The linked article mentions outsourcing, but it was this other _fantastic_ article [1] on the structural issues of the current wage economy that really helped me understand just how different things are: "Thirty years ago, she says, you could walk into any hotel in America and everyone in the building, from the cleaners to the security guards to the bartenders, was a direct hire, each worker on the same pay scale and…
I hate this. I REALLY hate this. Creating a full-time workforce by cobbling together contractors is disgraceful. Sure, sometimes contracting makes sense, but replacing your core workforce with contractors just sucks. Here are some reasons why: 1) loss of corporate identity / camaraderie 2) reduced working training & quality... and loss of control over how work it performed. If you retain control over work methods, th…
Not paying people but still requiring them to do things (like show up to work or keep their schedule free) is disgraceful. Hiring part-time workers is not disgraceful.
If we want more full-time workers for stable employment, we need to a better job disentangling our social justice policy goals (retirement savings, health care, maternity leave, etc.) from full-time employment agreements (at least exclusively those agreements). If we want a dynamic labor market and employees with the ability to tell their bosses to stuff it, we need to stop leaning so hard on the employer/employee relationship.
It clearly isn't working.