Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The brave new world of work: where employees are treated as criminals

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, May 10, 2013

The brave new world of work: where employees are treated as criminals

Click here to access article by Anthony Elliott from The Conversation (Australia).

We have seen this new world of work expressed accurately as a "race to the bottom" for workers. The bottom as recently appeared in Bangladesh where over 1000 (and counting) low wage workers died in a building that did not meet required building standards and was ignored by officials --after all, workers are disposable in this brave new world of work.

This bottom of working conditions that enriches major international corporations does not go without its effects on working conditions in the technologically advanced countries. Workers in these countries are fully aware that their jobs may be subject to off-shoring; and now with high unemployment rates nearly everywhere, they cling tenuously and anxiously to their own jobs where their performance is closely monitored. The author describes the increasing introduction of electronic monitoring methods.