Fashion Police writers are on strike

Once, I lived with a woman who loved pop culture. I too love to read Perez Hilton’s site because often it is a hot mess, and that just makes everyone feel a little better. However, M was a pretty big fan of entertainment TV, which is the only reason I find Joan Rivers relevant at all. Rivers is famous for a variety of things from The Tonight Show to Fashion Police. I’ve never watched the latter because I don’t care. However, Kelly Osbourne, Giuliana Rancic, George Kotsiopoulos, and Melissa Rivers are all affiliated with the show, and the show is in the news.

According to Sarah Jaffe’s piece at In These Times, the writers for the E! Network show claim their bosses ignore California wage-and-hour laws have underpaid them by $1.5 million. The writers say their strike will continue until Fashion Police signs a Writers Guild of America contract, which would provide them with union protections and industry-standard wages and benefits. So working for TV sucks, I guess many people think that working on TV is awesome, but these are people I’ve never understood. In reality, writers, particularly, work long hours and are often pressured not to share information about their working conditions with the added pressure of having to be funny and talented all the time.

Like many TV writers and producers, Fashion Police writers can work 16-hour days, however according to the complaint they filed with California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement they aren’t paid overtime and often these hours go uncompensated. The writers are employed by both E! and Rivers’ production company (Rugby Productions). The Writers Guild of America (WGA) West President Chris Keyser released a statement, “Throughout our history, prominent members of the guild have stood up for their fellow writers to ensure they are treated fairly and compensated properly…Unfortunately, this has not been the case with Ms. Rivers.”

The WGA is backing the strikers and notified all its members that under its Working Rule 8, everyone is prohibited from writing for the show while the strike is underway. The new programming (reality TV and “nonfiction” TV) has meant a shift in the working conditions for the writers and producers. These shows appeal to execs because they are cheap and often non-union. Scripted dramas are usually scripted and well compensated. Writers and producers on these “nonfiction” programs call them “white-collar sweatshops.” However, getting on a high rated show is a step in moving up the ladder even if the conditions are shitty.

Because of this, some non-WGA writers might be tempted to replace the strikers, but striker Eliza Skinner posted on her blog:

“If you work the jobs when we’re on strike the company has no reason to fix the situation. If you are good enough to work the job now, you’ll be good enough in a month. By that time, the pay rate for the exact same job could be 6 times as much. If you don’t wait, it might never get there. In a competitive industry it can be hard to convince workers to stand together, and in relatively high-end positions that can seem like unattainable dream jobs, it can be difficult to convince workers to make demands of their employers. Reporting for AlterNet in 2011, I spoke to a freelance nonfiction TV producer who called her job “a labor of love” and explained that such love of the job can convince writers and producers to pus in extra hours—but those extra hours quickly become the norm.”

Of course in an economic climate where workers are told they should be grateful to have any employment, jobs in the entertainment industry can appear to be a luxury, but these shows are very profitable. The strike is an escalation in the tactics the guild is pushing to organize workers in this sector, as workers aim to improve their conditions. Jaffe asserts their organizing successes can be a lesson for those who aim to organized high-status, high-stress, high turnover white-collar jobs. Fingers crossed, that the strikers win their dispute, and improve their working conditions. . Eliza Skinner writes, “We’re fighting not just for our jobs, but for future writers too. That is you, future writer.”

NYC gets Paid Sick Leave

After almost three years paid sick leave advocates in New York can exhale. They have a deal. On Friday morning, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (presumptive Bloomberg successor) folded from the pressure of unions, community groups, and the Working Families Party (as well as many others) and agreed to pass a bill that ensures most New Yorkers can’t be fired for taking time off for illness. Sarah Jaffe had a piece on HR Reality Check.

The compromise bill, which Gale Brewer admitted is being written, should cover 964,000 workers when it goes into effect on April 1, 2014. On that date, it will require businesses with 20+ employees to provide up to five paid sick days for those workers. Sick leave will accumulate at the rate of one hour for every thirty hours worked, which means full-time and part-time workers are covered. On October 1, 2015, businesses with less than 20 but more than 15 employees will have to provide sick leave as well.

SEIU 32BJ president Hector Figueroa said, the bill will allow for an examination of its impact in 2016 and a possible reconsideration of the bottom threshold for coverage. The original bill (that Quinn held up for three years) required businesses with more than five employees to provide paid sick leave. Employees of businesses under the threshold received unpaid sick leave, and these accumulate at the same rate. Some industries are except such as manufacturing. Brewer attributed this to a similar exception in Connecticut’s statewide paid sick leave. So naturally, they “want to be competitive.” It also includes exceptions for work-study and other types of student work.

During last week’s hearings, enforcement of the bill was a contentious issue with business reps complaining that the bill would be administered by the city’s health department. Instead the new bill will be administered by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and requires workers who have complaints file them with the agency. Workers have nine months to make a complaint after the infraction. Quinn emphasized during the press conference that the fines were lowered for businesses that didn’t comply ($500 for the first offence, and increasing after that). Another compromise in the new version of the bill states that if the New York Federal Reserve’s Index of Economic Indicators is lower on January 1, 2014 than it was on January 2, 2012, the bill won’t go into effect. Quinn stressed this point claiming it protects businesses in the case of a sudden economic downturn.

Bloomberg is still opposed to the bill, which is more than likely why Quinn drug her feet for so long. Jaffe says the rally felt like a campaign event with union leaders (who had been pressuring) thanking Quinn for her “leadership”. Figueroa was asked if his union would endorse Quinn, and he responded saying now they have four candidates in favor of paid sick leave.

So the idea is that New York will set an example for the rest of the nation in paid sick leave. I think we can be cautiously optimistic. Remember, according to Brewer the bill isn’t written yet, and it sounds like our team gave up a lot including a failsafe if the economy tanks the bill doesn’t go into effect. But I’ll take any movement on paid sick leave. And fingers-crossed Quinn doesn’t get elected.

Service work and gender

A great many things annoy me. Perhaps the most annoying is when someone is disrespectful of service workers. They make shitty pay and are told they have to smile and be nice in order to do their jobs. Once, I cussed a man out on the street for telling me to smile while I was on break from a service job. Because for those thirty minutes, I would be damned if I was going to have to smile at some dude because he felt I should. I still mean that fuck you buddy with hand gesture.

Sarah Jaffe had a great piece for In These Times on Monday. It epically begins with Jaffe explaining women in service work aren’t that into you. She then references articles written by John Eidelson and Timothy Noah (for The Nation and The New Republic) that some low-wage employers require more than “service with a smile.”

Eidelson’s report featured the Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz requiring baristas to write “come together” on cups to support bipartisan deficit fear-mongering. This stems from wealthy ideologues who demand spending cuts on the social safety net to reduce the national debt. *bullshit*

Noah tells a tale about how he was convinced that an employee at Pret A Manger was in love with him. Process that. Ok. However, then Noah read an article about how the Pret was pushing employees to go above and beyond which included living up to a list of behaviors that including having “presence” and touching coworkers publicly.

Then Ned Resnikoff for MSNBC mentioned the rise of emotional labor citing both Noah and Eidelson.

These guys are great, and their pieces were great, but as Jaffe points out they are missing a key piece to all this: gendered labor. Additionally, the behaviors are rooted in behavior that is expected of women in and outside of the workplace.

The term “emotional labor” is credited to Arlie Russel Hochschild who wrote for decades on the role of labor in the lives of workers, specifically women workers. Read the book Global Woman co-edited with Barbara Ehrenreich. This book looked at the roles of women in the “new economy” exploring how women’s skill with emotional labor leads to their exploitation. You don’t say?

So we know women have been doing emotional labor for what feels like always. Noah notes that is it harder for men to perform the emotional labor required in the American workplace now. Of course women make up 60% of the fast food work force and 73% of the tipped workforce, but female restaurant workers make 83 cents to a male’s dollar.

Jaffe then points to Walmart as an example of exploiting women’s “talent” for service work. Also noting that even in caring professions, like teaching, nursing, and domestic work, women are paid less. Domestic workers who cook make less than a chef or an elementary teacher makes less than a college professor. Andrew O’Connell at the Harvard Business Review looked at the actual pay rated for emotional labor in 2010. He found that if a man moves into a job that requires increased cognitive labor he received an 8.8% wage boost, but then a man takes a position with high emotional labor demands he rakes a 5.7% pay cut. Women share a similar story; they get no financial reward for greater emotional labor, but they don’t get a penalty instead their wages stay flat. The feminists won, right?

At this point Jaffe shares her experience as a waitress, and points out the stagnant wages for tipped restaurant workers ($2.13 an hour) hasn’t changed in 22 years. She also mentions Chelsea Welch, the Applebee’s waitress fired after an idiot customer complained Welch posted her lack of tip online.

Here Jaffe begins discussing the “pretty girl jobs” which aren’t outright sex work, but there are sexual overtones to the jobs like being told to dress sexy and such. Jaffe points out that frequently in sex work, the women performing the work are perceived to be “faking it” thus they aren’t really happy thus sex work should be abolished. Now, Jaffe doesn’t actually believe this, though the first comment on her post was made by an idiot bro who really likes sex work. Jaffe asserts the same logic if valid for sex work abolition can be employed here. Service workers are miserable, we must save them from this work. Jaffe argues “It’s time to stop pretending that enjoyment of the job is its own reward…”

I have a strange love/hate/really hate relationship with service work. I should begin by stating I usually put traditional retail and food service work in with domestic labor and sex work, i.e. waged work that has been performed in the home unwaged. Some of my favorite memories come from working at Borders in Beachwood as an undergrad. There was the Sunday morning where an African American man wandered around looking for someone to help him, and then approached R, another African American man who was merchandising books. Man A asks R, “Do you work here?” R, raises his name tag to eye level and says, “Yeah, I’m another black man with a job.” Or another Sunday morning, where we were opening and several people walked right past D and R to get me to help them. Some even waited till I was done with another customer. I asked R and D what the hell was going on, and D says, “R’s a black man, and I’m a lesbian with visible lesbianish tattoos.” She suggested I tattoo feminist or atheist on my forehead to see what happens. Then there was the time a dude followed me back into a deserted corner of the store, grabbed my hand and kissed it (I know this could have been worse). I wiped my hand down side of pants in front of the dude and walked really fast away. D yelled at the dude. I should probably mention R, D, and I weren’t managers. We just worked together for a long time.

I mention this last one because I had no idea what to do. D did. She laughed about it and said he did the same thing to her before (well, guess I wasn’t special and what we get for being faking being nice) and that management also just laughed about it. Because you know, staff members being uncomfortable because of sexual overtures is perfectly ok. What I think is missing from Jaffe’s piece is a description of the emotional labor service workers provide for each other. Service work requires long physically stressful hours before the emotional labor. The emotional labor can make men cry…I’ve seen it. It has been my experience that the other service workers provide a sort of buffer for each other. I am in no way saying this happens everywhere some companies foster an environment of competition to keep employees from organizing. But there was many a day where I listen to coworkers complain or worse cry over something that happened, and likewise I had coworkers do the same for me. For example that cussing story from the beginning of this post, afterwards, I cried for like twenty minutes. I was so upset that I had overreached and yelled at some bystander on the street (because I'm that girl now). I was just really unhappy at that time, and on generic birth control that made me certifiably insane. Dear feminist A rubbed circles on my back asking if there was anything he could get for me. To which, I responded in the most ladylike fashion if that lady was a sailor.

Finally, I follow Sarah Jaffe on Twitter as everyone should (@sarahljaffe). On Tuesday there seems to have been some discussion the low-minimum wage tipped workers received and how tipping can go either way. You can make better money than minimum wage workers some nights, but minimum wage isn’t a living wage. I’m pretty sure Jaffe is arguing for an overhaul of the system or a possible deconstruction of the current system or maybe that’s just me. I have a sister who refuses to quit her shitty waitress/bar tending job. It is completely toxic for her, and she should be focusing the career she actually wants. But this job is easy and her friends are there (see comradery building above). But she’s right sometimes she can make a lot of money, I’ve seen her come in with $500 in tips from an evening (she has a shiner personality than me). But they don’t provide health insurance or paid time off.

I’ve never read a comprehensive study on waitresses that monitor wages and tips (adjusting for inflation) over time. I think this would be an interesting study. My assumption is that as a waitress/waiter gets older their tips will generally go down over time even when skill level goes up. I’m speculating that attractive young people are more profitable than their older counterparts.