The Home of the Free(lancer)
July 10, 2012 8:41 am
By Jason Bacasa
When companies force suppliers to slash costs, corners will be cut and workers will be abused. [ NYT ]
And yet, with corporations continuing to put the squeeze on employees, with joblessness and inequality rampant, now would seem the perfect time for people to turn back to unions to fight for them against the monied interests. Why haven’t they? [ BM ]
Unions have to evolve to meet the needs of the changing workforce, where more people are working as freelancers, contractors, consultants. [L]aws and regulations that gave rise to today’s unions were written to fit a manufacturing economy. [ SH ]
In many ways, taxi drivers typify America’s steadily expanding freelance economy. On the surface they’re in control, setting their own hours and routes with no boss looking over their shoulders. Look a little deeper, though, and cabbies are essentially modern-day sharecroppers. [ ITT ]
Another way to protect workers’ freedom is to give them more voice on the job. If entry and exit are emblems of freedom because they express the voluntary will of the individual, why limit those expressions to two moments: when she steps inside the workplace and when she leaves? [ CT ]