FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: PRESSLEY SAYS ‘MASS. IS NOT FOR SALE’ — The coalition fighting a proposed ballot question to classify app-based drivers as independent contractors is getting a boost.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley is endorsing Massachusetts Is Not For Sale at an event Saturday, adding significant political muscle to the coalition of labor and civil rights groups squaring off against a well-funded, tech-backed rival.
The sides are sparring over legislation and a ballot proposal that would classify Uber, Lyft, Instacart and DoorDash workers as independent contractors, rather than employees, while offering them certain benefits. But Massachusetts Is Not For Sale argues that the initiatives would cost workers the rights and benefits they should already have as full employees under current state law.
“Major corporations are seeking to create a false choice and undermine the guaranteed right of gig workers in Massachusetts to be paid a living wage, access paid leave, have high-quality healthcare, and more — changes that would disproportionately impact Black, brown and immigrant workers,” Pressley said in a statement, adding that she’s “proud” to stand in opposition to “efforts to buy out our labor laws, residents and workers.”
Pressley joins Sen. Elizabeth Warren in bringing political heft to a coalition facing an uphill financial battle against Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers, which raked in more than $17 million in 2021 — mostly from Lyft — and entered 2022 with over $14 million in its war chest. By contrast, Massachusetts Is Not For Sale, formerly known as the Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights, started this year with $682,658.
GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Caucus season comes to a close this weekend.
An internal memo by state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz’s campaign, obtained by POLITICO, offers a glimpse into her strategy as the governor’s race shifts gears. Here are a few things that stand out:
— Chang-Díaz’s campaign says the “vast majority” of delegates coming out of the Democratic caucuses are “undecided.” That gives candidates more time to work party activists and lock up at least 15 percent of the delegate vote at the June convention to get on the primary ballot.
— She’s targeting Gateway Cities, communities of color and voters who turned out in 2020 but not in the last competitive governor’s race in 2014. Her team estimates about 1 million voters could be at play. But turnout tends to decline in non-presidential years.
TODAY — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu fixes a pothole at 11 a.m. on Instagram Live and speaks at a Charlestown Knights of Columbus luncheon at 11:30 a.m.
SATURDAY — Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark hosts House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Pressley and Lori Trahan for a roundtable discussion on ARPA health care investments at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Cambridge Health Alliance. Pressley joins Massachusetts Is Not For Sale at 11:30 a.m. at Zumix in East Boston.
SUNDAY — Rep. Seth Moulton and Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll speak at a “Stand with Ukraine” fundraiser at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in Salem. Wu, Sen.Elizabeth Warren and Rahsaan Hall are keynote speakers at the virtual Progressive Mass annual gala at 7:30 p.m. Sunday; state Sen. Becca Rausch, Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia, Worcester School Committee member Tracy O’Connell Novick and Beth Huang of the Massachusetts Voter Table are honorees.
THE SUNDAY SHOWS — AFL-CIO Massachusetts President Steve Tolman is on WBZ’s “Keller at Large” at 8:30 a.m. Sunday. Rep. Bill Keating is on WCVB’s “On the Record” at 11 a.m. Sunday.