The summer of 2023 was electrifying for the labor movement. Unofficially dubbed the “summer of the hot strike,” workers ranging from janitors to UPS drivers to Hollywood actors have threatened or engaged in walkouts on a scale not seen since the 1980s, though by the majority the Americans were supported.
Amid high-profile labor negotiations, a major labor victory by lesser-known members of the entertainment industry has been buried that is likely to impact a large chunk of the job market.
In June, the National Labor Relations Review Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for protecting workers’ union rights, issued a ruling in favor of the makeup artists, hairstylists and wig artists who provide services to the Atlanta Opera. The subsequent rule change could make it easier for millions of American workers to organize, unionize and strike to protect their common interests. The ruling expanded the conditions a company must meet to classify a worker as an independent contractor rather than an employee.
This is a hopeful outcome for Catholics investing in the church’s 130 years of support for organized labor at a time when union activity in all sectors is at its highest level in decades after a long decline.
Social cohesion is based not only on identity but also on the pursuit of perceived common interests. Inclusive unions can do that.
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The change is also a welcome victory for all working-class people, who increasingly have to rely on the gig economy to make ends meet, because historically, income inequality has risen as union membership falls.
In McKinsey’s latest American Opportunity Survey, 36% of respondents said they were self-employed. Extrapolated to the entire working population, that would be more than 56 million people. Employers who employ independent contractors save not only on payroll taxes, but also direct benefits such as health insurance and pensions.
The most recent development of the last decade is how much of this work is brokered and controlled by technology companies and their platforms.
While tech companies present their platforms as neutral arenas where sideline workers can be their own bosses, the scale of the gig economy no longer matches that goal, if ever. According to a Pew Research Center report, 16% of Americans have done gig work through an online platform. The numbers are higher for workers under the age of 30 (30%), Hispanic (30%), or low-income earners (25%).
The working poor are therefore increasingly forced to supplement their unaffordable wages with heavier workloads and fewer regulatory protections. In fact, nearly a third of Pew respondents said these platforms were their primary source of income, and a majority said they depend on them to make ends meet.
The growth of both gig work and workers’ dependence on this sector calls for greater protections for ordinary people. This is especially true because these companies exercise a great deal of control over the tariff – the government’s primary measure of determining whether an employee is a contractor or an employee.
Carpoolers, for example, find that their payment or even their ability to pick up customers depends on the extent to which they follow the instructions of the algorithm, their digital middle manager. What’s worse, since the algorithms are proprietary technology, drivers can’t even get full answers as to why they need to do something or why there are changes to pay for.
Workers on these platforms walk like employees, talk like employees, but enjoy the protections of contractors.
Given the trends in sectors like higher education, where there has been a consolidation of a two-tier workforce composed of a massive underclass of contracted, overqualified and underpaid associate professors, it would be naïve for other members of the educated professional class to assume that if so, be safe from these abuses. Finally, the complement to higher education came before the sweeping shift to artificial intelligence that is currently underway.
Since the publication of the working encyclical Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII. from 1891, the Church places special emphasis on the role of organized labor in a just society. The NLRB decision is an encouraging sign from the perspective of Catholic social teaching, as it paves the way for the strengthening of a value central to the modern church: solidarity among workers.
Social cohesion—the sense of connectedness and solidarity between groups—is cultivated in response to something. It is based not only on identity but also on the pursuit of perceived common interests. Inclusive unions can do that.
This is one of the key findings of the first encyclical on the work of Pope John Paul II, Laborem Excercens, written on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Rerum Novarum. In it, John Paul develops his theory of solidarity as the fruit of the common struggle of the working class and other oppressed people working together for the common good against a background of unjust conditions.
He develops this idea further by saying: “This solidarity must be there whenever it is called for by the social degradation of the issue of work, by the exploitation of workers and by the growing areas of poverty and even hunger.” The Church is firmly committed to this cause as she considers it her mission, her ministry, a proof of her faithfulness to Christ so that she can truly be the “Church of the Poor”. ”
He insists that the purpose of work is to serve the good of all mankind, not profit.
Workers and the church have a responsibility to organize and fight to ensure conditions reflect this fact. This NLRB decision, like victories in support of workers’ rights, is a win for all of us because it is fair.
The gig economy is the scene of a crucial battle in the fight for workers’ rights. By fighting for justice, workers fighting unnecessary precariousness will enrich our tradition. Part of this fight that we can all contribute to is making it easier for all workers, regardless of their classification, to organize.
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