Jason Foster and I recently published a new occupational health and safety textbook with AU Press. You can download Health and Safety in Canadian Workplaces for free from the AU Press website. You can also purchase a printed copy of the textbook for $29.95 (versus the $150 you'd pay for a commercial offering).
While we'll be incorporating the text into our occupational heath and safety course over the next few months, the OER nature of the book (free digital copies; low cost print copies) means the book should also be a useful resource for workers, employers, unions and not-for-profits.
This week’s installment of Labour & Pop Culture is “Work from Home” by Fifth Harmony. At one level, this song is a weak (and occasionally vulgar) double entrendre wherein work is a metaphor for getting busy.
Lyrically, this song is boring. And, as a home worker, I assure you, working at home is nothing like this—it is mostly about unloading the dishwasher while trying to pay attention on a conference call.
Visually, though, the video is worth a look. A couple of things stood out for me:
1. Work is blue collar: The “work” featured in the video is construction (maybe they are building a mall or condo complex?). It would be interesting to know why construction work was chosen to represent work (besides the availability of lots of phallic symbols). Is it because the director sees work as quintessentially blue collar and manual?
2. Work is a thing men do: Construction is one of the most gendered occupations going and all of the “real” workers in this video are men. The only women in the video are singing and distracting the “workers”. In this way, the song constructs work as a male activity while women are cast as hyper-sexualized playmates.
3. Work is white: Recognizing that race is a social construct, a quick spin through the video reveals that none of the “workers” are of colour (despite the profound ethnic diversity among the members of Fifth Dimension). The only non-white guy is Ty Dolla $ign who appears to reinforce the “this song is about having sex with women” message.
That the music industry uses and reinforces stereotypes is hardly an earth-shattering revelation. Yet the brazen sexism and racism in the video is striking and likely reinforces the social norms that contribute to minimal female participation in the construction industry and, more broadly, defining women in narrow, sexualized terms.
I ain't worried 'bout nothin' I ain't wearin' na nada I'm sittin' pretty, impatient, but I know you gotta Put in them hours, I'mma make it harder I'm sending pic after picture, I'mma get you fired
I know you're always on the night shift But I can't stand these nights alone And I don't need no explanation 'Cause baby, you're the boss at home
[CHORUS]
You don't gotta go to work, work, work, work, work, work, work But you gotta put in work, work, work, work, work, work, work You don't gotta go to work, work, work, work, work, work, work Let my body do the work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work We can work from home, oh, oh, oh-oh We can work from home, oh, oh, oh-oh
Let's put it into motion I'mma give you a promotion I'll make it feel like a vacay, turn the bed into an ocean We don't need nobody, I just need your body Nothin' but sheets in between us, ain't no getting off early
I know you're always on the night shift But I can't stand these nights alone And I don't need no explanation 'Cause baby, you're the boss at home
[CHORUS]
[Ty Dolla $ign:] Girl, go to work for me Can you make it clap, no hands for me? Take it to the ground, pick it up for me Look back at it all over me Put in work like my timesheet She ride it like a '63 I'mma buy her no Celine Let her ride in a foreign with me Oh, she the bae, I'm her boo And she down to break the rules Ride or die, she gon' go I won't judge, she finesse I pipe up, she take that Putting overtime on your body
[CHORUS]
Yeah, we can work from home Yeah, we can work from home Yeah
Before turning to the results, it is useful to consider the impact the methodology (i.e., asking employers why they didn’t report) may have on the conclusions. Basically, there is a significant risk that employers will respond with socially acceptable explanations (e.g., ignorance) rather than socially unacceptable answers (e.g., evasion of surveillance). In this way, we see how methodology can shape the direction and validity of the conclusions.
Five broad categories of explanations were developed from employer answers:
noncompliance with OSHA recordkeeping rules;
(noncompliance with SOII reporting instructions;
the employer did not consider the injury work-related;
data entry errors; and
claims with indeterminate SOII eligibility.
Most of these explanations suggest non-reporting is an innocent error (and, indeed, much of it may be). Some respondents noted that they chose not to report injuries that were deemed compensable by the state’s workers’ compensation system. The authors note that some employers may have been uncomfortable discussing willful under-reporting.
This week’s installment of Labour & Pop Culture is “Tom Cat Prowl” by Doug and the Slugs. This video was shot in Vancouver workplaces (often with the barest of permissions) in the late 1980s (note the mullets). I think it was also used in the film Iron Eagle (or Iron Eagle 2)?
Doug and the Slugs have always positioned themselves as a working man’s party band and this song directly speaks to that experience.
I've been punching out a clock since fifteen. I've been living on a working wage. Ya keep paying me and I'll keep lifting. I keep a-lifting 'til the end of the day.
The song contains some rather puerile double entendres (the ‘80s were a lyrically subtle time… of course, nobody was twerking in the videos, either). But, much like last week’s song by Loverboy, Doug’s plan to cope with the difficult jobs he’s doing (watch the video!) is to have a few drinks and try to get lucky. Maybe you could stretch the lyrics to suggest that he’s also looking to find a sugar momma, although I think the case there is kind of sketchy.
Been working like a dog gone crazy, Been giving everything I've got, I need something short and sweet to save me. A little something that can hit the spot.
I've been living like a man in a prison. I've been living like a monk in a cave. I need a woman with a good position. I start searching at the end of the day.
Pack it in and go to town When the sun goes down. And do the Tomcat prowl When the sun goes down.
I've been punching out a clock since fifteen. I've Been living on a working wage. Ya keep paying me and I'll keep lifting. I keep a-lifting 'til the end of the day.
Then pack it in and go to town When the sun goes down. Do the Moondog howl When the sun goes down. Do the Tomcat prowl When the sun goes down.
Gotta find a way to ease that pressure. Gotta find a way to ease that pain. Gotta find myself some buried treasure. Gotta find it before the sun comes up again.
It doesn't matter if you're sane or crazy. It doesn't matter if you're weak or strong. It doesn't matter if your past is hazy. It doesn't matter, you can all come along.
Pack it in and go to town When the sun goes down. And do the Tomcat prowl when the sun goes down (down down down - sun goes down)
Pack it in and go to town when the sun goes down (sun goes down, yeah) And do the Tomcat prowl when the sun goes down Do the Moondog Howl when the sun goes down Oh .. I'm howlin' baby!
Over the summer, I have been working with two BC workers who allege they got sacked in 2014 after they refused unsafe work. You can read their story here on rabble.ca.
Both men are knowledgable about their safety rights and their employer's obligations to provide safe work. Both flagged problems that were ultimately deemed by WorkSafeBC to be serious safety issues (often multiple times).
Interestingly, in late 2014, both men were laid off, allegedly due to lack of work. The workers contest their layoffs, noting other workers were retained after (or hired shortly before) the workers' lay offs. In effect, the workers are suggesting that their employer used its power to hire and fire (a power used frequently on construction sites) to retaliate against them for exercising their safety rights.
Both men have complained to WorkSafeBC but, more than a year and a half later, neither has had his case heard. In the meantime, they must bear the costs of their unemployment. Not surprisingly, relative few workers ever exercise their right to refuse.
This week’s installment of Labour & Pop Culture heads back to the classic rock vault to find “Friday Night” by Loverboy. I couldn’t find a video to share, although the link above will take you to an audio recording of the song.
This song valorizes the weekend as a relief from the drudgery of work. Here, as Mike Reno tells it, he’s worked very hard for a jerk in order to afford to ride a motor cycle that allows him to escape the horror of his job:
I've been bidin' my time, listen to the Boss man scream Workin' forty hours, payin' for this dream machine
What’s interesting is that that even classic rock bar bands intuitively understand Marx’s theory of alienation. Here, I’m going to crib from Wikipedia:
The theoretic basis of alienation, within the capitalist mode of production, is that the worker invariably loses the ability to determine life and destiny, when deprived of the right to think (conceive) of themselves as the director of their own actions; to determine the character of said actions; to define relationships with other people; and to own those items of value from goods and services, produced by their own labour.
So basically, forced to work in a job designed to steal the maximum surplus value from his work, Reno becomes alienated from work and working and seeks periodic escape on a “high-heeled Venus, doing twice the speed of light.” And who said classic rock can’t teach us anything…
Burning up the miles, there's a full moon out tonight I've got a high-heel Venus, doing twice the speed of light Crank it up through the gears--see what she can do Women and cars--everything they say is true
Stand in line--No! No! Wasting time--No Friday night, Friday night I just got paid--no sleep 'til Monday Friday night, Friday night Who cares, it's only money
I've been bidin' my time, listen to the Boss man scream Workin' forty hours, payin' for this dream machine 'Cause I'm living proof--every mad-dog has his day I'm going to find me a woman--head out on the Old Highway
Stand in line--No! No! Wasting time--No Friday night, Friday night I just got paid--no sleep 'til Monday Friday night, Friday night Who cares, it's only money
I've been bidin' my time, listen to the Boss man scream Workin' forty hours, payin' for this dream machine 'Cause I'm living proof--every mad-dog has his day I'm going to find me a woman--head out on the Old Highway
Friday night, Friday night Friday night, Friday night It's only money Friday night, Friday night I just got paid, no sleep 'til Monday Friday night, Friday night Who cares it's only money
Friday night, Friday night Friday night, Friday night It's only money Friday night, Friday night I just got paid, no sleep 'til Monday Friday night, Friday night Who cares it's only money
The Institute for Work and Health issued a new study this spring that looked at the adequacy of workers’ compensation benefits in Ontario. The original intent of workers’ compensation was (in part) to prevent workers from experiencing a catastrophic loss of income due to their injury (although I acknowledge that this is a contested assertion).
Looking at permanently disabled workers who were injured between 1998 and 2002, the IWH study found that these workers had (on average), full compensation for wage losses when compared to a control group. That said:
… there is some variation around the average in the earnings replacement rates. About 46 per cent of the sample had replacement rates of 100 per cent or more, while 25 per cent had replacement rates of under 75 per cent… .
What this means is that some of these injured workers did not see their wage-loss fully replaced by the various benefit programs (e.g., workers’ compensation benefits, Canada Pension Plan disability benefits). Ontario’s target was to ensure injured workers had an earnings replacement rate of at least 85%--a goal achieved for only 65% of the injured workers in the sample.
This week’s installment of Labour & Pop Culture is “Free man in Paris” by Joni Mitchell. This 1974 song is about music producer David Geffen who (apparently) found the demands of his job to be oppressive at times and longed for the simpler days when he was a free man in Paris.
There's a lot of people asking for my time They're trying to get ahead They're trying to be a good friend of mine I was a free man in Paris I felt unfettered and alive There was nobody calling me up for favors
Mitchell focuses her attention on the corrosive effect of competition on relationships. Suggesting that each person acting in their self-interest is a bad thing is a controversial position in most settings (try it at a family barbecue this summer…). But there are compelling arguments in favour of it.
But you don’t need to read much to see the value of cooperation: the evidence that cooperation is a more effective way to prosper than competition is all around us. Society and its boons—clean drinking water, literacy, reliable food shipments—are all the result of long-standing cooperative arrangements. And these arrangements tend to go off the rails when subjected to unfettered competition.
So perhaps Mitchell was on to something (beyond remedying Geffen’s happiness) when she suggested that we all might be happier as free (wo)men in Paris?
"The way I see it," he said "You just can't win it Everybody's in it for their own gain You can't please 'em all There's always somebody calling you down
I do my best And I do good business There's a lot of people asking for my time They're trying to get ahead They're trying to be a good friend of mine I was a free man in Paris I felt unfettered and alive There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one's future to decide You know I'd go back there tomorrow But for the work I've taken on Stoking the star maker machinery Behind the popular song I deal in dreamers And telephone screamers Lately I wonder what I do it for If l had my way I'd just walk out those doors
And wander Down the Champs Elysees Going cafe to cabaret Thinking how I'll feel when I find That very good friend of mine I was a free man in Paris I felt unfettered and alive Nobody was calling me up for favors No one's future to decide You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on Stoking the star maker machinery Behind the popular song.
The July issue of Anthropology of Work Review focuses on the criminalization of workers, specifically migrant workers. One particularly interesting article in this issue deals with undocumented workers in northern California.
“Ghost Workers: The Implications of Governing Immigration Through Crime for Migrant Workplaces” examines the practice of employers requiring undocumented workers to “rent” legal identities as a condition of hire. This practice hides these workers from the state while acting as a source of income for employers. This illegal practice also renders undocumented workers vulnerable to charges of identity theft.
It also gives employers an additional and significant lever to use against undocumented workers. For example, workers using borrowed names were vulnerable to the employer outing them to authorities for identity theft if the workers filed a claim that they employer did not want filed. Workers who filed under their own names would not be listed on roster of employees for which the employer was insured and might well be revealed as undocumented workers. The result of these practices is that undocumented workers are rendered invisible and made highly vulnerable to employers’ economic interests.
