From: "dis_course" <dis_course@yahoo.com>

To: s-acc@yahoogroups.com

Subject: [s-acc] "dependent contractors" enlists labor support

Date: Sat 04/02/11 07:33 PM

 

Hi

In 1995 I coordinated the "Jobs Now!" conference in Oakland, CA, where we introduced client/survivor employment in the Mental Health System to the S.F. Bay Area. The conference was supported by 13 local mental health systems, the Bay Area client/survivor movement, and the M.H. Boards (CALM Boards). Pat Risser was on the coordinating committee, as were three (3) local M.H. Directors. I also arranged for Dan Fisher to come and act as keynote speaker.

The conference was successful and sparked change. A major deficiency of the conference was that the working conditions of client/survivors employed by the M.H. system was not adequately addressed. The person responsible for the workshop on that topic ended up in psychiatric lockup at conference time and her County M.H. Director replaced her as workshop presenter - at the cost of putting an "employer gloss" on the process.

Later I learned that the practice of "blending" was taking over in many counties/states, which means that instead of voicing the truth of lived experience, the client/survivors were expected to "blend" and perform work roles indistinguishable from professionals or non-client/survivors. At Omaha Alternatives 2009, the Social Accountability Work Group did a workshop on that topic, derived from reports of common practice in Maryland. [!] HERE is an S-ACC post I wrote from Omaha.

Today the Silicon Valley version of "blending" is known as "dependent contractors." That relates to a non-existent labor category which amounts to workplace control of (now) some 400 client/survivor employees. I just uploaded a legal complaint against this system to S-ACC "Files," which I first heard declaimed by the Chair of the County M.H. Board. [!] What's exciting is that Labor has taken up our cause. I attended today a conference organized by the Bay Area Chapter of 9to5, Nat'l Ass'n of Working Women, which initiated complaint regarding the "dependend contractors" practice. Among the speakers were Hope Holland and Maylen Valois, both S-ACC listmembers. :-)

It has taken a long time to bring the "second level" of client/survivor employment dynamics to the fore. I'm hoping the present turn of events signals a breakthrough-in-progress.

 

Best

Andrew