Robert Reich: The New Flexible Economy Is Making Workers’ Lives Hell - RawStory

[WillyT]

Robert Reich: The new flexible economy is making workers’ lives hell
Robert Reich, AlterNet/RawStory
26 Apr 2015 at 11:12 ET

<snip>

These days it’s not unusual for someone on the way to work to receive a text message from her employer saying she’s not needed right then. Although she’s already found someone to pick up her kid from school and arranged for childcare, the work is no longer available and she won’t be paid for it.

Just-in-time scheduling like this is the latest new thing, designed to make retail outlets, restaurants, hotels, and other customer-driven businesses more nimble and keep costs to a minimum.

Software can now predict up-to-the-minute staffing needs on the basis of information such as traffic patterns, weather, and sales merely hours or possibly minutes before. This way, employers don’t need to pay anyone to be at work unless they’re really needed. Companies can avoid paying wages to workers who’d otherwise just sit around.

Employers assign workers tentative shifts, and then notify them a half-hour or 10 minutes before the shift is scheduled to begin whether they’re actually needed. Some even require workers to check in by phone, email, or text shortly before the shift starts.

Just-in-time scheduling is another part of America’s new “flexible” economy – along with the move to independent contractors and the growing reliance on “share economy” businesses, like Uber, that purport to do nothing more than connect customers with people willing to serve them.

New software is behind all of this – digital platforms enabling businesses to match their costs exactly with their needs.

The business media considers such flexibility an unalloyed virtue. Wall Street rewards it with higher share prices. America’s “flexible labor market” is the envy of business leaders and policy makers the world over.

There’s only one problem. The new flexibility doesn’t allow working people to live their lives.

<snip>

More: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/robert-reich-the-new-flexible-economy-is-making-workers-lives-hell/

[arcane1]

1. Just when I start to think they've run out of ways to squeeze us...

[Hoyt]

2. I would definitely support changing laws to require pay for people as if they worked majority or

all of day. I've seen hospitals use something like this, but they pay an on-call fee and have rules to limit last minute cancelations, et.. Hope New York's Attorney General is successful.

[closeupready]

21. There's a legal concept of "Paid To Wait" -

if you are non-exempt and you go to a job where at some point or other, you have nothing to actually work on but you still have to remain at your workplace, then you are being 'paid to wait for work.'

That concept seems to apply in this set of circumstances (though I'm no lawyer).

[Hoyt]

22. Come to think of it, my first job in high school, we used to race to work and the store

manager decided who, and how many he needed.

Wasn't so bad then, in fact an evening off wasn't bad. But I wasn't supporting a family at the time.

Time to start teaching managers some social responsibility.

[PatrickforO]

3. Just in time scheduling...

An offense to the very humanity of all workers.

Think about it - these cretinous capitalist profitmongers care nothing for workers. To them we are nothing more than commodities. 'Units' of labor.

But you know what?

If we ALL put our hands in our pockets for one week, they would sing a different tune. The truth is, they deeply FEAR collective bargaining, which is why the capitalist overlords have systematically busted unions and bought politicians who spew 'right to work' vomitus.

For most Americans, work is a soul-sucking black hole.

And now they are making it worse.

As my father's lawyer used to tell him, "Sue the bastards!"

[WillyT]

4. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!!

[daleanime]

6. Amen.....

[bemildred]

16. It's not even good business, it makes for a rigid and brittle supply chain.

You can be robust or you can be "efficient" but you can't be both. Short term thinking results in long-term disaster.

[PatrickforO]

18. Yeah, seems like since Wall Street became so

demanding about short term profits, American businesses (at least the publicly held ones) have ceased to even look ahead beyond next quarter's bottom line.

It IS bad business.

[abelenkpe]

5. Not just customer driven business

Its like this for VFX and animation artists too in LA on small productions, commercials etc.

[JDPriestly]

7. K&R.

Families move and arrange their lives around their jobs, and their jobs are insecure. It's terrible.

[Thespian2]

8. K & R

Workers were supposed to have lives...who woulda' guessed?

[TheMastersNemesis]

9. Voters/Workers Have Been Voting In Anti Union/Labor Politicians Since Reagan.

So what else can you expect? And a lot of workers still are anti union. And it is particularly true in the South.

[newfie11]

14. Very true

And their to stupid to realize the unions are they only chance to improve working conditions.

[EEO]

10. So bad. And it is only going to get worse before it gets better.

[AZ Progressive]

11. Fight or suffer

It's come down to this. When will Americans realize that politically organizing is the only way out of this suffering? People need to read the history of the labor movement.

[redruddyred]

12. if we had a proper social safety net

employers would think twice abt pulling this sort of crap.
unions, too.

[Wilms]

13. ^

[DirkGently]

15. Reich is right. n/t

[Octafish]

17. A good friend of mine...

Along with about 100 other people, guy had to show up 15 minutes early for a chance to log a shift sticking labels on CDs.

Jobs are so hard to find, they had thousands of people "on call."

The future of work, from Chantal Montellier's post-nuclear war "1996" ( or "Social Fiction" in the original French from around 1975):



THREE MINUTES PAUSE - ATTENTION: KEEP YOU
MASK ON - THREE MINUTES PAUSE... ATTENTION...

SHEEYIT!

THADZ ID!



AA

AAARRGG!

I'M BOININ.

WADZ AMADA? WUDZ GODINDA IM? DUNNO. GOP SIGGA IZ OUDFID. AINDA FIRZ... AND ID WOWNBEYA LAZZ...WUDA MEZZ! YUCK! HEREZA BOZ!

WUZ HABENIN? WUDA FUG?

...GUY TOOGOVIZ MAZG. WONUVA TEEM...

OH. SOWUDUYA UGGIN AD? GOWAN! GED BAGA WORG STEDA STAIRINAD THIZ AZHOL!



KMIN KONTROL: TEEM 101 CHEEF HERE. GODA NEGZIBIJUNISD INEER. GUY TOOGOV IZ MASG...IYL GED RIDOV IM... RIDE... THANGZ.

GODA NOBENIN ZLOD 5 TEEM 101...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. And, now...The High Tech Rat Race!

[WillyT]

23. Yep...

[closeupready]

20. Shouldn't that time be considered 'Paid To Wait' time?

I think so.

[WillyT]

24. Kick !!!