Proposed law in California could eliminate newspaper delivery carriers

Most of us picture the newspaper delivery guy as a throwback to the good old days when hearing the thud of the paper landing on your doorstep was just part of the daily routine. 

As welcome as the sunrise, it signalled the day was awakening. 

As reported in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, this mainstay in the journalism business could become an endangered species if a bill currently making its way through the California legislature becomes law. 

Assembly Bill 5, which has been characterized primarily as a fight over whether Lyft and Uber drivers should be company employees, would force all businesses to hire independent contractors as employees – unless the business has been given a special exemption by the legislature. 

So far, the legislature has refused to grant one to the newspaper industry. That’s critical, reports the
Santa Cruz Sentinel, because although many newspapers are union-represented shops, they rely on independent contractors in the form of newspaper delivery carriers and freelance journalists.

Some well-funded industries have been granted exemptions, such as doctors and real estate agents. Newspapers need one as well if they are to survive in California, argues an editorial by the California Newspaper Association in the Sentinel. 

Thousands of newspaper carriers, most of whom deliver several different newspapers, would lose their jobs if AB 5 passes, states the editorial.