Precarity of the Gig Economy
The accolades ring resoundingly for a revolutionary, new economy! You can dictate the circumstance and nature of your work. Need some extra cash? This job fits perfectly with your late-night tendencies, flexible nature, and strong-willed attitude. Never work for someone else again!
Marketed as a form of liberation, the Gig Economy portrays itself as a way to be your own boss, to make your own hours, and to stick it to the man. Who could denounce that? We see it on every street corner now — ride-hailing service apps stand as a glaring example. The temporary job economy roars to life and promises to cater every whim of those who can afford it.
Sweeping trade deals bring stability and predictability to the market (at least for the corporations who write and lobby for them). Oh how glorious to have a bank account chock full of free speech! Even the politicians are affordable; they ensure the John Galts have their corporate citizens well-represented.
Low-paying service sector jobs, often tipped income only, replaced steady manufacturing jobs. By design, the reduced wages were supplemented with access to cheap capital. How could this happen to us? Well, the people who own the businesses where we work fulfilled their obligation to profit shareholders — those who own the companies. That would be not you.
In the vast majority of cases, workers have no ownership in their enterprise. This makes the decision quite easy for those holding capital — remain here abiding by labor and environmental laws, or export your production to places where there is no consequence regarding treatment of people or planet. You make more money that way! That is just business as usual. Nothing to cause alarm.
There are many who came before that spoke on the increasingly precarious nature of work in a capitalist economy. Friedrich Engels referred to the “reserve army of labor” in “The Condition of the Working Class in England” (1845). Karl Marx elaborated on the idea — articulating how capitalism necessitates a steady stream of workers with little prospects and no security.
Currently, the President’s administration touts the lowest unemployment rate in however long. Every administration prior repeated the same old, tired line. Yet a glut of workers credentialed with master’s degrees find they are overqualified for the local box stores and warehouses — jobs that don’t cover the cost of being alive. The unemployment numbers exclude a fourth of workers who simply gave up searching for meaningful work. Those who can find jobs are kept part-time for employers to avoid honoring benefits.
Make no mistake about it; the few who actually possess enough capital of consequence intend for this situation. Precarity is finding yourself in a desperate and insecure situation as a worker — despite long hours or multiple jobs. Precarity is working 40 hours a week and not affording rent.
It’s being stuck at any unsatisfying job that poorly suits your skillset because you need the healthcare. It is being unable to afford healthcare at all. Workers are more docile when kept in a precarious state of being - more timid and obedient. Don’t miss a student loan payment.
You are far less likely to question authority when you are easily replaced. When ten others clamor for any opportunity, you don’t ask for a raise. The only viable solution is to organize. Vast apparatuses interplay to enforce your compliance.
Thus, we find a union of all workers to be the only true recourse. We are the makers, the dreamers, the doers. We are the hands that built this world, and it is time to take ownership of our work. We only accomplish that together; that is our hope. The solution to the Gig economy is a worker’s economy!
