Economic Recovery : what are the values that underpin it?

'The idea that immigrants workers deserve protection simply as a matter of human decency can be hard to sell in hard times. It is just as valid to make the pragmatic case. After the bottom drops out of the economy, raise the floor.' New York Times, 15 Feb 08

Last week, I highlighted the views of Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass on e-verify, software for employers to check to see the migration status of prospective employees. Kass was upset that a provision in the Stimulus Package requiring employers to use E-Verify was taken out. Well, the editorial team of the New York Times strongly disagrees with Kass. Kass wants employers to use E-Verify for the purpose of keeping undocumented workers out of 'American' jobs. The New York Times suggests the software is prone to errors which result in documented workers getting fired/not hired and wants a labor strategy that focuses instead on the support of all workers. In contrast to Kass, the New York Times doesn't see undocumented workers as a threat to urban economies and instead encourages government to 'fight back against abuses that make wages and job conditions worse for everyone.' To show what it means, it gives an example from Los Angeles - the Clean Carwash Campaign.

Migrant workers, labor rights, employers' responsibilities are key urban issues. The Chicago and New York perspectives on them remind us that, for both the White House and Westminster, successful Recovery has to be about more than getting people into jobs. It also is about values, social justice, and human dignity.

Employers and the Stimulus Package - the word from Chicago

Well, if you saw my previous post, you'll see that I'm interested in what government - at fed and state level - will be doing to ensure that employers are creating fair and inclusive workplaces as part of both the economic recovery and modernization agendas. Yesterday, John Kass from the Chicago Tribune sought to address the same issue. Not endorsing his views, but sharing them with you. In part, because he writes about a proposed provision for the Stimulus Package that's been scrapped. The provision is meant to require all employers to use government provided software to check the immigration status of prospective employees. This is an issue for UK cities and employers (and no doubt, Europe more widely), where the legal requirements on employers were strengthened in 2008. What interests me about Kass' article is that employers and campaigners here in the UK have both raised the issue that employers find it difficult to know an applicant's status. In turn, such difficulties with the system, according to UK campaigners, potentially have a detrimental impact on social justice. Kass worries about businesses undercutting their competitors by hiring cheap, illegal labour. Key social justice issues raised in the UK (and I assume also in the US) are (a) the poor treatment of these workers, and (b) some employers respond to stronger requirements on them to check immigration status by refusing to hire people from certain communities because they don't want to run the risk of falling foul of the law.

In this context, employers and campaigners might (albeit for different reasons) think that the software used in the U.S. is a good thing (and would be beneficial to businesses here in the UK). Regardless, this is definitely a shared policy issue/challenge on both sides of the Atlantic. As for what this agenda means for American and British cities - beyond the issue of software - the backdrop to this issue is increasingly hostile views and attitudes towards migrant workers during a recession, and the knock on effect these can have on inter-community relations in urban areas - where the majority of migrants workers live.

Why modernizing our cities must also mean modernizing the workplace...

The Economic Stimulus Package is national legislation which (even without earmarks) lays the needed foundation for change at state and local levels. With record layoffs taking place, creating sustainable employment is a priority. In his press conference, the President emphasized that a key metric for success of the initiative will be the saving and/or generating of 4 million jobs. The President described his vision of creating jobs through investing in making homes, transport, public spaces etc, more energy efficient. As he did so, I was thinking about the people who will do those jobs and that alongside the commitment to modern - in the form of energy efficiency - we also need an equally strong commitment to modern in the form of fair, equality-based and inclusive workplaces. Our cities depend on it.

However, the workplace equality agenda is a sensitive one in both the U.S. and the U.K. Even during good times, many employers (particularly smaller ones) readily see equal opportunities policies as costly and burdensome. Sometimes the general public sees them as unfair. All the more reason to applaud that the President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, at the same time that he was having to emphasize to people the seriousness of economic difficulties at hand. Similarly, in the U.K., equal opportunities is also on the political agenda. And UK policy-makers are aware that - as the economy recovers and jobs grow - the goal of getting more people off welfare and into work requires active steps by employers to ensure their workplaces are not unjustly discriminating and are actively inclusive.

While many campaigners over here often look to the U.S. as doing a much better job at fair employment, the truth is we still have much work to do back home. Evidence shows that discrimination in recruitment is prevalent. This matters to urban renewal because our cities are full of talented individuals, who run the risk of being limited in how they can participate in the labor market because of their race, ethnicity, disability, age, parenting responsibilities etc. Although a range of factors contribute to the employment outcomes of an individual, employers have a key role to play by taking steps to dismantle barriers to equal access and by being creative in how they manage their workplaces to enable equal access to labor market participation and progression.

What's more, government needs to do what it can to motivate and support employers to take this action. Yes, for state and federal policy-makers, as well as businesses, the pressures are immense right now and giving attention to ensuring fairness and promoting inclusive cultures in the workplace - at a time of massive layoffs - might seem odd. But if, as Rahm Emmanuel says, this is both crisis and opportunity, once the Recovery Bill is signed, policy-makers should give some attention to ensuring that as businesses start to grow again, they are doing so with a commitment to modernization by being both green and inclusive.