Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American Dream
過勞悲歌
內容介紹
講到工作,我想每一個人一定都有很多的委屈與故事。科技與自動化並沒有解放現代人被工作綁著的束縛,反而被運用來測量或是監控我們的工作。
David來博達工作的前幾年非常不喜歡請假,因為若請超過的事假會被扣薪(有趣的事大部份台灣的公司加班是沒加班費的…)。不過去年2020年因為新冠病毒無法出差無法出國,我反倒是事假逾假了 15天,我覺得與其讓自己過得那麼不快樂身體不健康,那不如勇敢的去騎腳踏車環島、跑馬拉松、爬百岳,身心一但平衡了,工作才能更有效率,業績也才能繼續保持。如果我一直加班只是為了更快的回覆版權查詢、處理報價、寫書訊,那最後我可能是動不動就生大病進醫院(David以前真的因為工時太長工作太累深受眩暈所苦,還好下定決心不加班之後這樣的情況已經多年沒發生了)
今天想介紹給大家的書《過勞悲歌》作者傑米·穆凱倫姆 (Jamie K. McCallum)文筆非常簡潔有力,而且運用很多真實案例來佐證他的論點,非常有趣。比方說曾有一位太空人Jerry Carr這麼說:「在地面的時候,沒有人會預期我們連續85天每天工作16個小時,我無法理解為什麼人們認為在太空中的我們需要嘗試…,我們需要時間休息,我們需要沒那麼緊湊的工作時間表,用餐後我們不應該勞動,我們需要一切在我們的控制之下」,於是Jerry Carr把與地球的無線電通訊關掉,放了自己與其它出任務的太空人一天假,這是太空中第一次出現的罷工。由於在太空梭的他們有結構性的權利,他們爭取工作量減少、更合理的工作時程以及討論他們太空任務的內容。後來這些太空人覺得這趟太空任務最後幾週過得快樂多了,他們可以在太空在研究太陽、地球並內省自身。雖然三位太空人回到地球時受到英雄般的歡迎,但他們的老闆NASA最終決定讓這三位太空人沒有下一次出太空任務的機會殺雞儆猴。
這個作者在書中還有更多有趣的真實案例和大家分享並佐以對資本主義、清教徒透過辛勤工作確保受到神的眷愛,於是資本主義下的美國人在各行各業拼了老命的工作,要用財富的創造來榮耀上帝。
David有一年法蘭克福書展結束後搭火車在歐洲旅行,在車上與一位德國老太太聊天,她當時帶著一台腳踏車準備去德國與奧地利邊界的小鎮運動散心。當時David超羨慕這位德國老太太,我稍微講了一下台灣的工作文化與過勞現象,這位老太太很冷靜的問我「你們勞工為何不抗爭不爭取自己的權利?」直到今天我都還一直記得這位老太太認真看著我的雙眼講這句話的樣子。是啊,的確很多時候David的家人與朋友都覺得有工作就要惜福,哪會想不開和公司老闆主管爭取更多的福利? 哪會去對抗這個資本主義的運作方式?
只是看了這本書的一些段落,我的腦海中又出現德國老太太的那句化。作者傑米·穆凱倫姆在書中最後一章提到,自由的時間是民主社會很重要的一個元素。如果沒有自由的時間,誰能去國家公園露營觀星? 如果沒有自由的時間,我們怎麼能沉澱下來反思這個世界,我們又如何去改變這個世界?
很希望不久的未來,我們不用再羨慕歐洲那些假日特別多的國家,我們每個人也能有彈性的工時,能夠好好經營自己下班的生活,多與家人多與朋友相處。工作真的不是我們生活的全部。底下是這本書的目錄,歡迎和David索取書稿。
前言 一個過勞的國度
第一章 不公平的工作時數
第二章 當你能控制勞工你就能控制工時
第三章 被科技鞭策監控的勞工
第四章 未來的機器人與自動化會讓我們工作更少還是更多?
第五章 不只是為了錢工作,當工作成了我們生活的意義
第六章 工作才有飯吃的社會
第七章 零工經濟並不會讓你掌控工作的時數
第八章 被勞工遺忘的抗爭
★得獎社會學家揭露工作過勞與不平等之間的關係
大多數的美國人工時太長、工作太努力,而有些美國人則是工時與工作的時間表很不穩定。一個世紀以來艱辛的勞工運動的勝利讓工作的時數遞減,然而70年代以來工時又再次遞增。《過勞悲歌》(Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American Dream)這本書追溯我們的生活如何被新的工作型態所束縛,我們如何奪回對工作時數的話語權並建立一個更公平的社會。
一般坊間的出版品只會討論過勞的專業人士與經理人,但作者傑米·穆凱倫姆(Jamie K. McCallum)在書中指出,從亞馬遜Amazon公司位於美國鐵鏽地帶(Rust Belt)的倉儲到加州的零工經濟(gig economy),通常低薪工人的工作時數是最不穩定也最容易過勞導致危機。我們需要的不是個人的解決方案而是工人階級的集體抗爭,透過《過勞悲歌》我們一窺與資本主義對抗奪回時間的控制權讓人鼓舞人心的故事。
作者介紹
書評
“Well-written…[McCallum] explores the reasons that Americans’ work hours have been growing since the 1970s, including the gig economy and the moribund labor movement.”
―New York Times
“Workers of the country need bold ideas like those McCallum offers.”
―The Washington Post
"McCallum wants us to reignite the fight to raise wages, reduce work hours, and make work satisfying simultaneously. But, as he stresses, we must focus on the neglected aspect of time. The less time we spend at work, the more time we can spend looking for meaning where we will more likely find it -- among our families, friends, and communities."
―Nation
"McCallum's latest work stands out among a spate of recent books about the dismal conditions of workers by offering a unifying focus on employees' loss of control over their jobs.... Rich with examples of middle- and working-class responses to job-related time pressures.... Subtly drawing on classic Marxian theory that capitalism steals laborers' lives as well as their work, [it] will find a welcome audience among those concerned about global working conditions."
―Library Journal
"A thought-provoking look at the systemic problem of overworking in America."
―Booklist
"McCallum may be the only social scientist who has worked as a longshoreman on the Seattle docks and marched in a picket line with the Exotic Dancers Union at the Lusty Lady peep show in San Francisco. Drawing on such colorful experiences as well as deep scholarly research, he makes the compelling argument that Americans are losing control of their work time.... A sobering analysis of quasi-Orwellian tactics that permeate American work life."
―Kirkus
"An informative examination of the strains placed on American workers by 'overwork, unstable schedules, and a lack of adequate hours.' Interweaving anecdotes from the history of American labor with profiles of contemporary workers, union organizers, and social service administrators, McCallum lucidly explains how the current system came to be and offers hope that the resurgence of socialist principles can lead to improved working conditions.... A cogent, persuasive, and witty call for change."
―Publishers Weekly
"Jamie McCallum's sharp and clarifying analysis links workers' freedom to control work time -- and thus their lives -- to our ability to have a functioning, genuine democracy. Worked Over underscores the need for workers to have significantly more power over the anti-worker decisions currently in the hands of the corporate elite."―Jane McAlevey, author of No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age
"Worked Over examines an important, but little appreciated, aspect of America's out-of-control inequality: millions of Americans have scant say over when they work and how many hours they work. In this eminently readable, well-researched book, Jamie McCallum combines smart analysis, on-the-money anecdotes, and moving profiles of individual workers to explore the many ways that American workers are being squeezed by unfair, onerous work schedules."
―Steven Greenhouse, author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor
"As America grew more unequal, most people's workloads just kept growing and growing -- and there was little they could do about it. Worked Over helps us see what's going on and also how we might fight against it."―Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future