Not Working

On Thursday, May 16, Congressman John Conyers hosted a congressional briefing in conjunction with the Not Working Project. The session focused on the enduring unemployment crisis in the country; Rep. Conyers joined three individuals featured in Not Working: Roni Chambers of St. Louis, Bob Bendig of Pittsburgh, and Bridgette Lacy of Raleigh. Chambers, Bendig and Lacy shared their experiences (each of them has a special perspective on unemployment  – you should definitely check out their chapters in the book if you haven’t already) and Rep. Conyers joined the discussion to highlight the necessary role Congress needs to take in being an active participant to reduce unemployment.

The congressman focused his comments on his recently submitted bill:  H.R. 1000, the “Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act.”  This is an important bill and one that the Not Working Project will continue to support in every way possible. Surely the richest nation in the country can provide a job for every citizen willing to work and contribute to the wellness of her community. Here’s to making it happen. Onward.

Tomorrow we’re heading down to D.C. for a congressional briefing with Rep. John Conyers of Michigan. We’ll be showing a brief sneak preview of the forthcoming Not Working Project documentary and Mr. Conyers will be talking about the jobs bill he has put forward. Come join us if you can. Full press release below.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 H.R. 1000 & The Not Working Project in Washington, D.C.

On May 16 at 12pm, Penguin Books will host a congressional briefing featuring Rep John Conyers (D-MI) with author and filmmaker, DW Gibson, who will share excerpts from his recently completed documentary, Not Working. Over the summer and fall of 2011 Gibson drove across the country to collect the stories of the unemployed. He interviewed over 200 Americans and three of them will also speak at the briefing:

Roni Chambers (St. Louis, MO) worked in Human Resources and led a team that laid off 200 people in one day before she lost her own job. She currently volunteers full-time as director for the GO! Network in St. Louis, an organization that provides training workshops and networking events for the unemployed.

Bridgette Lacy (Raleigh, NC) lost her position as the Media Relations Manager for the North Carolina Arts Council when it was eliminated by the state. She channeled her frustrations looking for a new job into a blog, which has become a regular column about unemployment for the News & Observer.

Bob Bendig (Pittsburgh, PA) operated a security firm that provided immediate security escorts for corporations performing layoffs.  After walking countless workers from their desks to their cars, Bob had to shut the doors to his own business and is now one of the unemployed. Bob also surrendered his home to his bank and now receives housing assistance through Veterans Affairs.

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The balance of power between capitalism and democracy has been increasingly out of balance for generations now. Our economic system has a choke-hold on our system of governance. This unhealthy, unsustainable relationship has led to the demoralization of the American worker. (And, indeed, the demoralization of labor in just about any part of the world; capitalism in the 21st century, as we all know, is one tangled, global affair.)

David Stockman had an essay in the New York Times earlier this week entitled “Sundown in America,” in which he convincing outlines how, exactly, capitalism has made democracy so impotent. His skillful description of the control that the Federal Reserve has over the US government–and the control that the European Central bank has over the 27 sovereign nations in the EU–is frightful.

Recently I came across the graph below, which should be viewed by every American. It gives the best visual representation of what’s wrong with 21st Century capitalism. The wealthiest citizens–capitalism calls them the most successful citizens–deserve a larger portion of the country’s wealth. But this gross imbalance in wealth distribution creates an unsustainable system. A system that will implode on all the people it once sustained–including the wealthiest of the wealthy.

The documentary for the Not Working project has now been completed and will be available for distribution this spring. In anticipation of the film’s release, we are excited to share the sound track from the film’s massively talented composer, David Cieri. You can check it out here:

Listen to the sound track for “Not Working”

This week, Dick Gordon is hosting a series of interviews with people who are featured in the Not Working book and documentary. If you’re not familiar with Gordon’s regular show, The Story, I encourage you to check it out. He is an exceptional interviewer – smart and engaging, yes, but more importantly he has remarkable humanity. My conversation with him aired this past Monday. And yesterday, his conversations with Christine Myrick and Bridgette Lacy  were broadcast. I encourage everyone to check out what Christine and Bridgette have to say – they are both insightful people. And check back at The Story’s website throughout the week for more conversations about finding your way after losing a job.

Onward.

Not Working collaborator, MJ Sieber, and I were in Lansing, Michigan, on the day of the protests outside the Capitol building as Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill making Michigan a “right to work” state. MJ and I put together this documentation of the experience:

Just a few days ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday I want to express my gratitude to all those who have shared their stories for the Not Working Project so far. I’m sending everyone all best wishes for the holiday and hoping that you are all moving toward full time, rewarding work.

With a new year and fresh political start it is my fervent hope that our municipal, state and federal leaders demonstrates the wisdom, compassion, and inventiveness required to expand the labor market for all Americans who anxiously await the chance to work and contribute like they once did.

Onward.

Steven Greenhouse has written an excellent article in the New York Times, detailing the rise of part time employment in the labor market.

When I was traveling the country interviewing folks who had been laid off, many of the Americans I met had, in fact, secured a new job of some kind but in almost in every case it was a job unrelated to their established field, a job that paid far less than previous jobs, and, in all likelihood, a part time position.

What Greenhouse’s article highlights so well is the fact that the reliance on part time employees is not limited to big corporations. Small businesses across the country–businesses with a demonstrated degree of conscientiousness–have come to routinely rely on workforces composed almost entirely of part time employees.

It’s a disturbing development. Not just the proliferation of this model but the fact that it is increasingly viewed as acceptable and increasingly a permanent approach to labor in the US. This is what happens when workers are stripped of nearly all leverage, knowing there is always a line out the door of a hundred unemployed workers eager to take any job at all.

Recently the Washington Post asked me to answer this question, pulling from the interviews I conducted for the Not Working Project. The nature of the question ruffles me a bit because I don’t like the implications of the word “blame” — it seems to assign some sense of victimhood on the part of the unemployed. And while I’d argue that the majority of the country’s unemployed citizens are, indeed, victims of an economic system that has used and abused them without their input, the unemployed rarely espouse a view of themselves as “victim.”

All of that said, there is surely blame to be assigned and it is clear to me that this blame falls on contemporary capitalism, which views workers as numbers on spreadsheets. As I said in the introduction to the book, “Human contact is diminished. Proximity is avoided altogether.” The lack of contact between executive decision makers and employees–that is, disconnect between human beings–is destroying the labor market, and the care we show for each other.

Here’s what I wrote for the Post:

Whom do the unemployed for being out of work?