Invisible Exploitation How Capital Extracts Value Beyond Wage Labour
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Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (Revised July 2008) Fact Sheet #21: Recordkeeping Requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) This fact sheet provides a summary of the FLSA's recordkeeping regulations, 29 CFR Part 516. Records To Be Kept By Employers Highlights: The FLSA sets minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards for employment subject to its provisions. Unless exempt, covered employees must be paid at least the minimum wage and not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for overtime hours worked. Posting: Employers must display an official poster outlining the provisions of the Act, available at no cost from local offices of the Wage and Hour Division and toll-free, by calling 1-866-4USWage (1-866-487-9243). This poster is also available electronically for downloading and printing at http://www.dol.gov/osbp/sbrefa/poster/main.htm. What Records Are Required: Every covered employer must keep certain records for each non-exempt worker. The Act requires no particular form for the records, but does require that the records include certain identifying information about the employee and data about the hours worked and the wages earned. The law requires this information to be accurate. The following is a listing of the basic records that an employer must maintain: 1. Employee's full name and social security number. 2. Address, including zip code. 3. Birth date, if younger than 19. 4. Sex and occupation. 5. Time and day of week when employee's workweek begins. 6. -
The Shifting Boundaries of Capitalism and the Conflict of Surplus Value Appropriation Within the Gig Economy
The Shifting Boundaries of Capitalism and the Conflict of Surplus Value Appropriation within the Gig Economy. Abstract This chapter addresses the two important themes that we believe characterise how the platform- based gig economy operates. The first of the two themes explores the shifting boundaries of the triangular business model and its place within the wider, evolving capitalist structure. The triangular business model is the foundation of the platform-based gig economy and consists of the digital platform, the producer/worker and the end consumer. The digital platform acts as the intermediary and provides a market for exchange of goods and services between the workers and the end consumers. The fluidity of the triangular relationship has left the platform- based gig economy beyond the reach of the traditional neoliberal regulatory system leading to the blurring of employee and employer relations. The second theme is based on the exploration and application of the Marxist concept of surplus value creation and its appropriation within the gig structure. Here we seek to show the exploitation of the worker as a participant in the triangular business model. Given that the worker bears the majority of the entrepreneurial risk and provides capital they ought to receive a proportion of the surplus value created from the transaction. We have established the increasing dominance of platforms within the triangular business model and the enhanced scope for exploitation of workers in form of poor remuneration standards due to employee status ambiguity and the appropriation of a disproportionate amount of surplus value flowing to the platform owners. Key words Gig economy, surplus value, Marxism, triangular business model, exploitation of workers Introduction We are in the midst of a seismic reorganisation of the global economy, characterised by the emergence of a ‘digital platform economy’ which has consequently changed the way we work, socialise and create value in the economy. -
Real Wages Once More: a Response to Judy Stephenson
Real Wages Once More: A Response to Judy Stephenson Robert C. Allen Working Paper # 0006 July 2017 Division of Social Science Working Paper Series New York University Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island P.O Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, UAE https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/academics/divisions/social-science.html Real Wages Once More: A Response to Judy Stephenson By Robert C. Allen Global Distinguished Professor of Economic History New York University Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Senior Research Fellow Nuffield College New Road Oxford OX1 1NF United Kingdom July 2017 Abstract Judy Stephenson’s claim that institutional wage series like of those Greenwich Hospital overstate the earnings of building workers by 20-30% is examined, and, it is argued here, the conclusion is unpersuasive. Whatever adjustments to existing wage series are necessary in view of her new evidence would have no significant implications for real wages in England compared to the rest of the world. Consequently, Judy Stephenson’s findings do not call into question the high wage high wage explanation of the Industrial Revolution. Economists and historians have collected long time series of wages and prices for England, and these have been used to measure changes in the standard of living of workers. The original approach was simply to compare an index of wages to an index of prices (roughly weighted to reflect spending) to see if the resulting real wage ratio went up or down.1 More recent approaches have tried to extract more information from the data by estimating annual earnings and comparing them to the annual cost of subsistence. -
Modern Monetary Theory: a Marxist Critique
Class, Race and Corporate Power Volume 7 Issue 1 Article 1 2019 Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique Michael Roberts [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower Part of the Economics Commons Recommended Citation Roberts, Michael (2019) "Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique," Class, Race and Corporate Power: Vol. 7 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. DOI: 10.25148/CRCP.7.1.008316 Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower/vol7/iss1/1 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts, Sciences & Education at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Class, Race and Corporate Power by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique Abstract Compiled from a series of blog posts which can be found at "The Next Recession." Modern monetary theory (MMT) has become flavor of the time among many leftist economic views in recent years. MMT has some traction in the left as it appears to offer theoretical support for policies of fiscal spending funded yb central bank money and running up budget deficits and public debt without earf of crises – and thus backing policies of government spending on infrastructure projects, job creation and industry in direct contrast to neoliberal mainstream policies of austerity and minimal government intervention. Here I will offer my view on the worth of MMT and its policy implications for the labor movement. First, I’ll try and give broad outline to bring out the similarities and difference with Marx’s monetary theory. -
Alabama Law Review
File: CHERRY_working for minimum wage_FINAL2.docCreated on: 8/19/2009 2:36:00 PM Last Printed: 9/9/2009 9:39:00 AM ALABAMA LAW REVIEW Volume 60 2009 Number 5 WORKING FOR (VIRTUALLY) MINIMUM WAGE: APPLYING THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT IN CYBERSPACE Miriam A. Cherry* INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1077 I. LABOR MARKETS IN CYBERSPACE ........................................ 1083 II. VIRTUAL WORK AND THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT ............ 1092 A. Low Wage Work in the Virtual World .............................. 1093 B. Future Issues to Consider in Potential FLSA Litigation .......... 1095 1. Employees versus Independent Contractors ................... 1096 2. Volunteers, and the Work versus Leisure Distinction ........ 1098 III. EXTENSION OF THE FLSA TO VIRTUAL WORK ....................... 1105 CONCLUSION .................................................................... 1109 INTRODUCTION When Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”)1 in 1938 to help relieve the downward spiral of wages in the Great Depres- sion, America’s workers commonly showed up to an employer’s place of * Associate Professor of Law, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law; B.A., 1996, Dartmouth College; J.D., 1999, Harvard Law School. I wish to acknowledge Gerald Caplan, Julie Davies, Frank Gevurtz, Amy Landers, Brian Landsberg, Martin Malin, Michael Malloy, Scott Moss, Beth Noveck, Angela Onwauchi-Willig, Robert L. Rogers, Brian Slocum, Paul Secunda, John Spran- kling, Charles Sullivan, Caitlin Trasande, Michelle Travis, and Jarrod Wong for their insights. I also received valuable feedback from a talk on related subjects at the American Bar Association’s Technol- ogy in the Practice & Workplace Committee meeting in May 2008 as well as at a workshop at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in the fall of 2008. -
Digital Marx: Toward a Political Economy of Distributed Media
tripleC 10(2): 313-333, 2012 ISSN 1726-670X http://www.triple-c.at Digital Marx: Toward a Political Economy of Distributed Media Andreas Wittel Nottingham Trent University, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham, United Kingdom, [email protected], http://www.ntu.ac.uk/apps/Profiles/70220-2-2/Dr_Andreas_Wittel.aspx Abstract: This is the claim: In the age of mass media the political economy of media has engaged with Marxist concepts in a rather limited way. In the age of digital media Marxist theory could and should be applied in a much broader sense to this field of research. The article will provide a rationale for this claim with a two step approach. The first step is to produce evidence for the claim that political economy of mass media engaged with Marxist theory in a rather limited way. It is also to explain the logic behind this limited engagement. The second step – which really is the core objective of this article – is an exploration of key concepts of Marx’s political economy - such as labour, value, property and struggle - and a brief outline of their relevance for a critical analysis of digital media. These concepts are particularly relevant for a deeper understanding of phenomena such as non-market production, peer production, and the digital commons, and for interventions in debates on free culture, intellectual property, and free labour. Keywords: Marx, labour, value, property, struggle, political economy of media, digital, distributed media, mass media, internet, network 1. Introduction This is the claim: In the age of mass media the political economy of media has engaged with Marxist concepts in a rather limited way. -
Piece-Rates As Inherently Exploitative: Adult/Asian Cam Models As Illustrative
New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Vol. 7, No. 2 (March 2015) Pp. 56-73 Piece-Rates as Inherently Exploitative: Adult/Asian Cam Models as Illustrative Paul William Mathews Philippines Studies Association of Australasia ABSTRACT: This paper argues that, regardless of contingent conditions, piece-rates areinherently exploitative. It theorizes piece-rates as a labour-remuneration system that is contrary to the interests of labour, exemplified by the new industry of Adult/Asian Cam Models (ACMs). Very little of any literature addresses the question of why a piece-rate system is deleterious for the worker. What the literature does extensively dwell upon is the kinds of piece-rate systems and their situational risks, effects, advantages and disadvantages, rather than the underlying principle of piece-rates as an inherently exploitative system. Thus the paper critiques a sample of contemporary economic/labour literature that focuses on the various models of piece-rate payments to best optimise worker productivity and gains for capital. Given the significant increase in piece-rate work throughout the world in the last few decades, the paper highlights how capital has shifted the risk of production to the worker. KEYWORDS: Adult/Asian Cam Models; cyber sex; labour relations; piece-rates; work conditions Introduction: Piece-rates and Sex-work piece-rate system of payment consists, in its will be illustrated with case studies of ACMs.1 simplest form, of remuneration to workers One of the major changes in western economies Aon the basis of the number of “products” they pro- over the past few decades has been the increased use duce in a given period of time vis-à-vis a wage that of various forms of performance-based pay vis-à-vis is dependent on the time at the work place. -
Earned Sick Time Faqs
Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office – Earned Sick Time FAQs Earned Sick Time in Massachusetts Frequently Asked Questions These FAQs are based upon the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law, M.G.L. c. 149, § 148C, and its accompanying regulations, 940 CMR 33.00. The Earned Sick Time Law sets minimum requirements; employers may choose to provide more generous policies. Table of Contents Section 1: Introduction, Applicability & Eligibility .......................................................................................................... 2 Subsection A: Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Subsection B: Employees Eligible for Earned Sick Time ............................................................................................... 2 Subsection C: Which Employers Need to Provide Earned Sick Time? ......................................................................... 4 Section 2: Paid versus Unpaid Earned Sick Time ............................................................................................................. 5 Section 3: General Rules .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Subsection A: How is Earned Sick Time Accrued? ....................................................................................................... 6 Subsection B: Carryover of hours from one year to the next ..................................................................................... -
Examining Crowd Work and Gig Work Through the Historical Lens of Piecework
Examining Crowd Work and Gig Work Through The Historical Lens of Piecework Ali Alkhatib, Michael S. Bernstein, Margaret Levi Computer Science Department and CASBS Stanford University {ali.alkhatib, msb}@cs.stanford.edu, [email protected] ABSTRACT physically embodied work such as driving and cleaning have The internet is empowering the rise of crowd work, gig work, now spawned multiple online labor markets as well [94,3,1, and other forms of on–demand labor. A large and grow- 2]. In this paper we will use the term on–demand labor, to ing body of scholarship has attempted to predict the socio– capture this pair of related phenomena: first, crowd work [83], technical outcomes of this shift, especially addressing three on platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) and questions: 1) What are the complexity limits of on–demand other sites of (predominantly) information work; and second, work?, 2) How far can work be decomposed into smaller mi- gig work [48, 118], often as platforms for one–off jobs, like crotasks?, and 3) What will work and the place of work look driving, courier services, and administrative support. like for workers? In this paper, we look to the historical schol- The realization that complex goals can be accomplished by arship on piecework — a similar trend of work decomposition, directing crowds of workers has spurred firms to explore sites distribution, and payment that was popular at the turn of the of labor such as AMT to find the limits of this distributed, 20th century — to understand how these questions might play on–demand workforce. -
Critiques of Growth in Classical Political Economy: Mill's Stationary
Critiques of growth in classical political economy: Mill’s stationary state and a Marxian response GARETH DALE ABSTRACT In recent political-economic theories of ‘nature,’ Mill and Marx/Engels form important reference points. Ecological economists see Mill’s ‘stationary state’ as seminal, while Marxists have ‘brought capitalism back in’ to debates on growth and climate change, sparking a Marxological renaissance that has overturned our understanding of Marx/Engels’ opus. This essay explores aspects of Mill’s and Marx/Engels’ work and contemporary reception. It identifies a resemblance between their historical dialectics. Marx’s communism is driven by logics of ‘agency’ and ‘structure’ (including the ‘tendency of profit rates to fall’). In Mill’s dialectic a ‘thesis,’ material progress, calls forth its ‘antithesis,’ diminishing returns. The inevitable ‘Aufhebung’ is a stationary state of wealth and population; Mill mentions countervailing tendencies but fails to consider their capacity to postpone utopia’s arrival. Today, Mill’s schema lives on in ecological economics, shorn of determinism but with its market advocacy intact. It appears to contrast with the ‘productive forces expansion’ espoused by Marx/Engels. They stand accused of ‘Promethean arrogance,’ ignoring ‘natural limits’ and ‘gambling on abundance.’ But I find these criticisms to be ill-judged, and propose an alternative reading, arguing that their work contains a critique of the ‘growth paradigm,’ and that their ‘cornucopian’ ends do not sanction ‘promethean’ means. That Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill inhabited the same city for over twenty years without encountering one another has prompted some of their admirers to compensate for the frustration of this event’s unfortunate non-occurrence by means of fantasy. -
4.3. Convict Labour
Christian G. De Vito 4.3. Convict Labour Convict labour is “the work performed by individuals under penal and/or adminis- trative control”.¹ It is the work of prisoners and deportees,individuals impressed into the armyand the navy,prisonersofwar,and military convicts. Arguablyaubiq- uitous phenomenon in human history,itstretches from Antiquitytothe present,ap- pears in virtuallyall parts of the world, and cuts across multiple punitive institutions and labour contexts: from the Romanmines to contemporary concentration camps, through the earlymodernMediterranean and Oceanic galleys, penal transportation, workhouses,and penitentiaries. This chapter addresses convict labour from three distinct perspectives. In the first section, Idiscuss its definition by pointing to the ways by which an individual becomes aconvict labourer.Icontend thatsome histor- ical processes are especiallylikelytoproduce such transformation: war; empire and state building;the search for labour flexibility; conceptualizationsofthe functionof punishment; and ideas on ethnicity,class, and gender.The second section highlights the new trends in bothlabour history and the history of punishment that have been, and still are, transformingthe studyofconvict labour.Iarguethatthree approaches have been especiallyrelevant: the reconceptualization of the “workingclass” beyond wagelabour,toinclude otherlabour relations imbricatedinthe process of labour commodification; the attention paid to the multiplicity of forms thatpunishment has taken historically, rather than to single punitive institutions; and the focus on the spatiality of punishment,i.e.onthe fact that punishing has often involved not onlythe immobilization of convicts, but also their relocation across space. The con- cludingsection reflects on how these new insights might provide the basisfor anew theory of the relationships between punishment and labour,both in the past and in the present. -
Ethical and Practical Matters in the Academic Use of Crowdsourcing
Understanding the Crowd: Ethical and Practical Matters in the Academic Use of Crowdsourcing B David Martin1, Sheelagh Carpendale2, Neha Gupta3( ), Tobias Hoßfeld4, Babak Naderi5, Judith Redi6, Ernestasia Siahaan6, and Ina Wechsung5 1 Xerox Research Centre Europe, Meylan, France 2 University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada 3 University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK [email protected] 4 University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany 5 TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany 6 Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands 1 Introduction Take the fake novelty of a term like “crowdsourcing” – supposedly one of the chief attributes of the Internet era ... “Crowdsourcing” is certainly a very effective term; calling some of the practices it enables as “digitally distributed sweatshop labor” – for this seems like a much better description of what’s happening on crowdsource-for-money platforms like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk – wouldn’t accomplish half as much” [34]. In his recent book “To Save Everything, Click Here” [34] Evgeny Morozov pro- duces a sustained critique of what he calls technological solutionism.Hiskey argument is that modern day technology companies, often situated in Silicon Valley, are increasingly touting technological innovation as the quick route to solving complex and thus far relatively intractable social and societal problems. He documents how in many cases the technologies simply do not deliver the wished for result, meaning that this trend ends up as little more than a mar- keting exercise for new technologies and gadgets. A related phenomenon is one where a technology innovation, that may be of little or ambiguous social merit is presented in a way that it is value-washed – given a positive social-spin, and marketed as something inherently virtuous when, once again the situation is far from clear.