Friday, July 31, 2015

Kick Me I'm a Contractor





Kick me I’m a contractor
NOTE: THIS IS AN UPDATED VERSION OF AN ARTICLE I ORIGINALLY WROTE FOR THE ADJUNCT ADVOCATE WELL OVER A DECADE AGO. DESPITE THE PASSAGE OF TIME  MOST OF IT STILL SEEMS RELEVANT TODAY. I HAVE HOWEVER, UPDATED THE INFORMATION ABOUT CONTINGENT WORKERS AND IRS RULINGS AND ADDED SOME LINKS.


In the midst of preparations for the annual Halloween party at Microsoft headquarters a some time back, a haunting specter appeared. Attached to while paper skeleton hanging from the wall was this message: "Kick me, I’m a contractor."
The number of temporary workers and independent contractors in the US has grown steadily since the mid 80's. USA Today noted that in 2012 about 12 % of all workers or about 17 million workers were considered temporary. This figure includes a broader category of "contingent workers," which, in addition to temporary workers, encompasses independent contractors,  freelancers, contract workers and consultants. What counts as a contingent worker is not always clear. The latest report from the US GAO  gives both a core estimate of contingent labor and a broader definition. In the broader definition contingent workers include in addition to the above categories,   “all individuals who maintain work arrangements without traditional employers or regular full-time schedules -- regardless of how long their jobs last.” By using these estimates the total number of contingent workers is close to 40%  of the workforce in 2010. Part time and contingent work grew significantly after the recession of 2008 -- a 50% rise since 2008. It was the only sector to show much growth. While contingent hiring is common in recessions there is little indication that as the economy recovers that traditional hiring is making a comeback. To the contrary,  it is indicative of a new set of economic realities in which most work is becoming contingent.  For  example, the use of temps has extended into areas not traditionally seen into professions like law medicine and information services-- and most obviously the extensive use of adjuncts in education.
Contingent-Workforce-960x537.png
In neoliberal mythology, the freeing of the individual from traditional jobs is a good thing.  It creates a more adaptable individual able to shift, like fast capitalism, to the shifting waves of supply and demand. She is able to shift jobs and commitments with ease and little need for or sense of permanence and attachment.  While a few may benefit from this Brave New World of free floating labor the vast majority are worse off. For those with little control over their fate life is more risky, employment more precarious, and conditions more vulnerable to disruption.
The relation between employers and employees is changing,.  There is less loyalty or commitment between firms and workers. Of course this new new social contract is one of the reasons why CEOs and other executives see themselves as entitled to large compensation increases while workers see their income shrink. We no longer work in  the world of Henry Ford and his ilk who (whatever their limitations)  sought to pay workers well. It is a world in which the vast majority of workers are disposable . WIthout any sense of the importance of labor, or the worth of life, the new capitalists seek to shed any social obligations to workers or to society.
Among the most disturbing aspects of this trend is the growing use of independent contractors by employers to avoid paying benefits to permanent employees. For example the use of contract workers in construction  has meant that employers no longer have to pay workman’s compensation. As companies use contingent status to pay workers non union wages, and skirt their responsibilities to workers under the law, it becomes harder for workers to hold employers accountable for poor and unsafe working conditions,  workplace abuse  and accidents. The worker is more and more responsible for his own fate regardless of conditions.  This individualizing element of neo-liberalism has another consequence. Non-unionised contingent  workers are often isolated from their fellow workers, are more vulnerable to employer pressures and less able to draw on the collective power of union to bargain for fair wages and safe conditions. Relying on the government to enforce these is also problematic.  Deregulation underfunding and capture of regulatory institutions have made enforcement spotty at best.
In its simplest terms an independent contractor is a person or business who contracts to perform a service for another person or business, and who in addition retains control over the ways and means performing that service. In theory the distinction is fairly clear, though in practice it turns out to be fuzzier. (The IRS uses a list of up to 20 criteria to classify independent contractors you can view it here)  An employee sells not just services but labor to an employer: the employee cedes control not just over what to do, but how to do it. An independent contractor can not be told how to do a job but only contracts to perform it. The contractor could subcontract a job to another person, or hire his or her own employees. Contractors generally work for a number of clients. They perform specific tasks for a limited length of time. Examples of IC’s include doctors , lawyers freelance writers, and consultants. It also includes, however, groups like construction workers. They provide their own equipment, work for a variety of contractors on limited term. jobs and they are assumed to have a certain control over how the work is performed.
The "free agent" status of independent contractors means they are responsible for their own pensions, benefits, health insurance social security taxes and tax withholding. In addition, however, independent contractors, as noted above, aren’t covered by workman’s compensation for injuries received on the job, nor since they are not employees, are they covered by laws governing unfair labor practices.
It is this freedom from the bounds of labor that has lead some to contend following the neo-liberal ideology noted above,  that independent contracting can change the economic and psychological conditions of the workplace. Contingent workers are sometimes thought to be free, as Ellen Dannin, Professor of Law at California Western School of Law notes, from "the suffocation of a lifelong, full time job that stifles creativity, individualism and self-interest." The use of IC’s and contingent workers however, also lifts the burden and obligations of employers built up over the last 75 years. By changing the terms of the implied social contract, companies are free to roam the globe to exploit cheaper labor. This freedom however, means increased dependency. Given the power relationships of the modern economy most contingent workers are at the mercy of new economy. Most contingent workers, according to Professor Dannin, make less that regular employees. The new class of contingent workers looks a lot like a more vulnerable and impoverished version of the reserve army. While unlike the earlier reserve army of the unemployed, this underemployed and underpaid reserve army still works to undo the gains of employees in the welfare state.
independnet con.jpg
High Tech companies such as Microsoft, have shown the implications of these new arrangements. They classified workers as temporary or IC’s who do the same work as salaried employees. The use of IC status to avoid paying benefits has become so extensive that Dollars and Sense magazine ranked it among its top dubious labor practices. Microsoft "permatemps" worked in jobs that, while they appeared to be limited in time and scope, such as development of a particular piece of software, really took on the characteristics of salaried employment. Permatemps worked side by side with regular employees on similar tasks, under similar working conditions for periods of several years. They did not however, receive employee discounts, benefits, and pension plans that were given to employees (including the Halloween party) Microsoft claimed that it needed to hire independent contractors in order to maintain flexibility and compete in areas of such as product development, however, permatemps saw the issue from another angle. They thought Microsoft was exploiting the rules on independent contracting to enhance its bottom line. IC’s successfully sued Microsoft to win benefits given to salaried employees. Unfortunately the dual status of tech workers still exists today. Despite criticism and government sanctions, there are still two types of high tech employees:  well paid employees who receive the generous benefits of high tech success and contract and temporary workers who don’t share in this bounty although they have made some headway over time.  Worse yet cash rich high tech startups like Uber and the San Francisco startup Homejoy use low paid contract labor as a primary business model. Homejoy hired homeless people to clean houses on contract for $19 (not per hour).
Adjuncts do not fit as easily as other contingent workers into the category of independent contractors. They work at the university with regular faculty, and are supervised by a department head or other authority who regulates their work. Teaching courses often requires conforming to department defined standards about course content and structure. The have only a limited amount of freedom. There have however, been instances in which adjuncts have been classified as independent contractors,. When challenged these have generally lost. For example, the IRS ruled in case involving Texas A&M that adjuncts are employees. However, this has not necessarily stopped the problem.
A cursory query on an internet labor list many year ago revealed one faculty member working in a Union Leadership Program at the University of Massachusetts working as an independent contractor. Others indicated the practice still occurs. A growing number of faculty work, in addition, as independent contractors in providing courses to companies in for -profit sectors of higher education.
independnet con4.jpg
When I was employed by the DIAL Program, an online continuing education program at the New School University, adjuncts were hired as independent contractors. I considered it the worst of all possible worlds. On the one hand they received abysmally low compensation, less than $1000 per course and had no standing as members of the academic community. As in other cases of independent contracting, we received no benefits and the New School didn’t pay any withholding tax. Our contract explicitly noted that we were not allowed to identify ourselves with the New School a clear indication that as independent contractors we were not really members of the New School faculty. While DIAL courses were taught off site (in cyberspace as it were) we were expected to meet the same academic standards as those who taught on campus courses. Our courses and plans were approved and our teaching was supervised just as any other faculty members. We were also required to undergo a training and orientation process – another indicator of employee status. So much for the progressive spirit of New School founder, John Dewey. In fact the administration of the DIAL program often rationalized our poor compensation and protests about conditions with Orwellian doublespeak about our status as pioneers.  
The implications of independent contractor status for adjuncts goes beyond the low pay and inadequate working conditions. They affect our status as members of the academic community. In fact, it is hard to see the value of free agency in the academic world. The promise of neo-liberal freedom would mean exclusion from any rights to participate in governance, in planning of the curriculum or any other university policy. Of course it’s true that by and large adjuncts have little say in these matters, but they are at least as members of an institution and can raise claims for better status and representation. An independent contractor has no such right.
Adjuncts should avoid complacency on this issue. In the past bills have been proposed in Congress, which will simplify the IRS procedure for determining independent contractors. Whatever its other advantages, the political implications of these changes are problematic. The proposed changes aimed to shift the burden of proof from the employer to the contractor. Under current rules the notion of common law employee depends on a set of criteria provided and interpreted by the IRS. In the proposed legislation, the standard is the common practices of sector of the economy. Thus if they successfully establish industry of sector policies, employers could be free to reclassify many workers as IC’s. THus far however these changes have been resisted.
contingent 2.jpg
Still  the use of part time faculty has increased dramatically and colleges and universities have not stopped attempting to define adjunct faculty as independent contractors, As not-for profit universities, such as Harvard and the New School, attempt to exploit the use of distance and continuing education for revenues to fund their "real" faculty, it is plausible to imagine that the scope of independent contracting to provide a cheap and disposable labor force will expand. It is here that I think that the bounds of labor law in academia will be tested.
Thus far in numerous cases outlined here, the IRS has ruled that virtually all types of adjunct faculty must be classifed as are employees and entitled to the benefits of employee status. New rules adopted by the NLRB this year seem to strengthen that position further. Adjuncts should not hesitate to file a grievance with the NLRB or the IRS if they are denied this status.
There is however another challenge looming on the horizon. Just like profit making  businesses. which are trying to avoid granting workers employee status by creating or outsourcing the hiring process to dummy companies or third parties. Recently several colleges in Michigan have tried to outsource the recruitment and hiring of adjuncts to  an independent educational staffing company EDUstaff. Previously EDUstaff worked primarily as a resource hiring K-12 substitute teachers and contract school work. One of the main benefits for the colleges in this process, is the elimination of college payments into staff retirement funds. One community college estimates it saved  $250,000 a year. In addition it appears this move also works to avoid paying employees health care under the Affordable Care Act.
Even more galling was the recent posting of a job for a volunteer professor at Southern Virginia University. The job offer was for no pay, just room and board. While the University claimed that this ad was not meant for general release but targeted at Mormons that would see teaching as part of their mission, it certainly struck a chord with adjuncts who saw it as further evidence of denigration of their status. Many feel they are already working practically as volunteers anyway.
I am not sure that such attempts to sidestep employee status under IRS rules will really work. Adjuncts do not simply step in when there is illness or necessary absence as substitute teachers do, they are clearly employees hired to do a job by the university. However, it remains to be seen however, what the IRS or NLRB would rule. It seems to me however that adjunct and full time faculty should fight these changes and unlike the compliant Michigan faculty simply refuse to accommodate this. The claims made by Michigan colleges that it is hard to fill adjunct positions,  seems on the surface to be patently false. There is a large surplus of adjuncts looking for work.
Adjunct faculty could benefit from a  strategy that links their fate less to full time faculty who have proved singularly ineffective in defending their adjunct “colleagues” against exploitation (and for that matter resisting the marketization of the university), and more to the general fate of workers in our society. Like adjuncts they are being treated as disposable goods. Most people see educators as a group unlike them and thus do not share a common fate with them. They see them as protected, or as rich well paid employees with special skills. who have become selfish and have lost a sense of public good. They don’t understand why teachers want to strike or talk about educational quality. By bringing to the fore the insecurity of part time work and the economic deprivation adjuncts might make more headway.




Thursday, July 23, 2015

anti poverty initiative reading list


Secondary research on poverty (Version 5/1/2015)

RMAPI Workgroup co-chair and participant pre-read instructions: The table below includes a broad array of reading resources on the topic of poverty.   You are not being asked to read all of this material.  It is recommended that you read the “Rethinking Poverty” article first followed by the other articles highlighted in green before your scheduled workgroup workshop (to be provided by Bob Thompson).  The remaining resources are provided for your reference and discretionary reading based on interest and relevance to your workgroup area.  The intent of this reading material is to help establish a foundational base of common language, concepts and ideas that would serve as helpful input to workgroup activities.  Co-chairs are free to suggest further readings to their workgroups if desired.



Title
Source
Description
·    A Framework for Understanding Poverty – A Cognitive Approach
·     
·    Toxic Charity
Books
 
Rethinking Poverty (by the Stanford Social Innovation Review)
PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE FIRST
Discusses the latest research on the impact of trauma on brain development in young children and executive functioning skills in adults.  It explains how compromised executive function challenges people’s ability to navigate their way out of poverty and how social interventions can help.
Annie E. Casey Foundation: Creating Opportunities for Families Report
A two generational approach to poverty is discussed.  Also discussed is the state of poverty by U.S. state, poverty drivers and strategies and recommendations for addressing the causes of poverty.
 
 
 
Asset-based approach to building a stronger community
 
Asset-based toolkit - Home
·      Recommend reading “An introduction to asset mapping” and/or Community Building Principles and Action Steps
Mobilizing Assets Segments video clips (14)
·      These are a bit protracted but have many useful ideas for building a community-based approach
Introduction to "Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets,"
-     This is an abstracted summary of the above videos.  Covers the basics but missing the illuminating examples that deepen understanding.
Mapping Community Assets Workbook
Needs-based versus Asset-based in a nutshell
Asset Mapping - Eight Steps to Increase and Support Resident Engagement Table comparison
Benchmarking Rochester’s Poverty-2015 Update (by Ed Doherty)
This report provides a comparative analysis of Rochester against other similar sized cities in the US.  It then provides a deeper analysis of Rochester poverty demographics, poverty concentrations and current state data and information in the areas such as education, employment, disability and country of birth.
Child Care Subsidies in Monroe County – An Analysis of Need, Availability and Trend (a report by The Center for Governmental Research report-CGR)
This is an extensive report highlighting the state of child care subsidies need and provision at the New York State and Monroe County Rochester City and surrounding town levels.  This overall context enables gaps and disparities to be identified and policy questions asked.
Childhood Poverty in New York State
Covers the state of poverty and an in depth study on how poverty is measured, proposed changes to measurement and expected impacts.
Crittenton Mobility Mentoring Whitepaper
This whitepaper goes beyond the overview handout to include detailing the Mobility Mentor theory of change each area of intervention, scientific research underpinnings, mentoring approach for moving people from dependence to self-sufficiency, achieving a dual focus of crisis management and goal attainment, establishing support for achieving goals, case management versus Mobility Mentoring and measuring for successful outcomes.
Crittenton Mobility Mentoring versus Case Management
http://tinyurl.com/nawrh54
This is a 1 page comparison contrasting tradition case management with Mobility Mentoring using by Crittenton Women’s Union
Expanding opportunity in America (by Paul Ryan)
The important role of government policy as a structural support to poverty.
Disrupting Poverty Paper (by Paul G. Allen)
http://tinyurl.com/kow65pc
Proposes a framework for addressing poverty through an asset-based approach.  Assets are in two interdependent areas: Building individual capabilities and building communities of opportunity.
Engaging Women in Trauma Informed Peer Support – A Guidebook
Provides peer supporters with the understanding, tools, and resources needed to engage in culturally responsive, trauma-informed peer support relationships with women.
Education: Poverty and Education: Finding the Way Forward
ETS Report: One aim of this report is to review the relationship between poverty and educational and other important life outcomes and to provide a clearer and more nuanced picture of poverty in America, as well as an understanding of how government attempts to address poverty — particularly from an educational perspective. Another aim is to consider the important issue of how poverty is officially measured in the United States and explore several additional aspects of income and poverty that broaden the perspective.
Family Independence Initiative
The Family Independence Initiative (FII) is an approach to economic mobility that begins with the assumption that we have underestimated the capacity of families in low--‐income neighborhoods to improve their financial and general well--‐being. FII is structured around the idea that what families most need to improve their economic circumstances is a sense of control over their daily lives, an awareness of the options available to them, a diverse and active social network that provides support and expands those options, and access to an array of tangible opportunities to improve their situations, such as capital to start a small business. Rather than import these assets into a community, FII begins by identifying where they already exist.
Fits and Starts – The Difficult path for Working Singe Parent
Details how an increase in worker income for poor families can translate into less money to live on…sometimes causing a downward cliff effect in family economic resources.
(The) Growth and Spread of Concentrated Poverty in America 2008-2012 Report (referenced in the above RBJ article)
This is a detailed report on poverty demographics with a focus on poverty concentrations and the spread and rebalancing of those concentrations between urban and suburban areas on a national level.  The report is a call to action to address the growing concentrations of poverty in suburbs before they become the severe concentrations of poverty (i.e., > 40% concentration) we now have in urban areas. This report includes an abundance of graphs and charts illustrating increasing trends in poverty between 2000 and 2012.
How Britain Cut Child Poverty In Half 10 Years
 
 
These articles describe how Britain decreased childhood poverty from 3.4 million in 1999 to 1.7 million in 2007/2008.   Strategies employed to achieve results are presented.
Britain used a combination of two-generation-based strategies to make work pay and support working families with young children:  
1)      Raised minimum wage to 50% of median wage
2)      Raised income of families with children
·         Expand child care tax credits
·         Working Tax Credit (equivalent to US Earned Income Tax Credit) paid throughout year
3)      Invested in early childhood programs
·         Universal Pre-K for 3 and 4 year-olds
·         Pre-school for disadvantaged 2 year-olds
·         Expanded paid maternity leave
·         Home visiting nurse services for 0-3 year-olds in disadvantaged communities
Living Wage Calculator for Rochester
Provides tables that compare living wages to poverty wages based on various family compositions.
Measuring Poverty by the Council on Children and Families
Separate handout
This is a summary of the Standard Poverty Measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure.
Moving 1000 People Out of Poverty Every 1000 Days
This is a key reading covering the implementation of an asset-based approach to addressing poverty in Jacksonville, Florida.  The approach is led by leaders from the public, private, civic and non-profit sectors.  Best practice principles, leadership practices and methodology practices are described including an asset-based theory of change framework, common performance measures, the program model and program, results.
Poverty In Rochester, N.Y – Challenges and Opportunities – Congresswomen Louise Slaughter
handout
 
 
 
This document outlines Congresswoman Slaughter’s current work in Congress to address poverty at home and around the country, as well as to engage local stakeholders who share the same goal: ending poverty. The Congresswoman’s approach to addressing poverty is organized in four priority areas:
·         Create and Protect Jobs
·         Train and Educate Our Local Students and Workers
·         Engage High Risk and Vulnerable Communities
·         Preserve the Social Safety Net
Reducing Poverty in Rochester - An International Scan of Options to Consider (CGR report)
This is a comprehensive study CGR completed at the request of the Rochester United Way (12/2014).  It covers the state of poverty, causes and recommendations applying to the 9 county Rochester region.  It also reviews current anti-poverty policies and interventions in the areas of child care, housing, education, workforce development and income supports and supplements.
Coverage of No Wrong Door policy is covered on P 28.
Conclusions and recommendations are provided on pages 33 through 38.
UK Childhood Poverty
Lessons learned that are transferrable to the US.
Structural Racism and Community Building
This document discusses concepts and data showing the relationship between race, poverty and disadvantage.
Suburban poverty levels spike (Rochester Business Journal article)
Introduces and summarizes the report listed immediately below from a Rochester perspective.
Trauma – How Childhood Trauma affects Health Across a Lifetime
15 minute TED Talk on the insidious effects of childhood trauma on early childhood cognitive development and physical health.  
Trauma and Poverty: A Case of The Chicken and The Egg:  Cheryl Sharp & Sharon Wise
Webinar: An intimate look at Trauma Informed Care from Sharon Wise who lived it, rose up from it and now is a successful speaker/ consultant in the trauma-informed care domain.  Go to the web-link, scroll down to the video link "To view the video click here".  Fill out a short 'registration' form to obtain immediate access to the content.  There are two presenters in this Webinar.  The first one is mostly factual provide some useful concepts if you are interested and have the time.  The second presentation starting at 32:59 minutes is presented by Sharon Wise. 
White Privilege Checklist
This checklist is about understanding and recognizing racial privilege.
Wilson Foundation SHiFT Study
(Service and Housing Interventions for Families in Transition)
 
Full report:
A 30 month longitudinal study of mothers in emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing programs.
Work versus Poverty Tradeoff
Describes the work versus pay tradeoff for NYS and other states.  The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincen­tive for work. This research makes a case for revising welfare policy to incentivize work for higher pay to offset current economic disincentives.  Description of various Federal/State public welfare programs are summarized.
Working Poor (Profile of)
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
2012 Report on characteristics and trends of the working poor