How Microsoft does not implement its proclaimed commitment to respect all the human rights in the Universal Declaration and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

It's December 10 again, Human Rights Day again and this year Microsoft is still in violation of its commitment stated as follows:
"Since endorsing the UN Global Compact in 2006, Microsoft has had a formal commitment to respecting all of the human rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. "
This year's Human Rights Day is devoted to the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50^th anniversary of the two International Covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966. Let us look at article 7 (d) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: "Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays "
 It is clear that paid leave should include periodic vacation AND the payment of the public holidays. When they announced their new requirement of 'at least 15 days of paid time off', Microsoft ignored the specific requirement by the UN texts that public holidays be paid, on top of the basic paid vacation. Requiring only 15 days of paid time off, without adding to this mandate the payment of the public holidays deprives full time supplier's employees of any payment when Microsoft closes its offices for ten public holidays during the year.
This distinction is clearly confirmed in the 1970 Convention on paid holidays: see article 3.3 and article 6.1
Ten unpaid public holidays represent millions of dollars that are not paid to thousands of Microsoft's suppliers employees, mostly employees that are paid the less. How long will it take for Microsoft to respect its commitment?

Excellent article in the Boston Globe

Signaled by John de Graaf (who is in it): here. Read also the comments with this one (121?): time to start unionizing again folks... Right on. Interestingly the article right before article 24 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is article 23.4: "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests." 

Brigid Schulte about the need for paid vacation

Brigid Schulte author of  Overwhelmed: Work, Love & Play when No One has the Time, that we already mentioned in February,  explains all the benefits of extended paid vacation :)

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz

On YouTube, this very inspiring movie. Thank you Aaron.

The Vacation Equality Project

Hotels.com, an affiliate of Expedia that promotes 'cheap' hotels has launched this project (a website and a video on YouTube) that asks you to sign a petition to the White House that will be accompanied by a post card to your representatives in Congress. Well intended although a bit self-interested. One problem I see is the presently low number of signatures compared to the much higher number of views of the videos 4K versus almost 240K as of today. Their project runs until August 15. I wonder how much they invested. We'll see what comes out of it. Could we suffer of petition signature fatigue? I found so many in my e-mail box... who cares any longer?

3 interesting videos you should watch

Why Americans who have paid vacation don't take all of them? on MSNBC

President Obama's address on June 21st about 'bringing our workplace policies to the 21st century'.

David Weil summarizes his book The Fissured Workplace, why work became so bad for so many and what can be done to improve it:  on YouTube.

3 books you need to read

In February 2014, Harvard University Press published two books that are important to better understand the situation of the 'permatemps' and why those workers are deprived of most essential 'benefits', including paid vacation. They are:

The Fissured Workplace, Why Work Became so Bad, by David Weil (HUP) and 

What Unions No Longer Do, by Jake Rosenfeld (Harvard University Press)

Add to the list, a book published in June 2008, that contains the most detailed story I have seen so far about the 'revolt' of the Microsoft's permatemps:

Love the work, hate the job, by David Kusnet (John Wiley and Sons) pages 97 to 149 about Microsoft's 'permatemps'.

The politics of your summer vacation

Googling around I found this July 2012 article by Mark Engler about our summer vacation or for too many of us its absence.

Microsoft among the most ethical companies?

Here the post by Dan Bross. His conclusion: "While we are very grateful and highly appreciative of this honor, we recognize there is more work to be done, and we commit ourselves to ongoing improvement."

Microsoft's commitment to Human Rights reaffirmed

From Microsoft's Blog on Corporate Citizenship.

Tell your WA State Senator to pass paid sick days... Unfortunately Republicans killed the bill.

Here. Unfortunately Republicans killed the bill.

Are all jobs created by/for high tech companies "good family-wage jobs"?

This opinion by Seattle's Mayor Ed Murray and Representative Eric Pettigrew applauds the creation of family wage jobs and high paying jobs by the high tech companies.

In January 2009, there were 41,255 'contingency employees' at Microsoft. How many are there today?

How many vendors at Microsoft in March 2014 compared to the 41,255 of 2009? How many without benefits?

A series of 3 very pertinent articles: 5 reasons you should not work too hard, Recline, The challenge of leaning out

Here is a series of 3 recently published very pertinent articles (all written by women) that express a growing questioning of the dominant ideology of too much work, without (paid) vacation:

February 21: 5 reasons you should not work too hard, by Brigid Schulte, in the Washington Post (author of  the book Overwhelmed

February 21: Recline, by Rosa Brooks, in Foreign Policy

February 25: The Challenge of leaning out, by Olga Khazan, in The Atlantic

Inslee calls for new initiative promoting outdoor recreation but what if you cannot afford to take any vacation?

On February 13, Inslee announced the creation of a task force aimed at getting more people outside and enjoying the state's natural areas. He insisted on the economic importance of the Outdoor Industry. That's great but what if you don't have any paid vacation and don't make enough to take unpaid time off while working full time for one of the richest corporations in the US? Let us hope the future task force will take into account the promotion of paid vacation for all.

News from Temp Land by Michael Grabell

Pro Publica journalist Michael Grabell wrote this article about the situation of 'permatemps' in the US including a few words about the permatemps at Microsoft and this blog (thanks for giving the url).

Americans support paid vacation time

From the Center for a New American Dream

About the negative impact of great inequality

This opinion in the NYT by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson. The conclusion: It is hard to avoid the conclusion that we become less nice people in more unequal societies. But we are less nice and less happy: Greater inequality redoubles status anxiety, damaging our mental health and distorting our personalities — wherever we are on the social spectrum.

HB 1313 Washington State Paid Sick Leave Bill adopted by the House

From the Washington Work and Family Coalition that pushed for it. Next the Senate.

WA Statehouse Passes Paid Sick Leave Bill

From the Washington Work and Family Coalition that pushed for it.

Business Insider: Pay People More

Two recent posts of Business Insider by Henry Blodget promote the idea that to reduce inequality companies should pay their employees more. Obvious but still anathema for most. Here is post No1 and here post No2 referring to Google's Eric Schmidt expressing the same evidence.

Semantics: Earned Sick Leave (should we say Earned Paid Vacation?)

Talking of 'Earned Sick Leave" as in recent articles in the New York Times instead of Paid Sick Leave is not anecdotal. It underlines that something has been 'earned'. A way to frame the issue slightly differently and counteract critics that would portray "earned leaves" as excessive perks.

Bill to Guarantee Paid Sick Leave Passes the House

From Lisa Baumann, Associated Press.

The German Model for Prosperity

Short article explaining the German model of 'social capitalism'. Worth thinking about.

The business of paid family leave

Interesting post by Nancy Falbre on the NYT Economix blog. Note the unchanging criticism that any paid leave would make the economy collapse (when it never does). This same day another Economix post confirms the stagnation/regression of wages vs profits: Profits up, wages down.

Public hearing about the Paid Vacation Bill in WA

Here and the TV recording of this public hearing (skip to 7.50 when the hearing starts for HB 2238).

Why Paid Leave Is Good For Business

The headline of this  In These Times article by David Sirota is about 'Paid Sick Leave" but the content and conclusion are all inclusive:  'paid-leave mandates are both moral necessities and smart economic policies. It also means they are long overdue'. Interestingly this website publishing the same article uses this headline: The Economic Case for Paid Leave Laws.

Workers of the World: Faint!

A lesson in organizing from Cambodia.

New Paid Sick Leave Law for New York City

In the New York Tines. What about Redmond?

Martin Luther King Day - Letter from a Birmingham Jail

On this Monday January 2014, Martin Luther King Day (not observed as a holiday by Microsoft) let us reread his Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963).

State Representative Gael Tarleton introduces a Paid Vacation Act for Washington State

Read John de Graaf's message below where he explains how to support this initiative by Gael Tarleton.
You can find the draft of House Bill H-2965.3/14 here (pdf).

US Lack of Paid Leave Harms Workers, Children

A rare report by Human Rights Watch. Titled  "Failing its Families: Lack of Paid Leave and Work-Family Supports in the US," it was published in February 2011.

Forever Temp?

A good article (with interesting references) by Sarah Jaffe in In Theses Times: Forever Termp?

BOOKS

Find below a chronological list of the books I find interesting

Where does the 55 million of US workers without paid vacation number come from

The 55 million US workers without paid vacation comes from the results published in August 2012 of the 2011 Access to and Use of Leave survey (part of the American Time Use Survey) by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Commented upon in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News. A review published in 2013 seems to present a much rosier picture.

From Naomi Klein's No Logo,Chapter 10, 'Threats and Temps'

On page 249 of No Logo, Naomi Klein starts explaining how high tech companies have develeoped the use of 'contingency workers': 'The percentage of Silicon Valley workers employed by temp agencies is nearly three times the national average' (1998). And Microsoft, the largest of the software firms, didn't just lead the way to this part-time promised land, it wrote the operating manual.

From 'Best of temp Slave!' (first edition 1997)

From the introduction:
December 1994... When a single person loses a job or is forced to temp for a living, it's a problem. When the New York Times announces that the largest single employer in the US is Manpower Temps, well then, you're talking about millions of employees and millions of problems. (page vii)

Business wants nothing to do with the maintenance of its workforce... The pact is no longer between worker and employer, rather it's between employer and middleman in the form of the temp agency...

American corporations are betting the bank that working people will accept temp work as a reality... Working people tend to focus blame solely on themselves for their economic situation...

Temp Slave!... was meant as a personal documentation of my own frustrations... it filled a void for the kind of working people who were frustrated enough to put into words their frustration with their work lives...

The writing comes from the gut, the street level of personal experience...

Fearful of being blackballed by employers, I wrote my stories under the alias 'Keffo"...

If you express viewpoints counter to prevalent thought the you can expect disapproval of your work...

Some thought it extreme. Others made light of what they termed the continual 'whining' expressed by contributors... the so called whiners had every right to express their displeasure. After all, just because you are forced to eat a shit sandwich does not mean you have to like it too.

I am justly proud of the contribution Temp Slave! made on the issues of work life in 1990's America. This book is dedicated to all the working people out there struggling for a better life...

How the us is turning into a part time economy (in part because of the part time exemption given to part time jobs)

post from a right wing analyst (but clear on some points), Bob Adelman on August 2013

In No One We Trust

This Opinion by Joseph Stiglitz in the New York Times. Note how at the very end he refers to the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  Insisting that they need regulations to make sure they are implemented.

Most US employees (69%) do not use all of their vacation time, survey says

A short piece in the LA Times that -as usual for articles on vacation- does not give a thought to all the employees that don't get paid vacation. Interestingly the survey was commissioned by Right Management, the career management expert arm of... Manpower! Let us support Matt Norquist's encouragement that “Every employee at every level should be  encouraged to take time to reenergize, recharge and relax to be more satisfied and productive on the job."

Expedia's 2013 vacation deprivation survey

Apologies for presenting only today the 2013 Expedia's vacation deprivation survey.

Victims of Misclassification

An opinion by Marjorie Elizabeth Wood in the December 15 issue of the New York Times about the cost of misclassification. I wonder about the costs of misclassifying employees as temps... therefore robbing them of paid time off and other benefits, as well as depriving the government of the related taxes and revenues. Imagine a $100 loss for each of the 55 million people who are deprived of paid vacation (a very low estimate), the global 'loss' would be $5.5 billion. 10 paid holidays at $50 per day for 55 million people would represent $27.5 billion.

Mandela and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

John Nichols (in The Nation) explains Nelson Mandela's dedication to the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and his clarity about why it is not completely implemented:
The president of South Africa was explicit in his criticism of leaders who failed—by “acts of commission and omission”—to address civil and economic injustice in a speech given in 1998 to the UN General Assembly, for the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.
“What I am trying to say is that all these social ills which constitute an offence against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are not a pre-ordained result of the forces of nature or the product of a curse of the deities. They are the consequence of decisions which men and women take or refuse to take, all of whom will not hesitate to pledge their devoted support for the vision conveyed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he explained.
Looking to the future, Mandela concluded, “The challenge posed by the next 50 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by the next century whose character it must help to fashion, consists in whether humanity, and especially those who will occupy positions of leadership, will have the courage to ensure that, at last, we build a human world consistent with the provisions of that historic Declaration and other human rights instruments that have been adopted since 1948.”

2nd UN Forum on Business and Human Rights

The second UN Forum on (big) Business and Human Rights took place in Geneva on December 2-4.

Advancing Human Rights in the US: a status report

This is an interesting and valuable effort by the US Human Rights Network except that they 'forgot' about article 24 :(

Microsoft and Human Rights: what about article 24?

From Microsoft's corporate citizenship blog.
UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights Provide Clarity

By Dan Bross, Senior Director, Microsoft Corporate Citizenship
On December 2, 2013, I spoke at the Business Stakeholder Meeting held during the pre-day of the UN Forum on Business and Human rights.

David Simon at the Festival of dangerous Ideas in Sydney

From The Nation, David Simon's presentation. On YouTube (or via scrolling down the article in The Nation). Wikipedia about the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. FODI's official site.

13 year ago, Temp Slave Revolt. Any change?

David Moberg wrote Temp Slave Revolt, for the July 10, 2000 issue of In These Times. He describes the hopes of the high tech 'permatemps' with Microsoft and other companies. Unfortunately, 13 years later, what has been achieved?

A selection of articles about paid vacation (or lack of) in the US

A selection of articles about paid vacation or relevant to this issue

Text of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966-1976)

Link and text below. Of particular interest for us is Article 7 d:

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work which ensure, in particular:

(d ) Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays

Articles 9 to 12 also promote living wages and affordable health insurance for all. 
No US president has dared asking the Senate to ratify the Covenant. 
The US is quite alone in its decision not to ratify, as showed by this map.

International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Wikipedia tells the interesting story of this UN Covenant that the US signed in 1979 (under President Carter) but has not ratified, yet. Explanation below.

About Microsoft's Technology and Human Rights Center

Technology and Human Rights Center

Mission

The Center will work to ensure that Microsoft meets its commitment to respect human rights and works to advance public understanding of the human rights impact of information and communications technology.

Microsoft's 2013 Citizenship Report

On October 7, Microsoft made available its 2013 Citizenship Report. Lori Forte Harnick, General Manager for Citizenship and Public Affairs comments in the Official Microsoft blog:
" In an effort to help us further integrate human rights into our culture and throughout our operations, we launched the Microsoft Technology and Human Rights Center. Among other duties, the Center will develop an annual program of events and engagements to advance understanding of the human rights impact of information and communications technology.
The Corporate Citizenship initiatives and results described in this report are a reflection of the work our employees do, day-in and day-out, to create technology that improves peoples’ lives and to operate our business in ways that meet the highest standards of corporate social responsibility. We recognize that there is always more that we can do, and we welcome ongoing feedback from our many stakeholders around the world. Please let us know your thoughts…we look forward to hearing from you."
Among the references is the Business and Human Rights Resource Center that mentions
as Key international standards, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: articles 23 and 24.
But strangely omits the Annual Holidays with Pay Convention (C 132)
Unfortunately there is no way to post a comment on the mentioned Microsoft's blog nor on the Huffington Post's blog of Lori Forte Harnick. So how are we supposed to provide our most desired feedback? I found the answer on page 153 of the report:

We welcome your feedback on this report and on the Microsoft Citizenship approach. Please email your comments to mcitizen@microsoft.com or write to us at the following address:

Microsoft Corporate Citizenship

Microsoft Corporation

One Microsoft Way

Redmond, WA 98052, United States

Benefits at the Gates Foundation

Here (and text below)

To work 2 hours per day?

Work 2 hours per day is the title of a small French book published in 1977. What happened/happens to the tremendous productivity gains?