Ch. 7: Work and Unemployment

Many workplace injuries, illnesses, deaths caused by...

Employers violating OSHA standards. OSHA is understaffed

Alienation

Feeling isolated from work, goods you make, others, yourself due to repetitive and limiting job

Global economy

Interconnected economic network that connects countries and the world

Economic institution

Struc. and means by which a country produces, gives, and consumes goods and services

U.S. labor laws, anti-union legis.

∙ 1935 Nat. Labor Relations Act only gives right to unions for private sector (not farms, domes. work, supervisors, etc.) ∙ In 2011, WS governor Scott Walker signed a law to weaken unions ∙ In 2015, he signed law saying don't need to be part of union to go to work (right to work) ∙ 25 states have right to work laws

Child labor

∙ A child doing dangerous work, interferes with edu. or development ∙ Countries have laws against this, but more than 50% of 168M children do dangerous work ∙ Worst forms are sex assault, slavery, armed conflict ∙ Done in many industries, make many goods ∙ Work long hours for few days off, beaten for $1/day ex. harvest rich in Bangla ∙ Child labor exists on U.S. farms, restaur., groc. stores, meat packers ∙ U.S. law lets children work on small farms with parent's permission. At age 14, don't need it

Pros and cons of labor unions

∙ Better pay, insurance, pensions, paid time off, life satisfaction from job secur., socializing, experience ∙ Have to pay high dues, leaders get more pay, individual needs may not be met

Worker cooperatives/self-directed enterprises

∙ Companies governed by workers, and important decisions made ∙ Mondragon in Spain has workers hire managers ∙ Highest paid worker only 6.5 times lowest paid worker

Outsourcing

∙ Contracting w/3rd party to provide biz services ∙ Comps. pay low salaries and no benefits to providers, like accountants, IT, telemarketing, etc.

Efforts to end child labor

∙ Convention on Rights of Child (no work to stunt edu. or health) ∙ Some coun. exempt some work sectors, so they have many child workers ∙ Penalties not enforced well ∙ Promoting Edu. for All wants that all children have free basic edu. ∙ CARE Act in U.S. to raise min. farmworker age from 12 to 14, not passed

Conflict POV of work and econ.

∙ Corporatocracy - gov't interests cater to business ∙ Citizens United case let corps educate voters about candidates they felt were good ∙ IMF and WB force poor countries to take out big loans for econ. dev. ∙ Countries sell nat. res. off to biz to pay back loans ∙ U.S. companies use debt as leverage for other demands, like milit. base

Trans/multinational corps

∙ Corps have home base in 1 country, branches in others ∙ They do this to raise profits; more raw materials, cheap labor, less regs ∙ Can move HQ to tax havens for less taxes ∙ Consumers still pay high prices ∙ Cause higher trade deficit since goods exported from abroad ∙ More national debt b/c corps don't pay taxes and want gov't to protect them. Less U.S. labor

Struc.-func POV of work and econ.

∙ Econ. instit. more important since it gives basic necessities. Any surplus used for milit., politics, education, HC, entertainment ∙ Dysfunctions: fail to give jobs, when production pollutes env., alienation and work-life conflict, human rights viol. ∙ How econ. changes and is changed by society (ex. more econ., less birth, more aging)

McDonaldization/McJob

∙ Efficiency through following steps ∙ Calculability (numbers over quality for goods) ∙ Predictability (products same for all locations) ∙ Tech to replace human labor

More competit. = job loss

∙ Ex. foreign auto companies don't offer HC for workers, while U.S. companies do ∙ Less costs, more profits, cheaper prices

Work/life policies

∙ Fam. and Med. Leave Act gave 12, then 26 weeks of unpaid leave to care for newborn or new child, ill fam. member, take sick leave ∙ 50% of workers can get FMLA benefits ∙ 20% of employers don't do FMLA ∙ U.S. and P. N. Guinea don't have paid maternity leave ∙ CA, NJ, RI have paid leave programs tax funded. No or + effect on productivity ∙ Fam. and Med. Insurance Leave Act would let workers get partial pay ∙ Healthy Families Act would let employees take sick time off ∙ Flexibility in work/life policie for some employers

Health and safety in U.S. workplaces

∙ Fatal job accid. occur, and most common is transportation accid. ∙ Nonfatal ones include cuts, bruises ∙ Repetitive strain injuries for typists, assem. line workers ∙ Injury incidence is probably higher due to data restrictions ∙ Long-term illnesses hard to trace to work ∙ Injured employees fear firing, discipl., deported ∙ Employers give bonuses, and don't keep records

Slavery

∙ Forced to work under threat of punishment ∙ India, China, Pak., Uzbek., Russia have more than half of world's slaves ∙ Slaves work in many industries (ex. sex slavery in S. Asia due to fam. debts, lures of good jobs) ∙ Chattel slavery (buying and selling) not widespread, but bonded labor is. People take out loans to live or pay huge debts, but must work for creditor to "pay it back" ∙ Migrant slaves in U.S. - 60,000 in all

Downsides of FTAs

∙ Gov'ts lose authority to help public and env. ∙ Corps can sue gov'ts for lost profits due to env., worker safety, etc. ∙ Provisions above constitutions ∙ They hurt U.S. and other workers (ex. U.S.-Korea FTA cut U.S. jobs from more Korean imports, NAFTA put Mex. corn farmers out of biz) ∙ Businesses move offshore

Behavior based Safety Programs

∙ Illnesses and injuries due to workers ∙ Teach employees and managers to identify, discip. unsafe behaviors ∙ Reward safer ones ∙ Divert attn. from employers, and workers don't report

World labor union struggles

∙ In 1949, Convention on Right to Organise and Coll. Bargaining passed ∙ Many countries did not ratify this. 50% of workforce lives in them ∙ Many countries have punishments for those who go on strike ∙ Murder, disappearing of workers in 9 coun.

U.S. unemployment rate

∙ Includes those unemp., want jobs, and spent past 4 weeks searching for one ∙ Recessions last at least 6 months and involve across econ. ∙ Rates higher among certain groups, like minorities and low edu. folk ∙ Doesn't include underemployed people, marginally attached

Work/life conflict

∙ Juggling work and home responsibilities ∙ Spouses coord. schedules to have time tog., have meals ∙ Parents must find ways for child care, take time off for child, get to child's club ∙ Some parents work diff. shifts to be with child, but not tog. ∙ Hard to care for elderly ∙ Hard to balance work with college. Ms of students take a job to get degree

Efforts to boost labor

∙ Labor unions merged, so more members and money to survive long strikes ∙ Labor unions reach out to workers abroad so employers don't play on this ∙ Combat threats of violence by employers

Great Recession

∙ Lenders did predatory practices during housing boom of 2000s ∙ Adj. rate mortgages set to higher rates, so homeowners couldn't pay and lost homes ∙ Banks lost money since foreclosed homes were worth less than their mortgages ∙ Credit froze, spending went down, retirement accounts went bust ∙ Less world trade since U.S. consumers consume lots

Declining union density

∙ Lower nowadays, but density of public sector is 5 times private ∙ Loss of manufac. jobs, companies moving abroad, efforts of managers to prevent unions

Global Jobs pact

∙ Made in 2009 to guide retaining workers, sustaining biz, creating jobs, and worker protection ∙ Regulate finance ind. more ∙ Use less carbon, invest in public infras., more social protect. and min. wages, ∙ Employers, unions, gov'ts have to do this

Free trade agreements

∙ Makes it easier to trade goods across borders ∙ Reduce or get rid of foreign restrictions on exports ∙ Intellectual property rights ∙ No tariffs ∙ ex. NAFTA, FTAA

Responses to health and safety concerns at work

∙ Mine Safety and health Adm. issued new rules in 2014 to protect miners from black lung disease ∙ Protecting America's Workers Act (PAWA) was to beef up OSHA, protect whistlers, give coverage, more penalties for injuries and death ∙ Industries and capitalist politicians lobby to prevent this ∙ Poor coun. stop strict regulation to promote investment

Reality of economies

∙ Mixed: have elements of capital. and social. ∙ Ex. U.S. has capitalism but also soc., like 911 ∙ Critics say socialism lowers living standards, more gov't roles, and lowers work incentives

Communism

∙ One political party controls public and private life ∙ Common property ∙ Everyone gets same amount of goods and services/ no classes ∙ No money used ∙ Some think this is extreme socialism

Job creation and keeping them

∙ People think best way to preserve jobs is to keep them in U.S. ∙ Democ. want gov't to promote jobs ∙ Repubs. want less taxes, less gov't involve. ∙ Legislation to help small biz give jobs, get more people empl.

Personal and social effects of unemp.

∙ Poor-quality jobs and unemp. contribute to low MH and bad health problems like hypertension, heart disease ∙ Unemp. causes homelessness, drug abuse, crime ∙ Long-term unemp. (27 weeks or more) causes more debt, less savings, home forecl., and relocation ∙ Being fired damages self-esteem ∙ Unemp. causes child, spousal abuse and bad marriages: others must work more ∙ Mass unemp. lower societal living standards ∙ A cycle: unemp. cut back on spending, so less sales and companies must fire more

4 parts of alienation at work

∙ Powerlessness (no say in decisions that affect your work) ∙ Meaninglessness (NO fulfillment in work) ∙ Normlessness (work norms unclear or conflicting) ∙ Self-estrangement (can't use all your skills)

Capitalism

∙ Private ownership of means of prod. and giving of goods and services for profit. ∙ In competitive market ∙ Prices and wages determ. by supply and demand ∙ No gov't intervention

Offshoring/job exportation

∙ Relocating jobs abroad ∙ Happens w/manuf. and service jobs, like IT, HR, finance ∙ Less costs for biz

Automation

∙ Replacing humans with machines ∙ Loss of jobs, but also gain (ex. ATMs reduce bank tellers, but more jobs for those who produce ATMs) ∙ 3-D printing is an example - workers lose jobs in assembly lines

Combating sweatshops

∙ Requires inspections of factories and other workplaces (but advance notices, corruption impede) ∙ Has exposed sweatshop conditions ∙ Fair Labor Assn. promotes better working conditions ∙ 40 companies, 200 colleges partic. in FLA's monitoring system

Efforts to end slavery

∙ Slave trafficking a crime in 25 countries, but traffickers let off the hook ∙ Sex slaves jailed or expeled ∙ Prison time for those in U.S.

Cons of capitalism

∙ Soc. inequality, econ. instability, loss of jobs, pollution, corporate dominance of media, culture, polit. ∙ Wealth determ. polit. power ∙ Private owners make decisions for many ∙ Workers have no say in their conditions

Legislation to ban sweatshops

∙ Some U.S. cities, counties, states, etc. haev sweat-free apparel laws for public sector ∙ Companies win copyright laws, but lobby against giving human rights to sweatshop workers

Frictional umemployment

∙ Takes time for employers employees to find each other ∙ During this time, jobs not filled, workers unemp.

Socialism

∙ The public, worker collectives, or state socially own means of prod. ∙ Goods and services given based on need ∙ Taxation ensures that some services like water given to all citizens

Student activism and USAS

∙ USAS fight against labor abuses and for workers' rights around world ∙ Due to them, 180 colleges joined Worker Rights Consortium which has code of conduct (wages, no child labor) ∙ Warnings of contract termination with school if factory cond. no get better ∙ Sodexo paid employees low wages, no unions, so USAS started Kick Out Sodexo campaign

Unemp. among college grads

∙ Unemp. rate for young college grads w/out advanced degrees is 2x nat. unemp. rate ∙ Wages and benefits have decreased for college grads. High costs of living, loans, etc. make them live w/fam.

Full employment and reducing unemp.

∙ When jobs available for all workers (unemp. rate <5%) ∙ Job shortage = better pay ∙ Current and future workers should have opps. for better employment (tech. and school to work progs) ∙ Many jobs don't need a college degree, so everyone should have a good min. wage

Symb. interac. POV of work and econ.

∙ Work role determ. master status in social lives ∙ Attitudes, behav. in workplace affect by others (ex. union organizers teach interpers. techniques to unionize) ∙ Labels are important (ex. capit. vs. free enterp.)

Labor unions

∙ Worker organiz. that advocate for better working cond. and pay ∙ Rep. at negot. between managers, labor

Pros and cons of right to work

∙ Workers shouldn't be forced to join, attracts biz ∙ They weaken unions, and free riders benefit from unions' efforts

Job stress

∙ Workers' most common complaint ∙ Job burnout leads to physical, mental problems ∙ U.S. does not mandate number of days of vacation, so people can't rebound ∙ ON vacation, people work w/smartphones, tablets

Workforce development

∙ Workf. Invest. Act (WIA) gives stipends to people to get edu./job training for work ∙ Not large enough to cover costs ∙ Some prog. target factors that hurt employability, like drugs ∙ Workf. Innov. and Opp. Act gives English and voc. training to immig. workers

Sweatshops

∙ Workplaces with low pay, long hours, work abuse, no unions ∙ Occurs in many ind., like garments ∙ 97% of all clothing bought in U.S. imported, often under sweatshops ∙ Sweatshops exist in LA, U.S. (10 garment retailers) ∙ Immigrant garment women, farmworkers work in sweatshops