Reply #46: Except

[jobycom]

If I am a non-union tire changer and I have a better record than my co-workers, I most certainly will be able to use that as leverage for better wages.

And an independent contractor can't be held accountable by his clients, can't be suspended without pay, and cannot be held without option by a client so that he can't offer his services to another client. The client either does business with the IC, or does not--there's no gray area.

And a guy who owns an electrical shop is not an independent contractor, he's a business of his own. He may contract out with clients, but he's not beholden to them. He owns the business.

Terrel Owens doesn't own the business, he doesn't own himself, he can't leave to hire himself out to another employer, he is beholden to his employer on when he shows up, how he conducts business, and even what equipment he uses. He cannot hire himself out without a contract. His employment in his profession is limited to a small number of employers who are allowed to collude to control employer access to his services.

He is nothing in any way at all like an independent contractor, and he is even further from a small business owner. He is a worker in an industry with tightly controlled management, with strict requirements on hiring and firing. Right now his employer is trying to prevent his ability to practice his trade by tying him up in a contract that only THEY can waive.

He's paid more than most employees, granted. But his job situation is nothing more than labor.