- Discuss some of the incentives that lead employers to misclassify employees as independent contractors.
- Compare and contrast the situations between FedEx drivers and sweatshop workers in terms of work conditions, salary, unionizing, etc. Why is it so difficult for FedEx employees to form unions?
- What are some of the common elements between the different labor struggles and the actions workers have taken to resist?
- To what extent would a transnational labor movement benefit or hinder movements in specific places.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Week 15! Woo!
Hi peoples! Here are the questions for the week 15 readings. I hope everyone's having a good weekend.
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1. Misclassifying employees as independent contractors allows employers to avoid a lot of hassle and paying 'unnecessary or undesirable' fees. According to the FedEx article on pg. 25 it says that misclassification "denies civil rights protections and benefits to employees, withholds federal and state tax revenue, and undercuts competition with employers who follow
ReplyDeletethe law.public attention". These employers probably want to do what's easiest for them instead of what's right. They also do this to prevent workers from forming unions. If they are classified other than 'worker' this might disallow workers from coming together with other workers.
This is an interesting question and can go way past the scope of this reading. I agree with indra in that misclassifying the workers definitely prevents or moreso discourages the workers to unite and to unionize, as they are led to believe that they are not all in one group. However, for many employers today, the misclassification of workers is probably the concept that benefits the employers the most. Misclassfiying workers allows for workers to be paid lower, to not be given benefits, overtime, or vacation. The miscounting of full time workers as part time workers is something that happens all the time. What the employers can do often depends on the industry. For sweatshop workers, it is easier to unionize even if miaclassified, however it is much simpler to miscount hours. However for fedex, where truck drivers are rarely all convened at once, it is much more difficult to unionize.
ReplyDelete1. misclassifying allows for the fedex company to get around labor and employment laws. independent contractors are suppose to have more control over how they go about their work. many companies use this labor however to deny their employees the protection of workplace laws. basically it's just a numbers game, like all business. maximize profit, no matter what.
ReplyDelete3. at the beginning of the class we talked about how discrimination was the systemized oppression of a group of people (or something like that, i forgot the exact quote) and that is very much what a lot of these cases share. there is the system, using the law and the status quo to keep it's interest protected, whether that hurts others or not. in both cases strong organizations are needed to fight against the systems trying to oppress them.
I remember that there was chart showing the differences between unionized UPS workers and non-union FedEx workers and it's pretty clear why calling workers independent contractors and giving them their own space would be beneficial. Some similarities between all these cases is that workers have been pushed to a point where there is no option other than a mass struggle. Pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI think the issue of being able to organize in a central location is one of the most prominent problems faced by the fedex workers. As Jessica commented, the drivers really do rarely have the chance to meet up in a central location. I can see how a sweatshop might be an easier location to try and promote unions... though as we have seen, often times the issue of being around a manager or corporation that is against union organization, can make it very difficult for the workers to understand/decide to join a union.
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