Organizing Dark Matter: W.A.G.E. as Alternative Worker Organization

Since its founding in 2008, W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy) has worked to reform the economic habits of US art institutions and of the artists upon whose cultural work these institutions are dependent. Inside a decade, W.A.G.E. went from a small grassroots collective to an internationally recognized, yet lean, organization, which not only advocates for labour standards in the nonprofit art sector, but also develops practical tools to begin the work of doing better by equality in the art world. This chapter positions W.A.G.E. as an example of what Immanuel Ness terms “new forms of worker organization.” Informed by W.A.G.E.-authored texts, media coverage of W.A.G.E., and interviews with the group’s core organizer and programmer, the chapter surveys W.A.G.E.’s strategies for organizing “dark matter,” a concept that Gregory Sholette has repurposed from physics as a metaphor for the majority of artists and activities that populate the art world and uphold and subsidize its most visible and commercially successful figures. W.A.G.E. is explored in five registers: its practice of parrhesia, algorithm of fairness, strategy of certification, post-horizontalist form of organization, and platformization of labour politics. While W.A.G.E. has been tackling dilemmas specific to the nonprofit arts, its strategies hold wider relevance to confronting the challenge of organizing workers who are outside of an employment relationship, who lack access to unions, and for whom the opportunity to be self-expressive or the promise of exposure may be regarded as compensation enough

The Wage Arrears Crisis in Russia

In this paper, we propose an analytical framework suggesting that wage nonpayment in the Russian state sector and privatized factories, which resulted from acute cash flow problems in both, reflected an implicit contract among the government, managers and labor against worker layoff. We analyze the impact of wage nonpayment on workers grouped by demographic features, occupation and job location on the basis of a panel data set covering the years 1994 to 1996. Based on a multivariate specification that incorporates these features, we find that the frequency and amount of wage withholding increased sharply in 1996. While wages were denied less frequently and in lower amounts to low paid workers by age, occupation and location, this pattern(for which we find a correlation between the frequency of wage nonpayment and wage level at the regional level), needs to be confirmed with further statistical tests. While the practice of wage nonpayment tended to push families into poverty and increase their expectation of living in poverty in the immediate future, it also raised the likelihood of workers holding additional jobs and undertaking informal paid activity. At the same time, the frequency and magnitude of barter payments to workers in our sample were not sufficient to exercise a significant effect in mitigating the adverse effects of wage arrears

Paving the Way to Simpler: Experiencing from Maximizing Enrollment States in Streamlining Eligibility and Enrollment

Since 2009, the eight states (Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin) participating in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Maximizing Enrollment program have worked to streamline and simplify enrollment systems, policies, and processes for children and those eligible for health coverage in 2014. The participating states aimed to reduce enrollment barriers for consumers and administrative burdens in processing applications and renewals for staff by making improvements and simplifications at every step of the enrollment process. Although the states began their work before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), their efforts positioned them well for implementation in 2014, and offer experiences and lessons that other states may find useful in their efforts to improve efficiency, lower costs, and promote responsible stewardship of limited public resources

Building Justice

On December 10, 2007 and January 24th, 2008 Interfaith Worker Justice convened fact-finding delegations of religious leaders from around the country to learn more about working conditions in the home construction industry in Phoenix and Las Vegas. These religious leaders visited home developments and talked to workers who build homes for Pulte Homes, one of the largest home construction companies in the country, as well as officials and organizers from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA), and the American Federation of Labor -- Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Officials from Pulte Homes and several Pulte contractors refused to meet with the delegations despite repeated requests.The delegations quickly discovered a disturbing pattern of injustice and abuse among contractors paid by Pulte to build homes for the company

Comment: The New York City Housing Part: New Remedy for an Old Dilemma

This Comment describes the practical operation of the Housing Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, which began its operation October 1, 1973. The jurisdiction of the court as well as the remedies and penalties provided in the enabling legislation are outlined. The duties of its personnel, settlement procedures, and the influence of administrative agencies upon the operation of the Housing Part are also examined, as are several cases affecting the operation of the Housing Part. The author concludes that there have been many beneficial effects from the first year of operation of the Housing Part, but that there remains room for improvement

Lessons from the Russian Meltdown: The Economics of Soft Legal Constraints

On August 17, 1998, Russia defaulted on its domestic public debt, declared a moratorium on the private banks' foreign liabilities, which was equivalent to an outright default, and abandoned its exchange rate regime. The depth of the Russian meltdown shocked the international markets, and precipitated a period of serious financial instability. It is important to understand the roots of such a crisis to learn about possible lessons on both issues of bank supervision and international stability. While the visible cause of the crisis was an unsustainable fiscal deficit couples with massive capital flight, the critical question concerns the origin of such circumstances. This paper argues that the structure of individual incentives in the Russian legal context, compounded by the exceptional support granted by international institutions to Russia, explains the cycle of nonpayment, capital flight and fiscal unbalances leading to the dramatic 1998 crisis. We offer an interpretative model of noncompliance, cash-stripping and rational collective nonpayment, which led to the fiscal and banking crisis and ultimately to a complete meltdown. In our view, the banking sector was already insolvent prior to the crisis, and contributed directly and indirectly to it. The last section of the paper puts forward a radical medium-term policy proposal for a stable banking and payment system for Russia. Russia needs to create a basic foundation for savings and intermediation by asset restrictions and market segmentation, crude but effective rules used in all underdeveloped systems to restrain asset stripping and opportunism. Concretely, we propose a cautious extension of deposit insurance away from the monopolistic Sberbank and towards a narrow banking layer. The proposal also proposes to restore charter value in the commercial banking sector.

Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies as of January 2016: Findings from a 50-State Survey

January 2016 marks the end of the second full year of implementation of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) key coverage provisions. This 14th annual 50-state survey of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost-sharing policies provides a point-in-time snapshot of policies as of January 2016 and identifies changes in policies that occurred during 2015. Coverage is driven by two key elements -- eligibility levels determine who may qualify for coverage, and enrollment and renewal processes influence the extent to which eligible individuals are enrolled and remain enrolled over time. This report provides a detailed overview of current state policies in these areas, which have undergone significant change as a result of the ACA.Together, the findings show that, during 2015, states continued to implement the major technological upgrades and streamlined enrollment and renewal processes triggered by the ACA. These changes are helping to connect eligible individuals to Medicaid coverage more quickly and easily and to keep eligible people enrolled as well as contributing to increased administrative efficiencies. However, implementation varies across states, and lingering challenges remain. The findings illustrate that the program continues to be a central source of coverage for low-income children and pregnant women nationwide and show the growth in Medicaid's role for low-income adults through the ACA Medicaid expansion