I just ended an interview with the EEOC relative to a job interview with Chic-fil-a in which I was asked my age, was talked to about the interviewer's religious faith, and asked where I worshipped (which I don't). This is another side of labor issues. I spent 30 years as a middle manager in corporate America and as I look back on those years, I feel I was not treated as a person but as a function. In my dotage, I have eschewed remote work because it inevitably gives the company more excuses to treat me as a function. Unfortunately, at 74 and a recipient of Social Security, I still need to work to make ends meet. Most of all in my mind, the fact that the court passed Citizen United, declaring that companies are people, we are all trapped by the fact that corporations run the government, with the total support of the Republican Party. The whole thing is such a rat's nest! We are people with a heart being corralled by corporations that have no heart and are greedy for money only.
Most of us are being treated as functions. Try to navigate the healthcare system, the insurance system, the financial system, the criminal justice system; try to get in touch with your utility, gas and electric, internet service provider, member of congress, bureau of motor vehicles; try to complain to your boss -- or anyone. We've got to get back to small scale, to small organizations, to communities, to accountable systems, even if it means giving up some efficiencies of scale.
America has over 330 million legal citizens we can count. We honestly do not know how many illegal or migrants are living in the USA below the radar. In 1776 America had 2.5 million citizens. With growth comes pain, innovation and new ideas. I would like to see us all go back to smaller efficient scale. How do we do that with so many people? I read this quote: "Unsustainable population growth and lack of access to reproductive health care also puts pressure on human communities, exacerbating food and water shortages, reducing resilience in the face of climate change, and making it harder for the most vulnerable communities to rise out of intergenerational poverty". One of the reasons for us to have to navigate through the healthcare system, insurance system, financial system, internet even finding a good parking spot is we have too many humans on this planet. The name of the game is patience, compassion and kindness as we progress forward.
Completely agree. Fifty years ago I realized that was a huge problem and decided not to have children. The book The Population Bomb apparently was never taken seriously and now our problems are worse. It’s a slow-moving train that will kill us all.
I totally get what you are saying; recently I tried to communicate with Amazon after I returned a product and never got the credit for it. I'm sick and tired of "Virtual Assistants" who are totally worthless - you can't speak with a human being at Amazon - I ended up cancelling my Prime membership and will never purchase another item from them.
I once bought a book from Amazon. They messed up the order 3 times before finally sending me the correct book. About a month later, they sent me an email with a link to a page that described their new terms of service. When I clicked on the link to read it, the first statement at the top of the page said,”by accessing this page you agree to all terms of service.” Twelve years later, after telling them to delete my information, I was basically forced to purchase a book for one of my classes from Amazon. They still had all my information and credit card number. Once they have your information they retain it forever to be bought, sold or used as they chose.
This is why Tech needs to be regulated (with no help from Republicans). I am at the point where, if and when I can afford to return to New England, I want to cease all paying online, return to a checkbook for payments, cease all paperless statements, and I'm even considering either reducing or eliminating e-mail from my life. I'm really fed up with the kind of control that technology has imposed upon me. I share your frustration.
I learned the hard way and lost part of my retirement account because I was taken for a ride by a scam-team posing as amazon.com workers and using counterfeit amazon.com brands and logos. My advice: do not answer phone calls from any source you do not recognize and, if one of these amazon.com fake teams manages to get through tell them abruptly that you do not discuss your financial affairs over the phone. Do not order or pay for anything and do not try to deal with anything financial over the internet. Open an old-fashioned checking account and write old-fashioned checks. If some fake firm such as fake amazon.com should get through to you, report it immediately to your bank and, if need be, close all your accounts and open new ones asap. You are under no obligation whatsoever to deal with any firm over the phone or internet and they are most likely poseurs with no qualms about taking your last $2.00. I am not an old grump, I've just learned the hard way to be safe and rather secretive rather than extremely sorry.
Couldn’t agree more. I am an introvert but I’m increasingly coming to believe that community and interpersonal relations are the way to go. That’s one reason I’m so thankful for this community. You guys really lift my spirits and I hope I do the same for you.
About five years ago, I was finally forced to give up the car that I had inherited from my parents. It needed new brakes and I couldn't find them. Who could find brakes anywhere for a 45 year-old-Ford Maverick? I had planned to restore it and sell it for Big Bucks but I had no money to restore anything...so I donated it to KQED and decided against buying someone else's used car-headache. People ask me occasionally whether I miss not having a car and the answer is rather odd. Yes! I miss not having my very old and still reliable car-family friend but not the idea of having just another car. Life is in some ways simpler--far simpler--without a car and I am doing the environment a favor. I no longer deal with businesses I can't walk to or take the bus to and I don't worry about car insurance/licenses/registration/gas prices/worn out tires/batteries/breakdowns. I think we need to simplify just as Henry David Thoreau did by moving to Walden Pond outside of Concord MA. It is not a panacea for the world's ills (or maybe it is and I don't know it!), It is rather a way of ease what I can ease, using the public services that are limited but still available, and finding what I need locally. I gave up amazon.com after I realized (the hard way) that amazon.com is unconcerned about frauds and scams carried out using its name and identity. I now deal with locally businesses and am happier...or so i think. The computer is a mixed blessing for such as I and I try to resist thinking that the writing I did--those yellow legal pads to start with--was somehow easier. On the other hand, info is available at the click of a key (more or less) but, well, I read somewhere and long ago, that one of the most prolific writers to have ever lived was Augustine Bishop of Hippo who wrote 4,000 books. With advances in technology, writers are steadily producing less (not more). I don't know if that is true but there was a lot to be said for human ingenuity and simple solutions, even to complex problems.
I heartily applaud what you have done. If I was in the area of KQED I'd like nothing better than to speak with you in person. I started working on minimalism in my life 20 years ago and have come a long way, but I haven't accomplished nearly as much as you have. I'm now done with Amazon except for a pre-order of Maggie Haberman's book publishing in October. On a daily basis, I feel the oppression of technology and I hope to find a way to eliminate as much as I can. Thanks so much for what you have shared and Congratulations!!!
Thank you for your response. In my case and because of my personal devotion to a 45-year-old family car that was still the only car I wanted, going car-less made a lot of sense. (The worst thing about it is walking a good 6 blocks to Safeways and dragging a grocery cart up and down, block after block, and getting to musical events and performances of one kind or another, some of which I actively participate in. Which goes to show nothing is going to be perfect: having a car is not perfect but neither is not having a car, if you catch my drift.) However, I think there is something to be said for simplifying and, if one is on a fixed income, it's more or less a necessity. I do not believe (as Robert apparently does) that inflation is not the problem He may attempt to explain inflation away with grafts and charts but the cold hard facts of the matter are that there are millions of older Americans living as I do...on SSA alone. Our incomes are flat and the recent COLA increase of 5.9% is rendered utterly meaningless when inflation has risen to 7.5%. I am in the hole--as are many others. For me, it's a blessing (of sorts) not to have a car or a mortgage or any signs of prosperity. However, by giving up what used to be necessities for the good life, I am able to keep my own necessity for one of the perks of life going. Is it worth the sacrifice? Well, yeah! But, well I learned in high school (where I did not have a course in economics of any kind) that inflation would hit those on a flat or fixed income hardest. That is still true, I believe, whether or not those with an economics PhD will admit it or not!
Chic-fil-a is owned and run by a very religious (evangelical, I think) owner. They have been known for terrible bigotry, mostly gays, but across the board. Not surprised they wold behave like that for a job interview.
I was a middle manager for 30 years, and I know the laws about interviews - I was stunned, but my charge has been filed with the EEOC. Thanks for your comment.
I must say, this country has really gotten screwed up when Christian dogma can run roughshod over people's rights, over laws that should protect all of us, without any oversight or correction. Theological dominance is running our country...oh geez, don't get me started.....
This country was founded on the principal of separation of church and state. That every person was permitted to worship in any religion they chose or none if that was their choice. Yet here we are with evangelicals screaming that theirs is the only one and attempting to run the government to suit themselves. And condemning anyone who does not agree to their particular choices.
And yet, the media is always reporting about how religion is declining. I suspect it’s being used as a cultural weapon to fire up a vocal minority. And BTW, I don’t mind if you get started on this topic unless you will find it too upsetting.
I’ve been in the corporate workforce long enough to recognize these five tricks employers use on a regular basis. While interviewing for a position several years ago, the head of the HR department said point blank that my salary was for 40 hours, however I was expected to work 60 hours per week. I promptly declined their offer. I’ve watched my own employers’ layoff full time staff only to bring in so called “contract employees” to avoid paying the benefits or guaranteed work hours.
The most important thing workers can do is to unionize. There’s nothing better than having the collective bargaining tool available to stop employment abuse and questionable policies. Now is the time for workers to get aggressive and make it happen. Perfect article and so true!
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other progressives have been fighting against all the ways that big business and its political lackies have been shafting workers all their careers. Only 6.1% of private sector employees are unionized, so workers are left to fight the bosses and their political shills alone. Starbucks employees have been fighting to unionize around the country, and just in the last few days many have been fired by a Starbucks in one location for trying to create a union. Until workers realize that it’s the oligarchs that are their real enemy, not immigrants or workers of other races or other religions, this won’t change.
Bingo. Especially last sentence. One of the major problems we have in America is just how much weight too many of us GIVE(!) to people who have wealth, like they must be better--hybrid humans, smarter, business-geniuses, deserve to be leader/decision makers. We ohhh, & ahhh & have stars in our eyes keeping these greedy (mostly) narcissistic sociopaths up on a pedestal!! You can't badmouth them without getting criticized by a 'wanna be' fan. In short, we worship $$$ way too much, & the morons that possess excess amounts of it. How many monster yachts does anyone need???
After a disgusting reply to my plea to them to stop blocking unionization efforts I decided never to buy anything from them again and I’ve stuck to it. I urge everyone here to do the same. There are other ways to get coffee.
Although I absolutely agree with your points, I don't think it's wise to stub away inflation as just an excuse or distraction for bad employers.
Inflation is effectively an invisible, unfair tax, paid for by the poor. Inflation is one of the main reasons the wealth gap has increased so much during the pandemic, yet it's something few people talking about.
How does one protect oneself from inflation? By using hedge-funds, buying real estate, buying gold, buying stocks. People doing these things tend to at least have savings, and resources available. This means inflation is effectively paid for by people who are living hand to mouth, who carries the burden when buying more expensive consumer goods.
So the governments are printing money, the wealthiest are hedging their wealth against inflation, and the workers are paying for it all.
It's so easy to assume the rich have gotten richer simply from selling in-demand goods during the pandemic. But the wealth gap would still increase if they didn't sell anything at all, and just put their wealth in hedge funds. If inflation is 7% and hedge fund gains are 7% or more, the wealth gap will increase by at least 7% every year without a single sold product.
---
Being a Norwegian employer reading about how things (doesn't) work for employees in America makes me really sad. The fact that it is even possible to have employees and people in general sign agreements preventing them from ever suing, is proof of exceptional corruption. All companies and individuals doing this should get audited, and prosecuted. And all agreements like this should be invalid, regardless if money or other goods has changed hands in the process.
Nobody pays hush money for bad things they didn't do. Or invest in silencing people who has nothing to say.
If one’s business model relies on paying a low wage and using some or all of the egregious tactics Prof. Reich discussed, is that truly a viable business model? Or put another way, is theft a viable business model? The robber barons are alive and well.
It is my understanding that , at least in the U.S. these forced arbitration agreements are often in the fine print of the contract people sign when they are starting with a new employer. Most people don’t get a chance to read through an entire package of material before signing on. They only find out about these agreements months or years later when they are disputing some unfair demand.
These types of contracts always have a disproportionate power balance. The one signing is always at the wrong side of the table, and always in a position of less power.
The right to take legal action should not be possible to forfeit in any way whatsoever. It should be a fundamental right in any developed nation.
In Norway, there are ground rules protecting employees, and any contract giving the employee worse conditions are illegal. I don't understand how it can be so hard to not have that. Even with that system, people will still make deals and sort things out individually. But the main difference is that the power stays with the person who has been screwed over, and not with the one trying to pay their way out of it.
It's true that inflation is world wide and that people can't keep up with it. But please also call out that COVID is a crisis and that there is unconscionable profiteering.
Dr Reich, as a former employee of educational publisher Holt , Rhinehart, and Winston, I believe you need to write a textbook on labor relations for a beginning level economics course.
Employers should be forced to provide a copy of the above newsletter to every employee before they are hired. Did you see that Starbucks recently fired Memphis workers who were trying to organize for assorted company policy "violations" that have never been enforced before! The coming months will surely prove a tipping point in the labor rights movement - thank you for laying out the facts so plainly!
I just talked with the leaders of the Starbucks's union movement. Terrific young people -- realistic, smart, strategic, and hugely energetic. (I'll post soon.)
This information should be featured on the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post, among other corporate media titans, but, of course, such economic truth-telling on the brutalitization waged against the American workforce will not be forthcoming from these neoliberal stalwarts.
And don't get me started on Larry Summers' brand of oligarchic economics; it's amazing how corporate media keep quoting him, deliberately obscuring Summers' record of constant wrongness on socioeconomic issues, his antagonistic relationship with the American worker, and his brazen fealty to American oligarchy.
So, I'm thrilled that the American workforce is angry and rebelling, as they realize how American employment policy and its corporate media enablers are. the real villain here.
Deborah, unless one follows politics, I personally don't see a whole lot of working Americans looking up to where blame should be. We still have waaay too many $$$ worshippers; people who think if you're very wealthy, then you must be smarter, worthy of respect, a hybrid-human of some sort and we don't criticize their outright greed or cruelty because of their $$$. And this is particularly true on the right! Sorry, I really don't see the awakening we need. MSM does it's best to deflect workers' discontent. Faux news works!
During my working career I was considered an "exempt" employee. Exempt employees are not covered by the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Most exempt employees are paid a monthly salary instead of an hourly wage. When it comes to overtime, exempt employees have it much worse than non-exempt. For example, the pay rate for any weekly hours over 40 was not time and a half, it was ZERO. In addition to forced overtime, there was unforced overtime -- you were "expected" to work more than 40 hours per week if you wanted a good performance appraisal with a chance for a pay raise and promotion. People who did not cooperate were let go. Several times in my career I worked 7 days a week for many months with no compensation other than my monthly salary.
Things got so bad that we finally got together to try an form a union. I covered this in a post a few weeks ago, but the bottom line is that we failed to get a union, but the company got scared and made major improvements in working conditions, including paying "some" overtime and adding "flex hours".
Any proposed changes in labor laws should address overtime rules for exempt employees.
It is amazing how people are not informed about their rights as workers, at minimum. There have been efforts locally to educate, especially high school age people, about fair labor practices, and wage theft. Our local paper has had a number of articles about wage theft, even keeping the public updated about a specific business owner who has been proven guilty and must pay restitution and fines. Why have labor laws to protect worker's interests if they are not told their rights and the laws are not enforced? If workers depending on jobs can even legally be fired by employers who are breaking the law? No wonder there is so much anger!
If I knew that my former employer (Macy*s) was running a scam or con and I tried to approach an attorney, I would not get far. (And this was before in-store arbitration became a condition of employment, some time around 2007, when I lost my right to a decent legal result in the form of class action lawsuits.) I actually knew this and I also experienced wage-theft first hand. I dutifully approached all sorts of legal aid societies/community legal aid centers/private attorneys/university law schools and clinics/academic researchers, etc. The results were uniformly the same: "Alas, such a shame, but we can do nothing." However, the university organizations and researchers were usually the worst of my contacts as they enjoyed reading what they called my "anecdotes and stories" but turned a deaf ear to what I was telling them. (That is: "You write so well and it's fun to read. I shared your stories with all my colleagues." This kind of deal was worse than being ignored as I was taken for granted when what was happening really mattered to many others as well as myself.) It is not always the case that employees do not know what is happening; when I worked at Macy*s, we lackeys knew very well that we were being ripped off and that our lives were being stolen; we also knew (or learned as I did) that no one in a position to help really cared. I have concluded that the attorneys and scholars and researchers who I approached all had(have) thick stock portfolios which, lo and behold, contain Macy*s stock in their holdings....Hm. That is essentially why things stay the same, not because of the lack of education or awareness among employees but rather because the deck is a priori stacked against the ordinary wage-earner and in favor of the already wealthy managers.
I worked in a large barber shop and, after getting my Master Barber license with another worker in Boston, we were told "Don't think you will get a raise just because you received this upgrade" He loved to say "I might be right and I might be wrong, but I'm always the boss". A few days later, the barber supply guy came in and said Anyone looking for a barbershop to buy? Barber up in Franklin County is getting tired and wants a buyer". My previous 'boss' was no longer. I was the boss!
I think we all 'know' it is stacked against us, even though there are laws that should protect us. If we knew their policies up front we may keep looking though.
I would add to the just-in-time scheduling problem the corollary of what you described: Workers arrive for their shift, having arranged for childcare, etc. and ready to work and be paid for a full eight hours. The employer then suddenly decides that business is slow, the employees are not needed, and sends them home without pay.
It looks like legislation prohibiting forced arbitration for sexual harassment claims may pass Congress, but unfortunately it won't apply to other workplace abuses.
I agree with a previous comment that a business model that fails to provide employees with a living wage and humane working conditions is not a viable business model and should not even be contemplated. Unfortunately, in this country, ordinary workers are not seen as human beings with human needs, but rather as a necessary business expense that must be minimized to the extent possible. Maybe this attitude is a lasting legacy of slavery that was so widely embraced for more than 100 years.
It is a legacy of slavery but slavery is a legacy of serfdom. Without free and exploited labor the world would be unrecognizable to us. The challenge is to change this permanently.
I was an MD in a large medical practice. We hired a CEO, whose only response to a question was that we need to hire a consultant. CEO's are highly overpaid, as they add little of value. For every $1 million in CEO yearly bonuses, we could employ 10 workers at $100,000 or 20 workers at $50,000. we need to get our economic policies in order!
Read the September 2020 Rand Corporation paper "Trends in Income from 1975 to 2018". The authors estimate that between $25 to $47 TRILLION were siphoned-off by the top 19% from the bottom 90% over this periods. It is most likely an under estimate. And we cannot pass BBB for $2 trillions over 10 years. But the bomb-makers budget over 10 years will probably surpass $8 trillions. This year's military budget of $768 billion passed without discussion. The waste, corruption, and useless, not working properly (F15, Gerald Ford airplane carrier), is astounding and ignored by the budget givers. The empire treats it enemies just about as barbariously as they treat the domestic population, the 90%. Democracy is on life-support. The rest of the World sees this and looses faith in the ability of the US to lead. Regrettably. Who else could lead us out of the consequences of global warming?
Thanks for this Robert, really organized and clarified a lot for me. I didn't know that three of those labor issues were perfectly legal, also that the US is an outlier for them. I hope you will discuss Right to Work states at some point. Labor abuses allowed in those states, 28, I might add, are pretty stunning. However, I'm writing today to tell you that I think it's worse than you think.
My daughter-in-law lost her low paying administrative job during the pandemic when they cut employees, those still there, then to remain working, needed to find a lower paying job somewhere because their job was chosen by another employee who was pushed out of their job. Are you following me? People had to push other people out of jobs to survive and remain employed! At lower paying jobs that had nothing to do with skills or education. This is the Hunger Games! You can't make this shit up! Oh, the employer? A museum run by the University of Minnesota.
Workers are subject to forced overtime, even though they are due to pick up their kids from day care. This adds to the costs for workers and profits for the owners.
This topic also has to do with need for so many charities in our society. Isn't it so convenient for big-time, big-bucks celebrities (Shaquille O'Neal, Oprah, comes to mind as I see & hear about them all the time) to feel bigger, and stronger, and sooo generous, so philanthropic when they start up their charitable organizations!! Wow! Aren't they saints!!? This pisses me off. They put their big names on these organizations to boost their huge egos and PR. And nothing in our society gets better.
If these rich, egotistical celebs REALLY wanted to better society, they would be supporting unions, help to start up co-ops, supporting progressives who believe in taxing the greedy rich.
Having a needy, struggling middle-class gives rise to narcissistic celebrities so they can also profit off of workers pain.
This is also the world, a society made up of charities--NOT GOVT intervention, that the Koch bros see as their ultimate goal of what America should become, only charity for the working poor, government stay out, no stinking regulations needed here.
If you are middle class, worked a lifetime, contributed to Social Security, ended your career with a relatively well-paying job, and if you expect to live at least 20 years after retirement, your total benefit is less than $800,000. (These are just rough estimates to make the point) If you also had private savings of $200,000 and equity in your house of $500,000 your total dispensable wealth is around $1.5 Million. By this math, anyone with wealth over $1.5 MM is relatively rich. Higher taxes on wealth could justifiably start at that level. But even Warren and Sanders allow much higher amounts of wealth to be accumulated before a higher tax bracket would kick in. The Biden bill allows $100 Million in annual income for gosh sakes! Up to $1 Billion in assets. These are eminently rational and practical proposals!
I just ended an interview with the EEOC relative to a job interview with Chic-fil-a in which I was asked my age, was talked to about the interviewer's religious faith, and asked where I worshipped (which I don't). This is another side of labor issues. I spent 30 years as a middle manager in corporate America and as I look back on those years, I feel I was not treated as a person but as a function. In my dotage, I have eschewed remote work because it inevitably gives the company more excuses to treat me as a function. Unfortunately, at 74 and a recipient of Social Security, I still need to work to make ends meet. Most of all in my mind, the fact that the court passed Citizen United, declaring that companies are people, we are all trapped by the fact that corporations run the government, with the total support of the Republican Party. The whole thing is such a rat's nest! We are people with a heart being corralled by corporations that have no heart and are greedy for money only.
Most of us are being treated as functions. Try to navigate the healthcare system, the insurance system, the financial system, the criminal justice system; try to get in touch with your utility, gas and electric, internet service provider, member of congress, bureau of motor vehicles; try to complain to your boss -- or anyone. We've got to get back to small scale, to small organizations, to communities, to accountable systems, even if it means giving up some efficiencies of scale.
America has over 330 million legal citizens we can count. We honestly do not know how many illegal or migrants are living in the USA below the radar. In 1776 America had 2.5 million citizens. With growth comes pain, innovation and new ideas. I would like to see us all go back to smaller efficient scale. How do we do that with so many people? I read this quote: "Unsustainable population growth and lack of access to reproductive health care also puts pressure on human communities, exacerbating food and water shortages, reducing resilience in the face of climate change, and making it harder for the most vulnerable communities to rise out of intergenerational poverty". One of the reasons for us to have to navigate through the healthcare system, insurance system, financial system, internet even finding a good parking spot is we have too many humans on this planet. The name of the game is patience, compassion and kindness as we progress forward.
Completely agree. Fifty years ago I realized that was a huge problem and decided not to have children. The book The Population Bomb apparently was never taken seriously and now our problems are worse. It’s a slow-moving train that will kill us all.
I couldn't agree more. Population growth is a largely unrecognized issue.
I totally get what you are saying; recently I tried to communicate with Amazon after I returned a product and never got the credit for it. I'm sick and tired of "Virtual Assistants" who are totally worthless - you can't speak with a human being at Amazon - I ended up cancelling my Prime membership and will never purchase another item from them.
I once bought a book from Amazon. They messed up the order 3 times before finally sending me the correct book. About a month later, they sent me an email with a link to a page that described their new terms of service. When I clicked on the link to read it, the first statement at the top of the page said,”by accessing this page you agree to all terms of service.” Twelve years later, after telling them to delete my information, I was basically forced to purchase a book for one of my classes from Amazon. They still had all my information and credit card number. Once they have your information they retain it forever to be bought, sold or used as they chose.
This is why Tech needs to be regulated (with no help from Republicans). I am at the point where, if and when I can afford to return to New England, I want to cease all paying online, return to a checkbook for payments, cease all paperless statements, and I'm even considering either reducing or eliminating e-mail from my life. I'm really fed up with the kind of control that technology has imposed upon me. I share your frustration.
Yes! I did too. I feel so much better. It’s difficult to find alternative sources for some things but it’s worth the trouble.
I learned the hard way and lost part of my retirement account because I was taken for a ride by a scam-team posing as amazon.com workers and using counterfeit amazon.com brands and logos. My advice: do not answer phone calls from any source you do not recognize and, if one of these amazon.com fake teams manages to get through tell them abruptly that you do not discuss your financial affairs over the phone. Do not order or pay for anything and do not try to deal with anything financial over the internet. Open an old-fashioned checking account and write old-fashioned checks. If some fake firm such as fake amazon.com should get through to you, report it immediately to your bank and, if need be, close all your accounts and open new ones asap. You are under no obligation whatsoever to deal with any firm over the phone or internet and they are most likely poseurs with no qualms about taking your last $2.00. I am not an old grump, I've just learned the hard way to be safe and rather secretive rather than extremely sorry.
Couldn’t agree more. I am an introvert but I’m increasingly coming to believe that community and interpersonal relations are the way to go. That’s one reason I’m so thankful for this community. You guys really lift my spirits and I hope I do the same for you.
Paula B. Thank you for your message. We are all in this together. Sending you hugs from Arizona
Hugs back from California!
About five years ago, I was finally forced to give up the car that I had inherited from my parents. It needed new brakes and I couldn't find them. Who could find brakes anywhere for a 45 year-old-Ford Maverick? I had planned to restore it and sell it for Big Bucks but I had no money to restore anything...so I donated it to KQED and decided against buying someone else's used car-headache. People ask me occasionally whether I miss not having a car and the answer is rather odd. Yes! I miss not having my very old and still reliable car-family friend but not the idea of having just another car. Life is in some ways simpler--far simpler--without a car and I am doing the environment a favor. I no longer deal with businesses I can't walk to or take the bus to and I don't worry about car insurance/licenses/registration/gas prices/worn out tires/batteries/breakdowns. I think we need to simplify just as Henry David Thoreau did by moving to Walden Pond outside of Concord MA. It is not a panacea for the world's ills (or maybe it is and I don't know it!), It is rather a way of ease what I can ease, using the public services that are limited but still available, and finding what I need locally. I gave up amazon.com after I realized (the hard way) that amazon.com is unconcerned about frauds and scams carried out using its name and identity. I now deal with locally businesses and am happier...or so i think. The computer is a mixed blessing for such as I and I try to resist thinking that the writing I did--those yellow legal pads to start with--was somehow easier. On the other hand, info is available at the click of a key (more or less) but, well, I read somewhere and long ago, that one of the most prolific writers to have ever lived was Augustine Bishop of Hippo who wrote 4,000 books. With advances in technology, writers are steadily producing less (not more). I don't know if that is true but there was a lot to be said for human ingenuity and simple solutions, even to complex problems.
I heartily applaud what you have done. If I was in the area of KQED I'd like nothing better than to speak with you in person. I started working on minimalism in my life 20 years ago and have come a long way, but I haven't accomplished nearly as much as you have. I'm now done with Amazon except for a pre-order of Maggie Haberman's book publishing in October. On a daily basis, I feel the oppression of technology and I hope to find a way to eliminate as much as I can. Thanks so much for what you have shared and Congratulations!!!
Thank you for your response. In my case and because of my personal devotion to a 45-year-old family car that was still the only car I wanted, going car-less made a lot of sense. (The worst thing about it is walking a good 6 blocks to Safeways and dragging a grocery cart up and down, block after block, and getting to musical events and performances of one kind or another, some of which I actively participate in. Which goes to show nothing is going to be perfect: having a car is not perfect but neither is not having a car, if you catch my drift.) However, I think there is something to be said for simplifying and, if one is on a fixed income, it's more or less a necessity. I do not believe (as Robert apparently does) that inflation is not the problem He may attempt to explain inflation away with grafts and charts but the cold hard facts of the matter are that there are millions of older Americans living as I do...on SSA alone. Our incomes are flat and the recent COLA increase of 5.9% is rendered utterly meaningless when inflation has risen to 7.5%. I am in the hole--as are many others. For me, it's a blessing (of sorts) not to have a car or a mortgage or any signs of prosperity. However, by giving up what used to be necessities for the good life, I am able to keep my own necessity for one of the perks of life going. Is it worth the sacrifice? Well, yeah! But, well I learned in high school (where I did not have a course in economics of any kind) that inflation would hit those on a flat or fixed income hardest. That is still true, I believe, whether or not those with an economics PhD will admit it or not!
Amen
Chic-fil-a is owned and run by a very religious (evangelical, I think) owner. They have been known for terrible bigotry, mostly gays, but across the board. Not surprised they wold behave like that for a job interview.
I was a middle manager for 30 years, and I know the laws about interviews - I was stunned, but my charge has been filed with the EEOC. Thanks for your comment.
I must say, this country has really gotten screwed up when Christian dogma can run roughshod over people's rights, over laws that should protect all of us, without any oversight or correction. Theological dominance is running our country...oh geez, don't get me started.....
This country was founded on the principal of separation of church and state. That every person was permitted to worship in any religion they chose or none if that was their choice. Yet here we are with evangelicals screaming that theirs is the only one and attempting to run the government to suit themselves. And condemning anyone who does not agree to their particular choices.
And yet, the media is always reporting about how religion is declining. I suspect it’s being used as a cultural weapon to fire up a vocal minority. And BTW, I don’t mind if you get started on this topic unless you will find it too upsetting.
Good for you!
Fascists hate unions !
Fascists hate everyone but themselves! check our Florida's governer!
GOP is pro fascist & Huckster psuedo Christian !! Serving only their donors chicanery !
I’ve been in the corporate workforce long enough to recognize these five tricks employers use on a regular basis. While interviewing for a position several years ago, the head of the HR department said point blank that my salary was for 40 hours, however I was expected to work 60 hours per week. I promptly declined their offer. I’ve watched my own employers’ layoff full time staff only to bring in so called “contract employees” to avoid paying the benefits or guaranteed work hours.
The most important thing workers can do is to unionize. There’s nothing better than having the collective bargaining tool available to stop employment abuse and questionable policies. Now is the time for workers to get aggressive and make it happen. Perfect article and so true!
Exactly. Otherwise, there's no countervailing power.
Good for you for not buying into their nonsense.
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other progressives have been fighting against all the ways that big business and its political lackies have been shafting workers all their careers. Only 6.1% of private sector employees are unionized, so workers are left to fight the bosses and their political shills alone. Starbucks employees have been fighting to unionize around the country, and just in the last few days many have been fired by a Starbucks in one location for trying to create a union. Until workers realize that it’s the oligarchs that are their real enemy, not immigrants or workers of other races or other religions, this won’t change.
Bingo. Especially last sentence. One of the major problems we have in America is just how much weight too many of us GIVE(!) to people who have wealth, like they must be better--hybrid humans, smarter, business-geniuses, deserve to be leader/decision makers. We ohhh, & ahhh & have stars in our eyes keeping these greedy (mostly) narcissistic sociopaths up on a pedestal!! You can't badmouth them without getting criticized by a 'wanna be' fan. In short, we worship $$$ way too much, & the morons that possess excess amounts of it. How many monster yachts does anyone need???
After a disgusting reply to my plea to them to stop blocking unionization efforts I decided never to buy anything from them again and I’ve stuck to it. I urge everyone here to do the same. There are other ways to get coffee.
Although I absolutely agree with your points, I don't think it's wise to stub away inflation as just an excuse or distraction for bad employers.
Inflation is effectively an invisible, unfair tax, paid for by the poor. Inflation is one of the main reasons the wealth gap has increased so much during the pandemic, yet it's something few people talking about.
How does one protect oneself from inflation? By using hedge-funds, buying real estate, buying gold, buying stocks. People doing these things tend to at least have savings, and resources available. This means inflation is effectively paid for by people who are living hand to mouth, who carries the burden when buying more expensive consumer goods.
So the governments are printing money, the wealthiest are hedging their wealth against inflation, and the workers are paying for it all.
It's so easy to assume the rich have gotten richer simply from selling in-demand goods during the pandemic. But the wealth gap would still increase if they didn't sell anything at all, and just put their wealth in hedge funds. If inflation is 7% and hedge fund gains are 7% or more, the wealth gap will increase by at least 7% every year without a single sold product.
---
Being a Norwegian employer reading about how things (doesn't) work for employees in America makes me really sad. The fact that it is even possible to have employees and people in general sign agreements preventing them from ever suing, is proof of exceptional corruption. All companies and individuals doing this should get audited, and prosecuted. And all agreements like this should be invalid, regardless if money or other goods has changed hands in the process.
Nobody pays hush money for bad things they didn't do. Or invest in silencing people who has nothing to say.
If one’s business model relies on paying a low wage and using some or all of the egregious tactics Prof. Reich discussed, is that truly a viable business model? Or put another way, is theft a viable business model? The robber barons are alive and well.
Absolutely not. Companies complaining about the minimum wage ruining their business, should cease to exist.
It is my understanding that , at least in the U.S. these forced arbitration agreements are often in the fine print of the contract people sign when they are starting with a new employer. Most people don’t get a chance to read through an entire package of material before signing on. They only find out about these agreements months or years later when they are disputing some unfair demand.
These types of contracts always have a disproportionate power balance. The one signing is always at the wrong side of the table, and always in a position of less power.
The right to take legal action should not be possible to forfeit in any way whatsoever. It should be a fundamental right in any developed nation.
In Norway, there are ground rules protecting employees, and any contract giving the employee worse conditions are illegal. I don't understand how it can be so hard to not have that. Even with that system, people will still make deals and sort things out individually. But the main difference is that the power stays with the person who has been screwed over, and not with the one trying to pay their way out of it.
And what can you do if you don’t want that clause in your contract? That’s the real problem. They all have them.
It's true that inflation is world wide and that people can't keep up with it. But please also call out that COVID is a crisis and that there is unconscionable profiteering.
Dr Reich, as a former employee of educational publisher Holt , Rhinehart, and Winston, I believe you need to write a textbook on labor relations for a beginning level economics course.
Yes!!!! Please!!!!
Employers should be forced to provide a copy of the above newsletter to every employee before they are hired. Did you see that Starbucks recently fired Memphis workers who were trying to organize for assorted company policy "violations" that have never been enforced before! The coming months will surely prove a tipping point in the labor rights movement - thank you for laying out the facts so plainly!
I just talked with the leaders of the Starbucks's union movement. Terrific young people -- realistic, smart, strategic, and hugely energetic. (I'll post soon.)
Please let us know how we can support them.
This information should be featured on the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post, among other corporate media titans, but, of course, such economic truth-telling on the brutalitization waged against the American workforce will not be forthcoming from these neoliberal stalwarts.
And don't get me started on Larry Summers' brand of oligarchic economics; it's amazing how corporate media keep quoting him, deliberately obscuring Summers' record of constant wrongness on socioeconomic issues, his antagonistic relationship with the American worker, and his brazen fealty to American oligarchy.
So, I'm thrilled that the American workforce is angry and rebelling, as they realize how American employment policy and its corporate media enablers are. the real villain here.
Deborah, unless one follows politics, I personally don't see a whole lot of working Americans looking up to where blame should be. We still have waaay too many $$$ worshippers; people who think if you're very wealthy, then you must be smarter, worthy of respect, a hybrid-human of some sort and we don't criticize their outright greed or cruelty because of their $$$. And this is particularly true on the right! Sorry, I really don't see the awakening we need. MSM does it's best to deflect workers' discontent. Faux news works!
During my working career I was considered an "exempt" employee. Exempt employees are not covered by the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Most exempt employees are paid a monthly salary instead of an hourly wage. When it comes to overtime, exempt employees have it much worse than non-exempt. For example, the pay rate for any weekly hours over 40 was not time and a half, it was ZERO. In addition to forced overtime, there was unforced overtime -- you were "expected" to work more than 40 hours per week if you wanted a good performance appraisal with a chance for a pay raise and promotion. People who did not cooperate were let go. Several times in my career I worked 7 days a week for many months with no compensation other than my monthly salary.
Things got so bad that we finally got together to try an form a union. I covered this in a post a few weeks ago, but the bottom line is that we failed to get a union, but the company got scared and made major improvements in working conditions, including paying "some" overtime and adding "flex hours".
Any proposed changes in labor laws should address overtime rules for exempt employees.
It is amazing how people are not informed about their rights as workers, at minimum. There have been efforts locally to educate, especially high school age people, about fair labor practices, and wage theft. Our local paper has had a number of articles about wage theft, even keeping the public updated about a specific business owner who has been proven guilty and must pay restitution and fines. Why have labor laws to protect worker's interests if they are not told their rights and the laws are not enforced? If workers depending on jobs can even legally be fired by employers who are breaking the law? No wonder there is so much anger!
If I knew that my former employer (Macy*s) was running a scam or con and I tried to approach an attorney, I would not get far. (And this was before in-store arbitration became a condition of employment, some time around 2007, when I lost my right to a decent legal result in the form of class action lawsuits.) I actually knew this and I also experienced wage-theft first hand. I dutifully approached all sorts of legal aid societies/community legal aid centers/private attorneys/university law schools and clinics/academic researchers, etc. The results were uniformly the same: "Alas, such a shame, but we can do nothing." However, the university organizations and researchers were usually the worst of my contacts as they enjoyed reading what they called my "anecdotes and stories" but turned a deaf ear to what I was telling them. (That is: "You write so well and it's fun to read. I shared your stories with all my colleagues." This kind of deal was worse than being ignored as I was taken for granted when what was happening really mattered to many others as well as myself.) It is not always the case that employees do not know what is happening; when I worked at Macy*s, we lackeys knew very well that we were being ripped off and that our lives were being stolen; we also knew (or learned as I did) that no one in a position to help really cared. I have concluded that the attorneys and scholars and researchers who I approached all had(have) thick stock portfolios which, lo and behold, contain Macy*s stock in their holdings....Hm. That is essentially why things stay the same, not because of the lack of education or awareness among employees but rather because the deck is a priori stacked against the ordinary wage-earner and in favor of the already wealthy managers.
I worked in a large barber shop and, after getting my Master Barber license with another worker in Boston, we were told "Don't think you will get a raise just because you received this upgrade" He loved to say "I might be right and I might be wrong, but I'm always the boss". A few days later, the barber supply guy came in and said Anyone looking for a barbershop to buy? Barber up in Franklin County is getting tired and wants a buyer". My previous 'boss' was no longer. I was the boss!
I think we all 'know' it is stacked against us, even though there are laws that should protect us. If we knew their policies up front we may keep looking though.
Wow, you live in a progressive place! That’s fantastic.
I would add to the just-in-time scheduling problem the corollary of what you described: Workers arrive for their shift, having arranged for childcare, etc. and ready to work and be paid for a full eight hours. The employer then suddenly decides that business is slow, the employees are not needed, and sends them home without pay.
It looks like legislation prohibiting forced arbitration for sexual harassment claims may pass Congress, but unfortunately it won't apply to other workplace abuses.
I agree with a previous comment that a business model that fails to provide employees with a living wage and humane working conditions is not a viable business model and should not even be contemplated. Unfortunately, in this country, ordinary workers are not seen as human beings with human needs, but rather as a necessary business expense that must be minimized to the extent possible. Maybe this attitude is a lasting legacy of slavery that was so widely embraced for more than 100 years.
It is a legacy of slavery but slavery is a legacy of serfdom. Without free and exploited labor the world would be unrecognizable to us. The challenge is to change this permanently.
I was an MD in a large medical practice. We hired a CEO, whose only response to a question was that we need to hire a consultant. CEO's are highly overpaid, as they add little of value. For every $1 million in CEO yearly bonuses, we could employ 10 workers at $100,000 or 20 workers at $50,000. we need to get our economic policies in order!
Read the September 2020 Rand Corporation paper "Trends in Income from 1975 to 2018". The authors estimate that between $25 to $47 TRILLION were siphoned-off by the top 19% from the bottom 90% over this periods. It is most likely an under estimate. And we cannot pass BBB for $2 trillions over 10 years. But the bomb-makers budget over 10 years will probably surpass $8 trillions. This year's military budget of $768 billion passed without discussion. The waste, corruption, and useless, not working properly (F15, Gerald Ford airplane carrier), is astounding and ignored by the budget givers. The empire treats it enemies just about as barbariously as they treat the domestic population, the 90%. Democracy is on life-support. The rest of the World sees this and looses faith in the ability of the US to lead. Regrettably. Who else could lead us out of the consequences of global warming?
Thanks for this Robert, really organized and clarified a lot for me. I didn't know that three of those labor issues were perfectly legal, also that the US is an outlier for them. I hope you will discuss Right to Work states at some point. Labor abuses allowed in those states, 28, I might add, are pretty stunning. However, I'm writing today to tell you that I think it's worse than you think.
My daughter-in-law lost her low paying administrative job during the pandemic when they cut employees, those still there, then to remain working, needed to find a lower paying job somewhere because their job was chosen by another employee who was pushed out of their job. Are you following me? People had to push other people out of jobs to survive and remain employed! At lower paying jobs that had nothing to do with skills or education. This is the Hunger Games! You can't make this shit up! Oh, the employer? A museum run by the University of Minnesota.
Ugh. That’s discouraging. Is this what they’re teaching in business schools these days?
Locally (Portland, OR) we are experiencing shifting schedules at the Oreo factory. https://www.opb.org/article/2022/02/07/mondelez-workers-at-portlands-nabisco-plant-say-theyre-forced-to-work-overtime-with-little-notice-or-face-penalties/
Workers are subject to forced overtime, even though they are due to pick up their kids from day care. This adds to the costs for workers and profits for the owners.
This topic also has to do with need for so many charities in our society. Isn't it so convenient for big-time, big-bucks celebrities (Shaquille O'Neal, Oprah, comes to mind as I see & hear about them all the time) to feel bigger, and stronger, and sooo generous, so philanthropic when they start up their charitable organizations!! Wow! Aren't they saints!!? This pisses me off. They put their big names on these organizations to boost their huge egos and PR. And nothing in our society gets better.
If these rich, egotistical celebs REALLY wanted to better society, they would be supporting unions, help to start up co-ops, supporting progressives who believe in taxing the greedy rich.
Having a needy, struggling middle-class gives rise to narcissistic celebrities so they can also profit off of workers pain.
This is also the world, a society made up of charities--NOT GOVT intervention, that the Koch bros see as their ultimate goal of what America should become, only charity for the working poor, government stay out, no stinking regulations needed here.
Yikes.
Well put, Andrea. Not that I have a solution but it’s important for people to realize this.
If you are middle class, worked a lifetime, contributed to Social Security, ended your career with a relatively well-paying job, and if you expect to live at least 20 years after retirement, your total benefit is less than $800,000. (These are just rough estimates to make the point) If you also had private savings of $200,000 and equity in your house of $500,000 your total dispensable wealth is around $1.5 Million. By this math, anyone with wealth over $1.5 MM is relatively rich. Higher taxes on wealth could justifiably start at that level. But even Warren and Sanders allow much higher amounts of wealth to be accumulated before a higher tax bracket would kick in. The Biden bill allows $100 Million in annual income for gosh sakes! Up to $1 Billion in assets. These are eminently rational and practical proposals!