The California Business and Industrial Alliance Tuesday launched its first national television advertising campaign with a commercial denouncing the impact of California’s AB-5 law on freelance workers.The ad is an extension of the website FreelancersFightBack.com, which the Sunland-based business advocacy group set up to display testimonials from freelancers and gig workers regarding how their finances have suffered since the passage of AB-5.“It basically upended my entire business model,” one business owner said of AB-5 in the commercial.“It killed half of my income,” another said.The 30-second commercial aired nationally on Fox News Tuesday morning at around 7:35 a.m. It will air again in the San Francisco market on Fox News and CNN during the U.S. presidential debate Tuesday night.AB-5 is the latest law to draw ire from CABIA, which since 2018 has been among the state’s loudest voices in advocating against the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA, a law which encourages employees to file lawsuits to receive monetary awards if they find their employer has violated the state’s labor code.CABIA President Tom Manzo in a statement called AB-5 “a disgrace.”“California's disastrous experience should be a warning to any politician who wants to expand these ideas nationwide,” he added.Manzo is president of Timely Industries in Pacoima.
CABIA Launches First National TV Ad Denouncing AB-5
