diff --git a/client/common_lib/logging_config.py b/client/common_lib/logging_config.py
index 5c6c830..85b8cee 100644
--- a/client/common_lib/logging_config.py
+++ b/client/common_lib/logging_config.py
@@ -42,7 +42,11 @@
         # On Brillo the logger binary is not available. Disable after error.
         if self._should_respew:
             try:
-                if isinstance(s, six.text_type):
+                # in python2 unicode != string, so encode the record into a
+                # string for logging. In py3 this is just not needed.
+                # Additionally, encoding in py3 results in bytes, which breaks
+                # logging.
+                if six.PY2 and isinstance(s, unicode):
                     s = s.encode('utf8')
                 os.system('logger -t "autotest" "%s"' % utils.sh_escape(s))
             except OSError: