently and deserve greater than a sort of “what me fear?” tutorial dismissal as simply one other cycle of extinction panic.
First, lower than a yr in the past, the pinnacle of the World Well being Group, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that we could soon be facing a pandemic far deadlier than Covid-19. Heightened surveillance, prevention and therapy analysis on prevention and therapy for brand new pathogens have to be stepped up now.
Second, Mr. Harper appears to wave off the specter of nuclear battle as simply Chilly Battle brinkmanship redux. Vladimir Putin’s finger is on the set off of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, and North Korea’s unstable Kim Jong-un is more and more obsessive about rising his personal stockpile.
Add to that, the opposite seven nuclear-armed nations are at all times on excessive alert. And we must always fear that Russia appears to be withdrawing from one arms control agreement after another.
So, no, Mr. Harper, that is excess of simply one other outbreak of “extinction panic.” It’s the true deal.
Irwin Redlener
New York
The author, a pediatrician, is founding director of the Nationwide Heart for Catastrophe Preparedness at Columbia College.
Don’t Lower Sociology
To the Editor:
Re “Florida Cuts Sociology as a Core Course” (information article, Jan. 28):
When Florida’s state college system dropped “Ideas of Sociology” from its checklist of authorised undergraduate core choices, the purpose was not truly defending harmless school college students from “woke ideology,” because the state schooling commissioner, Manny Diaz Jr., claimed.
In spite of everything, Florida college students had a number of choices for assembly the social science requirement. No person pressured them to take sociology; they may have simply taken one thing else. They selected it, in sizable numbers.
Sociology typically focuses consideration on problems with inequality, race and gender — subjects that Florida’s authorities would apparently want go unmentioned. Many school college students, nonetheless, welcome the possibility to debate and find out about such points of important public and sometimes private relevance.
The impact of dropping this core credit score will virtually definitely decrease sociology enrollments, and thus majors, maybe priming departments for elimination. Programs could then vanish, however the points they tackle will stay, no matter Gov. Ron DeSantis would really like.
Daniel F. Chambliss
Clinton, N.Y.
The author is emeritus professor of sociology at Hamilton School and the co-author of “How School Works.”
The Agony of the Bulls
To the Editor:
Re “After 500 Years, Mexican Bullfighting Faces a Mortal Challenge” (entrance web page, Feb. 4):
What sort of collective disconnect does it take for 42,000 folks to cheer and have fun as bulls wail in agony as swords are plunged into their spines and so they die in a pool of blood?
Philip Tripp
Largo, Fla.
