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  4. Preliminary Program
  5. Connections to Employment: Precarious, Tenuous and Difficult Situations
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Connections to Employment: Precarious, Tenuous and Difficult Situations

Paper Session

Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 12:15 PM - 2:15 PM (EST)

Hosted By: Labor and Employment Relations Association
  • Chair: Elizabeth A. Hoffman, Purdue University

Talkin' 'Bout My Generation: Older, Unemployed Workers Critique the Workplace Orientations of Millennials, Boomers, and the Silent Generation

Annette Nierobisz
,
Carleton College

Abstract

From Baby Boomers to Millennials and others, numerous generations reside in the contemporary U.S. workplace. Popular management books suggest that generational differences are magnified in this context and thus lead to conflict between different age groups. This paper instead explores how a select group of individuals made sense of the workplace orientations of three contrasting generations: former "Millennial" colleagues, parents who were members of the "Silent Generation," and themselves -- "Baby Boomers." Reflections were shared by a sample of unemployed individuals who experienced job loss during the 2008 Great Recession and its subsequent years of recovery. Many interviewees stated that their advanced age contributed to both job loss and difficulties securing new employment. While sharing age-related comments, interviewees also drew contrasts between themselves and their Silent Generation parents and Millennial colleagues. Two themes are particularly noteworthy: recognition of the dramatically different work lives and retirements their parents had as members of the Silent Generation; and negative commentary about the work ethic and other characteristics of the Millennial Generation. I situate these comments in the unique socio-economic contexts the Boomers have experienced: they came of age in a historical moment characterized by economic growth and expansion, and paired with an employment contract that promoted lifetime employment. When they experienced late-career job loss, a new managerial discourse emphasized individual autonomy and a short-term orientation toward the employment relationship. I conclude this paper by suggesting that generational rhetoric in the workplace diverts attention from the age-based inequalities and scarce resources that have arisen with a neoliberal flexible economy.

Returning to Work-Lactation, Child Care, and Flexibility Needs of Parent Workers

Elizabeth A. Hoffman
,
Purdue University

Abstract

When women return to work after giving birth, their workplace needs shift. Child care becomes an issue that must be sorted out for them to be on their jobs. If they are breastfeeding, lactation accommodations must be made in order to ensure the worker's immediate physical needs and longer-term milk production requirements. Sick children, late babysitters, and school snow days all result in parent workers needing greater flexibility. These issues are explored in this qualitative data paper.

Beyond #MeToo: A History of the 9 to 5 Job Survival Hotline

Emily Labarera-Twarog
,
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign

Abstract

In the 1980s, the national organization 9to5 set up a hotline for women to call and report discrimination and harassment in the workplace. This toll-free hotline was staffed by volunteers and eventually a paid staff person who would dole out advice and referrals from a massive binder filled policies, laws, and legal aid organizations that could help women challenge illegal firings, sexual threats, stress, lack of affordable and accessible childcare, and other issues that many women workers dismissed as “part of the job.” In 1990, 9to5 secured the funds to set up a permanent job survival hotline. Sharon Kinsella, described as a "brash, quick-witted, mother of three" who evolved into what some call "a radical feminist and strident working-class flag waver," staffed the hotline six hours a day. The widespread national press in magazines such as Mademoiselle and Ladies Home Journal jammed up the phone lines. In March 1990, the hotline reported 1,210 calls with approximately 11,000s callers who could not get through because the line was busy. Kinsella told one Los Angeles Times reporter - Bottom line is, they want cheap people they can spit out after they chew 'em up. At the end of each call, Kinsella would encourage the caller to join the national 9to5 organization that included access to discounted attorney's fees and an associate membership in the union, Service Employees International Union. I will share the archival materials I have found and I will examine the social and cultural moment that gave rise to the 9to5 Hotline and its impact. I will also place the Hotline into a historical context that explores how the organizations have used the "hotline" system as a tool to organize against discrimination and violence.

Training For My Life: The Lived Experiences of Dislocated Workers in an Advanced Manufacturing Training Program

Marquita Walker
,
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Abstract

This qualitative paper explores the lived experiences of one group of workers dislocated because of globalized trade policies who completed a hybrid Advanced Manufacturing Training Program (AMTP) by taking advantage of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), a federally-funded program for retraining workers dislocated because of trade policies. The research questions focus on how satisfied these workers are with the services and programs provided by TAA. Focus groups and survey instrument results indicate these workers found TAA services and processes cumbersome and time-consuming and actually had the effect of discouraging their education, training, and self-employment. The consequences of their dislocation as it relates to TAA experiences are increased frustration and dissatisfaction with the TAA program. Serious consideration for TAA policy changes should be deemed of utmost importance.
Discussant(s)
Eric Larson
,
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth
Paul-Brian McInerney
,
University of Illinois-Chicago
JEL Classifications
  • J1 - Demographic Economics
  • J0 - General