WEBVTT - Making Work Work for Everyone (with Saru Jayaraman and Michelle Miller) 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.160 Welcome to How to Citizen The Bariton Day, a show 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:11.480 where we reimagine the words citizen as a verb, reclaim 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.800 it from those who weaponized it, and remind ourselves how 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:19.040 to wield our collective power. This is a new episode. 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:26.960 I'm Bariton Day. Like any healthy democracy, this show is 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.600 stronger when you participate, and we have a number of 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.040 ways for you to do that. If you're on the 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.559 social media, use the hashtag how to Citizen when you 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:38.960 post about the show, and we will lift up as 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.800 many as we can. If you want to be more direct, 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.120 you could always reach out to us via comments at 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.080 how to citizen dot com. We still check email around here, 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.360 and if you're doing the actions that we ask you 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.040 too at the individual show, let us know what you did. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:59.640 Send an email to action at how to citizen dot com. 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:04.040 I am loving seeing your reflections the organizations you're starting. 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.880 It's really great. Let's keep it up and speaking to 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.680 keep it things up. We would be remiss if we 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.560 didn't ask you to rate and review the show wherever 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.440 you're listening to it. I suggest five stars, but that's 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.800 up to you. Citizen. A quick word on how we 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.920 make this show. We do most of them live in 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:29.360 zoom with a visible cameras on chat room, fired up audience, 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.600 which could include you. You have a chance to ask 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:36.760 our guest questions and literally help make the show. You 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.360 can sign up for these invites by going to how 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:44.199 to citizen dot com and joining my email list. And yes, 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:47.840 I love the live audience experience. But you're special because 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.880 you're right here, So don't worry. I'm gonna be back 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.680 check in with you, certainly at the end of the show, 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:58.000 where I give you particular ways that you can citizen. 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.840 Now a we to pass the mic to myself as 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:10.520 I set up this episode. We are gathered here today 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:15.600 to talk about work and the people who do it 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.320 in our society. For the past several decades, we've seen 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.800 a consolidation of power in our country and in our economy. 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:28.360 Productivity has gone up by seventent but wages have remained 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.919 stagnant for the last forty years. In the midst of 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:35.280 a pandemic, we are even more exposed to who has 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.920 power in the economy. And while we talk in abstract 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.760 terms about labor and capital, underneath of all that is people, 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:46.840 and as we know from this show, we are all 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:51.160 about that people power. One of the things we learned 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.160 from Eric lew in episode two is that when we 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:59.000 have power, we tend to consolidated. More power begets more power. 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.000 It compounds like interest, and we've seen that happen so 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.080 much with our economy and who has the power to 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.760 flex within it. But we also learned something else from 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.359 that seminal episode on power with Eric, that it's infinite 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.799 that we can generate it by shifting our attention, our focus, 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:21.480 our labors in the direction of distributing power more to 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:26.920 the people. There is a new labor movement afoot in 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.040 this country, and while we are drowning in the stories 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.600 of things that aren't working, there are people working to 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:37.400 make work itself work for so many of us. And 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.480 we are honored to have two of those individuals here 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.760 representing themselves and their organizations in building a new type 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:50.160 of movement for and with workers. Michelle Miller is the 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.960 co founder and co executive director of coworker dot org, 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.480 ap peer based platform that deploys digital tools and data 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:02.720 and strategies to help people improve their work lives. This 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:08.040 organization describes itself as a laboratory for workers to experiment 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.720 with power building strategies and win meaningful changes in the 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.680 twenty one century economy. Before co founding coworker dot Org, 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.360 Michelle spent a decade at the Service Employees International Union, 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.400 where she used creative media and the arts to advance 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:28.479 union campaigns. We are joined by Saru Jayaraman, the director 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.000 of the Social Movement Center at the University of California, Berkeley, 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.040 and because one job is not enough for this hard worker, 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.080 the president of One Fair Wage, which is fighting to 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:43.080 end sub minimum wages for tipped and other low wage 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.520 workers and ensure that everybody who works in America receives 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.160 at least a full fair minimum wage from their employer. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.400 Prior to One Fair Wage, Saro co founded Restaurant Opportunities 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.440 Centers United to improve wages and working conditions for the 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:02.440 nation's restaurant workforce. Both Michelle and Saru have been at 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.080 this for a long time. In some cases they have 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.720 degrees in it. They teach it, they've studied it, and 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:10.440 they've practiced it. And they share something else in common. 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.800 They both have a White House connect I'm speaking, of course. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.360 At the previous White House, Michelle co moderated a panel 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:21.680 with then President Obama on worker Voice, Saru was recognized 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.599 by that same White House as a champion of change back. 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.520 So I want to start with a quote actually from 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:34.880 the home page of coworker dot org, which says the following, 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.440 at co worker, we believe people should have agency and 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.760 power in their work lives. Most of us will spend 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.440 a third of our adult lives at work, more time 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:46.920 than we spend with our families, in school or participating 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.240 in our community civic life. Yet many of us are 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.839 silenced and unseen at our jobs. We deserve to have 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.839 a voice in shaping our working conditions and the ways 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.880 in which work happens. We are powerful, and together we 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:07.039 can transform our jobs and workplaces. Amazing sentiments, very well 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.039 stated and well said, and it sets the stage for 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.880 why we're here. Even though it's from Coworker det work, 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:14.240 that represents a lot of the work you've both have 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.440 been doing across your whole careers. You're both on the 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.719 front lines of new ways of looking at work, and 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:26.159 I want to understand from you how, even if the 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.919 types of workers your organizations focus on are different, some 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.279 of the tactics and struggles you're seeing may actually be 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:37.320 the same. Can you tell me about who you're supporting 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.840 with your work and what that looks like. Michelle, I'll 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:43.840 start with you. Sure, thank you so much. I'm very 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.200 happy to be here with all of you. Um SO 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.400 co worker is UM. We sometimes describe ourselves as the 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.720 welcome that to the labor movement on the Internet. We're 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:57.040 an open platform for anybody to start a workplace campaign 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.159 around something they care about that they want to change, 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.200 and we help the muse internet tools to build up 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.599 a committee of their fellow co workers, no matter where 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.680 those co workers are in the country. And so most 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:13.280 of the people that we support are people in service sector, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.680 low wage jobs, people in the gig economy. We've worked 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.080 closely with the organizations that RU founded rock UM in 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:24.360 restaurant work, retail and gig and and many other parts 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.160 of the economy where people are sort of doing that 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.040 frontline work, frontline service work. The people that we interact 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.880 with every day UM as we are going about our 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:37.640 business so just quickly during COVID nineteen, one example is 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:42.560 we supported campaigns by grocery store workers at almost every 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.080 national and regional chain, and they were the people who 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:50.040 were able to recognize very quickly the potential health impacts 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.280 of having to work during the pandemic and the necessity 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:54.600 of having grocery store employees on the front lines. And 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:58.720 so they one hazard pay and made hazard pay like 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.840 just an understood demand that they were able to win 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:04.960 at the company level and then sort of in the 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.040 media level, where when people were talking about what workers 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:10.360 deserve in this moment, they were always including this idea 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:15.000 of hawzard pay, and that has been for those workers. 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:17.840 Just the act of coming together and winning hazard pay 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.560 at places like Trader Joe's and and Whole Foods and 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.840 other places engage them in an experience of their own 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.840 collective power that has kept them together over time to 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.480 ensure that those companies hang on to the protections that 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:31.920 they want. So that's a little bit about who we're 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:35.560 working with and how we're working on these campaigns. I 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:37.920 love the way you put that engage them in the 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.600 experience of their own collective power. You landed at the 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:45.280 right podcast right now, Michelle um Saru. I have a 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:48.960 similar question to you. You know, who is one fair 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.080 wage supporting with its work? What does that work look like? 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.720 Right after September eleven, two thousand one, I co founded 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.839 the Restaurant Opportunity Center together with workers, restaurant workers with 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.280 lost their jobs and their co workers lives at Windows 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:04.800 on the World, which was the restaurant at the top 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.720 of the World Trade Center Town one, and since that 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.080 time nineteen years ago, been fighting to raise wages and 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.559 working conditions in the restaurant industry and now more broadly 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.240 in the service sector, all tipped workers. Um So, they're 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:22.160 about thirteen points six million restaurant workers in America, or 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.600 there were right before the pandemic. Another couple million other 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:30.040 tipped workers now salon, car wash, wheelchair attendants, hair salon workers. 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.720 These are all tipped workers. And then gig workers who 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.560 received tips are also under our umbrella. And what we've 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.880 been collectively fighting for is, you know, at this point, 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.000 we're close to fifteen or sixteen million workers in America 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.199 collectively fighting to end the sub minimum wage for tipped workers, 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:48.760 which is still two dollars and thirteen cents an hour 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.560 in the United States of America. And I'll tell you 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.679 more about the history of why it's two dollars and 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.360 thirteen cents an hour. It's a literal legacy of slavery 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:58.920 and a little bit but just to say who these 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:03.839 workers are. They are women, they're just proportionally women of color. 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:09.240 They are adults, they're not teenagers, um the media ages 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:13.400 thirty five. And they are literally the lowest paid workers 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:15.480 in America. Every year the U. S. Department of Labor 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.280 has put out a list of the ten lowest paying jobs, 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.559 and every year, seven of the ten lowest paying jobs 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.440 in America are all in one sector, the restaurant and 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.880 service sector. So you know, it's the people who put 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.800 food on our tables, who, frankly, even before the pandemic, 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:34.800 couldn't put food on their own families tables. With the pandemic, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.000 it became an issue of life and death because sixty 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.000 of these workers couldn't get unemployment insurance. About ten million 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.360 of these fifteen million workers lost their jobs, and sixty 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:49.679 of them couldn't get unemployment insurance, not because they weren't documented. 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.000 There was a whole other issue for immigrants, but for 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.360 documented workers, they couldn't get unemployment insurance because they were 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:59.160 living off tips and their states told them you earned 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:01.280 too little, it does look like you earned anything, or 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.920 you earned too little for us to award you benefits. 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:08.199 And so these workers were gaslight. They were told, because 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:10.079 we pay you too little, you're not going to get 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.120 benefits that, by the way, you pay taxes to get. 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.520 And now these same workers are being asked to go 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:21.040 back to work and enforce social distancing and mask rules 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.000 with the very same customers from whom they're supposed to 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.800 get tips to make up that two dollar wage and 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.679 bring it to the full minimum wage. So you know 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.160 who are these workers. They're the workers that frankly, are 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:38.800 going to either stop or perpetuate a super spreader event 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.679 this fall when indoor dining really becomes a thing in 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.800 a lot of the East Coast, and the CDC has 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.319 reported eating at a restaurant makes you twice as likely 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:51.280 to get the virus, which means both the workers and 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.840 everybody you know who eats in these restaurants is going 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.560 to be at incredible risks. So we're relying on these 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.880 workers who are protecting us, and we're paying them two 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.240 dollars at the same time. That's who these workers are. 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.040 Thank you for that overview, And I think bringing it 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:13.000 to the tension, the sort of contradictory, the paradoxical demands 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.560 that we've put on a certain set of workers to 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:20.720 ingratiate themselves to customers, will also disciplining them and becoming 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.920 some sort of rule enforcer and a and a public 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.640 health official. That doesn't quite add up. It just sounds unreasonable. 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.600 There is a word that we are getting more familiar 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.559 with in this show and encouraging people to embrace as well, 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.080 and that is power. And you know where does it 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.200 reside and who has it? And in the age old 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:45.800 question of employers and employees, there is a power dynamic 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.360 and we've seen some shifts in that, certainly at the 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.800 highest levels in the US over the past several decades, 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:55.439 a declining union membership as one example, or the distribution 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.480 of wages and earnings as another. But I'm curious what 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.240 are you both seeing and what's different now than it 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.280 was for fifty years ago. I can start, if you 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.400 don't mind. This is where I'd love to bring in 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:11.160 the history because why are we so focused on the 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:14.160 fact that six or seven million people earn a two 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.600 dollar wage. We're focused on it because it's the greatest 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.600 power that the industry has over its workers, which is 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.440 the power not to pay them at all and have 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.679 customers essentially pay them for them. It's the power to 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.720 say I will benefit from the value of your labor 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.839 without actually paying for it. It's the power to basically 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:38.160 have one group of working people, which is customers, pay 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:42.839 for another group of working people's wages. And what's amazing 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:46.719 in this moment is that literally thousands of workers are 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.960 now rising up and saying I've had enough of this, 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.560 and it's a hundred and fifty years overdue. Because tipping 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:57.559 originated in feudal Europe, it was something that aristocrats and 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.320 nobles gave to serve some vassals, but always on top 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.319 of a wage. When it came to the United States, 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.360 it was actually right around the time of emancipation eighteen 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:09.719 fifties eighteen sixties, and the restaurant lobby demanded the right 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.480 to hire newly freed slaves, mostly black women at the time, 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.199 and not pay them anything and have them live entirely 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:20.440 on tips. They wanted the ability to basically continue slavery 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.240 um to have black workers that they didn't have to 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.160 pay because they didn't value their labor much less so 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.240 because they were black women, and so that idea that 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:32.000 a black woman could be paid zero dollars an hour. Frankly, 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:34.440 a black person could be paid zero dollars an hour 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.280 and have to live off of tips. Became law in 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.320 ninety eight, is part of the New Deal when everybody 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.000 got the right to the minimum wage for the first 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:44.200 time in the United States, except for three groups of 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:49.440 black workers, farm workers, domestic workers, and tipped restaurant workers 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.680 who were told, you get a zero dollar wage as 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:53.360 long as tips bring you to the full minimum wage. 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:57.040 We went from zero in eight to two dollars and 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.160 thirteen cents an hour, a two dollar increase over one 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.600 hundred and fifty years. And I think, I mean, we 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.960 all know it wouldn't be two dollars if it were men, 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.760 or if it were white men. But it's women, and 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:11.160 it's women of color, and they largely work at eye 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.040 hoops and Denny's and Red Lobsters, and they're struggling to 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.400 make ends meet because for a hundred fifty years, because 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:21.280 of the incredible power of a trade lobby called the 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.720 National Restaurant Association. We call it the other n r A. 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.240 It represents the chains, the eye hoops, the apple these 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.760 the olive garden. And here's the thing, like, you know, 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:35.080 maybe this absurd legacy of slavery would have gone away 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.480 if it hadn't been for exactly what you said, the 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:43.280 concentration of power among these chains who formed this formidable 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:47.200 trade lobby and have been named the tenth most powerful 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.040 lobbying group in Congress and in every state, the State 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.880 Restaurant Association is the number one voice on the minimum wage, 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.400 on paid sick leave, on paid family leave, on any 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.080 worker issue. At the federal level, the n r A, 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.280 the other n r A as we call it, is 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.680 the number one voice on employment issues in Congress. And 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:08.200 so until now it's been what we call Da Vita 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.560 versus Goliath. It's not David versus Golliath, it's the Vita 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:15.280 or Daniela versus Goliath, because these are women and women 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.280 of color up against the most powerful trade lobby in 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:22.520 the United States. And it's been a really, really tough fight. 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:24.960 We've actually won a full minimum wage with tips on 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:28.040 top three times in Michigan, Maine, and d c. And 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:32.560 in every instance, this incredibly powerful trade lobby lobbied and 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:37.080 bribed democrats, let's be real, to overturn the will of 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:40.040 the people in each of those places. And so it's 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:42.800 been a tough fight. You know, five steps forward two 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.560 steps back because we're up against this huge lobby and 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.440 finally we've reached this pandemic moment where we have literally 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.440 thousands of workers who are saying that's it. I'm done. 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.000 Enough is enough, because you know, you're asking me to 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.320 go back to work for two and three dollars, put 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:00.600 my life at risk and my mom they's life at 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.000 risk for two or three dollars when tips are down. 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.879 You're asking me to enforce these rules with these crazy 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:09.560 customers who I don't know if you'll have seen the 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:12.199 news clips, but they're assaulting servers right now. They are 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:16.639 assaulting servers for trying to enforce these rules, and so 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.400 workers have been going on strike. We organized the first 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.479 strike August thirty one. I don't know if it's possible 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.560 by tunity for me to share an image. I'd love 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:28.200 to share an image from the strengths. Is that possible? So, yeah, 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.600 this is a podcast, and you cannot see what's Aru 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:32.800 put up on her screen, So let me try to 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:37.119 paint the picture with words. She shared a photograph. The 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:42.040 setting is Time Square. There's a large crowd gathered to protest. 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:46.600 They're all wearing face masks, their photographs, their signs that 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:51.720 say things like paid sick days. Dominating the photo is 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.600 a towering twenty four ft cutout of a black woman 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.200 with long braids and a face mask that says fight, 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.720 don't stop are She's wearing an apron and looking directly 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.880 at the camera lens as she makes a fist with 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.560 her right hand and a gesture very reminiscent of Rosie Deriveter. 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:16.560 This isn't Rosie, though. This is Elena the Essential Worker. 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.520 We erected her in Times Square and also in Sokolow 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.800 Square in Chicago. There are five of hers. She'll be 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.440 appearing also in Philly and d C in Boston. UM 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.040 workers are going on strike all over the country to 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.119 say enough is enough. We will not go back to 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.359 work without a full fair minimum wage with tips on 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.800 top and talking about power. What I think is one 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.120 of the most extraordinary things about this moment is that 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.639 I've seen hundreds of restaurant owners who actually opposed us 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.520 on this issue, fought us on this issue, who suddenly 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:52.960 come to us and said, enough is enough. We think 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.159 you're right. The time has come to get rid of 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.160 this legacy of slavery and to move on. And so 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:11.520 workers are thrise s up and employers are responding, Michelle, 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:15.600 I'd love you too talk about power dynamics in the industry. 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:17.640 And I know you work in so many but one 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:19.960 of the ones that feel so different to me from 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:22.960 the world of tipped workers or grocery workers that we've 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.480 heard about so far is the world of tech workers. 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.600 And if I could kind of suggest getting your analysis 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.359 on what the workplace power dynamics look like, they're because 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:34.760 so many of us on the outside say these workers 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.280 are highly compensated, they get everything they want, they have 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.160 foodsball or what have you. What does that dynamic really 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.320 look like, and what may some of us not understand 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:46.320 about power in the tech workplace? So power really is 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.120 central to this question. I think tech provides a really 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.399 good illustration of how money doesn't always even equal power. 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:57.800 So shortly after the election, there were many tech workers 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:02.440 who started getting together and and you know, deciding that 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:06.040 they were not going to participate in creating lists for deportation, 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:10.080 that they were going to choose not to build surveillance software, 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.760 that they were going to not participate in the further 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.320 incursion of human rights via technology. And as they were 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.160 having these conversations, one of the things they really realized 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:21.960 was like, Oh, we've already kind of built all of this, 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:26.320 like we've been doing this for many years. And these 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:30.080 very well compensated workers, who in many of their companies 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:34.160 had various forums where they could speak up and talk 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.560 about things that were bothering them, had a sense that 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:43.119 when they started talking about the sort of fundamental money 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:46.080 makers inside of these companies, inside of places like Google, 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:50.000 which is like the collection of data on every single 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.240 user that touches even comes near a Google product, or 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:58.600 at Facebook, the enabling of disinformation campaigns and and advise 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.600 and and Twitter just being Twitter, that it was going 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:05.520 to take something more than speaking up once or twice 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.040 at a meeting. And so they came to us and 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:12.439 they asked us. Their first question was is it legal 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.840 and okay for us to use labor organizing around our 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:20.760 ethics questions with our companies um? Which was such an 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:24.920 interesting um way to approach this because for most low 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:27.840 wage workers, like the rules in the law have literally 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.880 never worked in their favor, and so there isn't that 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:34.040 that question doesn't come up as much as for tech workers, 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:38.080 even for folks who maybe came from more marginalized communities, 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:40.959 like the rules have generally worked out, and so the 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:43.200 first thing they had to do was really think about, 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:48.960 like interrogate the idea that labor law and labor organizing 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:52.679 is not necessarily governed by a set of fair rules 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:54.840 at the outset, and you might just have to take 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:57.680 a risk anyway to build the power that you need 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:01.119 in order to debate changes. And so we started working 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.520 specifically with a group of employees at Google who were 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:08.600 concerned about a series of issues inside the company, both 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:13.280 around internal harassment campaigns directed at people of color and 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:16.080 queer people and trans people who worked at the company. 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:18.720 That essentially what would happen would be that they would 0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:23.320 raise issues around their ethics, concerns about products that the 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:28.320 company was building on internal message boards, and then more 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.119 like conservative or racist people inside the company would go 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:35.840 after them and attack them, and they couldn't get the 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:39.800 company to take their complaints about what was happening seriously 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.120 to kept asking someone to discipline the people who were 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.200 going after them, and they couldn't get the company to respond. 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:48.280 And so what they started having to do with something 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:51.359 that they had never done before, which is organized themselves 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:53.159 into a collective you know, we talked to them a 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:56.679 lot about how like, if you are all individually fighting this, 0:22:57.119 --> 0:22:59.359 you are never actually going to make the progress that 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:01.760 you need. You have to do it all together and 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:05.000 then telling the story of what was happening to them publicly. 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:08.840 And so you know, for these employees, the fights that 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.920 they were having with these companies were not fights about 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:14.560 whether or not they were getting enough pay or whether 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:16.600 or not they were getting decent benefits, but really like 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:19.960 what does our labor produce and what is the environment 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:22.600