Musicians, Translators, Journalists and Many Other Independent Contractors Come Together to Protest

Monterey Park CA – Monday, February 17, 8:00 am at 3500 Ramona Blvd., at the Luminarias Restaurant parking lot with Cindy Shea of the Two-Time Grammy Award-winning Mariachi Divas, Alitzah Wiener of Y2K, Johnny Vatos of Oingo Boingo, Stephen Percy of RATT many others. California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), popularly known as the “gig worker bill,” is a piece of legislation signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2019. Scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, it will require companies that hire independent contractors to reclassify them as employees, with a few exceptions. The bill expands on a ruling made in a case that reached the California Supreme Court in 2018, Dynamex Operations West, Inc. vs. Superior Court of Los Angeles. “It’s a bad situation, this bill will increase labor costs by up to 30-40%, create higher costs for the consumers in ticket sales and reduce service, flexibility for workers and create many unemployed musicians in California,” said Johnny ‘Vatos’ Hernandez of Oingo Boingo. Some professions are exempt from AB 5, including doctors, dentists, psychologists, insurance agents, stockbrokers, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and real estate agents, as they are seen to directly work with and set their prices to customers. Newspaper delivery workers will be given an extra year before compliance. At the press conference the musicians and others are going to explain how this bill will impact their lives. “Quote by Cindy Shea” Directors and producers of music festivals and clubs argue that because AB 5 requires any music venue to designate members of an act performing there even once as official employees of the venue itself, events such as music festivals will be severely and unnecessarily burdened. The only way around this, is for musicians to incorporate themselves. This also extends beyond the musicians themselves, citing temporary hiring of Police Officers, EMT’s, and others for any

festival, all of whom must now be added as employees.