New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

“Because of the Governor’s veto, unethical companies will continue to skirt the law by gaming the system to avoid paying their fair share of taxes,” said [the bill's sponsor, Assembly Deputy Speaker John S.] Wisniewski. “In doing so, they will also continue to deprive their drivers of Social Security, Medicare, Workers’ Compensation and Unemployment benefits.”

A federal judge recently gave exotic dancers protection from misclassification as independent contractors rather than employees, but in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have protected truck drivers from misclassification. By classifying truckers as independent contractors , trucking companies can often put the burden of maintaining a truck on the driver even though it's used solely for the company's business, in addition to avoiding payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, and other costs of employing people Christie didn't stop targeting workers there, though. He also sent a bill requiring that businesses receiving tax credits pay prevailing wage for maintenance workers back to the legislature for "minor changes." Those minor changes, of course, would let businesses take state tax credits without paying the prevailing wage . That's a pretty direct attack on construction unions, which is not usually much of a surprise coming from Christie. Except that in this case it's noteworthy since several construction unions actually endorsed Christie in his bid for re-election. And it happened the same week as the AFL-CIO convention was voting through a resolution sponsored by the Building and Construction Trades Department calling for a "'pragmatic, bipartisan approach' to electoral efforts 'that focuses primarily on candidates’ positions on issues of direct importance to workers.'" One hopes the endorsements Christie received are not being seen as a model for the future.