Office Workstations in the Home (1985) / Chapter Skim
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Discussion: Labor Issues
Discussion: Labor Issues
Pages 85-94
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From page 85... ...
GEISLER: Let me cite the case of Ann Blackwell, a Blue Cross homeworker. She works an average of 34 hours a week, is paid 20 cents a claim, and her average hourly take-home after deducting her cost for the terminal is $12.18 an hour.*
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From page 86... ...
ZALUSKY: But, at 65 claims per hour being 100 percent performance for those inside the office, and they earn $7 per hour, then to produce $12 per hour the homeworker must be working at a pace far beyond the normal range statistically expected. Is there a different production standard translated into a piece rate for homeworkers?
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From page 87... ...
Homework has often evolved from an opportunity to work at home to no alternative but homework for many and On abusive situation for most workers. By 1932 homework conditions were so poor that when the National Recovery Act was passed it prohibited homework in many industries.
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From page 88... ...
I also question the argument that there is economic motivation to create inequity. Rather, I see an economic motivation to maintain equity between the two work forces homeworkers and inhouse workers.
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From page 89... ...
Managers will use more of the advanced technology and they can do more clerical chores themselves: type their own reports, and draw their own graphics. As optical character reader equipment comes into more widespread uses, the need for bulk typing will be reduced, affecting clericals and data entry people.
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From page 90... ...
With homework the evidence to date is that the latter will be the case even Blue Cross is not providing fringe benefits to its homeworkers. Finally, there is the profit motive there will be profit in finding the homeworkers willing to work for the least in wages and there will be agents and employers willing to do this just as there are now firms using and providing employee leasing, temporary help, and farm labor.
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From page 91... ...
The concept of part time has been built up in the industrial setting principally as a way of avoiding certain kinds of fringe benefits; for example, medical plans and, formerly, pension plans. In terms of the basic labor protections pertaining to Social Security, minimum wage, overtime, occupational safety, and health protection, there is no differentiation between a full-time worker and a part-time worker.
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From page 92... ...
Wage costs are about 50 percent of total costs, so to be back in the same competitive position we were in two years ago workers will have to increase productivity or reduce wages by more than 80 percent. Whether these workers are in offices, factories, or at home makes little difference if one is trying to live on Hong Kong wages.
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From page 93... ...
But that is beside the point. There is a whole level of cost control involved in not taking 8,000 people from the far ends of Long Island, Westchester County, New Jersey, and Connecticut, moving them 40 to 60 miles into the city of New York where space costs x dollars per cubic foot; where electricity costs are so high now that it is necessary to take out a mortgage to pay your bill.
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From page 94... ...
If the issue comes down to some workers finding homework convenient or even costeffective at the expense of others losing their jobs, working without health care, or without a living wage, then I expect unions to come to the aid of those not able to help themselves. In that context we are going to continue to pursue a ban on homework because we see it in its historical context homework has not meant work freedom, but freedom to exploit.
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