Tarpinian: Misclassification is Theft( WASHINGTON Sept. 7 -- Following ...),Health

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is a statement by Change to Win Executive Director Greg Tarpinian on the misclassification of workers and today's signing of an executive order to prevent employee misclassification by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer:

Change to Win is a partnership of seven unions with six million members in the growth occupations and industries of the 21st century --- from retail to health care, from construction and transportation to food processing and hospitality --- we are organizing the workforce of the future, we are organizing to bring the American dream to the next generation of workers.

For workers that dream is a good job, economic security for the family and opportunity to earn a better life. Misclassification of workers as independent contractors --- directing and controlling the work, but refusing to take responsibility for those doing the work --- is a direct attack on that dream and the economic well-being of working families.

Through misclassification, employers effectively exempt themselves from labor and employment laws that are the foundation of American workplace standards --- from programs like unemployment insurance and workers compensation that provide economic protection for working families --- and, reverse more than a century of social progress. They would turn America into a third world country.

Millions of workers are currently misclassified and tens of millions more are threatened, if we do not actively and aggressively enact and enforce laws and regulations to stop the abuse of designating workers as contractors.

What does misclassification mean to a working family?

It means if you lose your job --- you don't get unemployment --- because you were not an employee.

It means if you get hurt on the job, you don't receive medical coverage or income protection through workers' compensation--because you are not a worker.

Let's be clear: misc
'/>"/>