Hum. This remind me of the case of a big delivery company a few years ago in France. Basically, all delivery guys were supposedly "freelance contractors" with the big company. Of course all wasn't so rosy in real life because it was just an astute scheme to circumvent employment laws such as maximum hours of work per day or week, minimum wages, unions, etc.
The delivery guys sued en masse and got their contract re-qualified as salaried employees proper.
I'd be wary that actually the "freelance revolution" may be another big jump backwards to the 19th century for workers marketed as a "freedom gain".
This happens a lot in the media business, which relies quite substantially on actual freelancers, who tend to be high-priced writers, directors, designers, composers, editors, and so on - many with their own agents.
That large pool of legitimate freelance labor has provided media companies with the cover needed to pass of their regular staff jobs as something other than permanent employment. The cynical (read: accurate) term used by people stuck in these spots is 'permalancing'.
I remember a friend from high school who worked as a Production Assistant (PA) in LA. Among other tidbits I heard, like driving across the city for Christina Aguilera's lunch, was the fact that every fourteen days (or maybe it was ten?) most of the entire production staff was fired en masse and then rehired the next day. Otherwise, according to union rules, they had to become part of the union.
How could that possibly even work? Was it really just 'you're fired... okay you're hired', or was there a day in between, or what? If the union and the employees had any sense at all they would have called bullshit on that.
The delivery guys sued en masse and got their contract re-qualified as salaried employees proper.
I'd be wary that actually the "freelance revolution" may be another big jump backwards to the 19th century for workers marketed as a "freedom gain".