UNIVERSAL  SELF  EMPLOY  MOVEMENT

A coercion free movement to liberate workers from economic control by employers is described. Movement participation is anonymous and easy. Getting and changing jobs is simplified. An independent contractor model is adapted to nearly all occupations.

What

U S E Movement is a global workers' movement to elevate workers from subordinate employee or job applicant status to coequal independent contractor status. Employers would be clients of the workers. Universal self employment will establish 5 policies -

1. No résumés or job applications are submitted by workers. Workers ignore want ads. Instead, employers in need of workers must call the workers. Workers available for hire will list a pseudonym and the phone number of their answering service on a website organized by occupation (SOC number). Specific information about what each worker can do and has done can be included next to the worker's pseudonym, if needed. Credentials such as degrees or certificates can also be mentioned. Employers can leave a message with the answering service to set up an interview. Workers will block caller ID (dial *67 before the phone number) or use a pay phone when returning calls (no video) to employers.

2. All interviews are conducted over the phone (no video). Interviewees will only answer technical questions, say what they can do and what they have done, say if they have the relevent liability insurance, say if they were ever fired by the employer doing the interview, and say how much they charge for their labor. No personal questions will be answered: this includes queries about name, phone number, address, social security number, age, sex, ethnicity, race, religion, weight, marital status, immigration status, previous employers, the reason for leaving the last job, employment status, number of years of experience, references, salary history, credit score, convictions, medical information, life story, etc. Questions about credentials and supporting information such as degrees obtained, school transcripts, certifications, insurance cards, publications, patents, video of the interviewee doing the relevant work and evidence of immunization or natural immunity from casually transmited disease are considered technical as long as answering the question doesn't reveal any of the interviewee's personal information. Certain high responsibility jobs will require extra questions that usually would be considered personal: drivers and pilots can be asked about their driving record; doctors and nurses can be asked about any successful malpractice suits; store clerks and bank clerks can be asked about any theft convictions; teachers, daycare workers, nursing home workers, hospital workers and security workers can be asked about any convictions; pilots and flight attendants can be asked about their weight. Both interviewer and interviewee can record the interview.

3. The selected interviewee will mail an unsigned contract to the interviewer. The contract will say that the interviewee will be hired for 2 weeks upon showing the interviewer any credentials and supporting information the interviewee claimed to have. The interviewer must mail the signed and notarized contract back to the selected interviewee's post office box (which is used only for this purpose to ensure anonymity). The selected interviewee will reveal his or her real name to the interviewer upon giving a countersigned copy of the contract to the interviewer. After 2 weeks, at-will employment can begin. For certain high responsibility jobs (as mentioned above) there can be a 2 week delay before starting to allow time for a background check. If the background check contradicts the interviewee, the 2 week work contract can be canceled, tho the interviewee may legally contest this.

4. Workers will not give blood samples, saliva, urine, hair clippings, iris scans, fingerprints or other biomedical samples, biometrics or personal information. Injections or implants will not be permitted.

5. Compensation will be in cash only.

Why

1. Workers should not need to ask for favors to get a job. Asking for a job is asking for a favor. Requiring employers to call workers eliminates the need for workers to ask for favors and gives workers more control over what questions they choose to answer. If you want a plumber to fix your pipes, you have to call the plumber. It shouldn't be any different for any other occupation. Using a pseudonym and an answering service prevents a current employer or anyone else from finding out if a worker is looking for another job. Workers won't be punished for looking for another job by a current employer since the current employer won't know about it. Also the influence of prejudices or blacklists are minimized since the worker is anonymous. Getting or changing jobs is simplified for workers. So, for example, if a factory closes down, the jobless workers can just put a pseudonym and the phone number of their answering service on a website organized by occupation (SOC number). Employers in need of workers must use such websites to get workers. No "networking" (cronyism) is needed. Friction in the labor market is thereby reduced.

2. Phone interviews (no video) prevent face recognition technology from identifying the interviewee. Maintaining anonymity of the interviewee prevents the interviewer from notifying the interviewee's current employer who might retaliate against the interviewee. Also the influence of prejudices or blacklists are minimized since the worker is anonymous. Objective criteria and merit are emphasized. Worker privacy is preserved since no personal questions are answered. Workers become freer from control by previous or current employers when changing jobs since no references are given. Workers will charge the market rate for their labor, subject only to the principle of supply and demand, instead of what an employer says the job pays.

3. The 2 week contract insures that the employer is sincere about hiring and not just extracting the identities of workers.

4. Reaction time, judgment and dexterity can quickly be assessed with an appropriately designed video game rather than blood or urine testing. This not only preserves workers' medical privacy, it's cheaper and gives instant results. Worker biometric privacy is also preserved. If a plumber comes to your house to fix your pipes, you don't require them to give a blood or urine sample or an iris scan. It shouldn't be any different for any other occupation.

5. Fringe benefits are used by the establishment to control workers. When workers are paid in cash, workers have full control over the money. Benefits give control and personal information to employers. If medical insurance is a benefit, personal medical information is divulged to the employer. Employers may fire sick employees to keep insurance costs down. If a pension is a benefit, workers loose money if the company goes out of business before the workers collect. It also gives the employer an incentive to fire the worker before the worker becomes eligible for the pension. If these gimmicky benefits were converted to correspondingly higher wages, workers could buy insurance and save or invest for retirement themselves. Benefits also keep workers trapped in jobs since changing jobs can cause the loss of benefits. These problems don't exist if benefits are obtained independently from employers. When you pay a plumber or other contractor, you don't pay their insurance premium or pension. They take care of those personal maters themselves. It shouldn't be any different for any other occupation.

There is a spectrum of economic relationships-

dysfunctional feudal lord | serf physical control

employer | employee economic control

functional client | contractor parity

Most economic relationships are currently in the yellow zone. Universal self employment will put most economic relationships in the more functional green zone. Social stability will be increased since much storm and stress is caused by the lack of control people have over their careers. Most workplace shootings will be avoided. Crime will be reduced since there will be many legal alternatives for self employment.

Who

All workers should join the movement. This includes all employees and job applicants. Also any gig workers, temporary workers or freelancers for who the 5 policies listed above are not met (particularly control over what they charge for their labor) should join the movement.

Where

A global economy requires a global movement.

How

If a singular worker adopted the 5 policies listed above and behaved like an independent contractor, he or she would be laughed out of the labor market. The employer would get a more compliant worker to replace her or him. If all the world's workers did it at the same time, however, no such replacement could be made, and universal self employment would be actualized. To this end, U S E Movement will coordinate the actions of the world's workers in a 2 step process -

Step 1. Before any direct action is taken, the strength of the movement will be built up so that when action is finally taken, success will be assured. Workers will join the movement by getting the official U S E Movement T-shirt and wearing it during the annual observation days, which are the last Saturday in July for the Northern hemisphere and the last Saturday in January for the Southern hemisphere. The movement will be considered strong enough when 60% of the adult population is wearing the official U S E Movement T-shirt during the annual observation days. This website will determine precisely when step 2 begins based on a global average. Several years may be needed for the movement to become strong enough. Workers can also wear the shirt on other days to promote the movement. Workers can also sell the shirts to promote the movement. Since this movement is a threat to the prevailing hierarchy, wearing the shirt at work is not recomended.

Step 2. When the movement is strong enough, all workers in the movement will adopt the 5 policies listed above and become true independent contractors.

To get the shirt anonymously -

Pay cash at vendors that sell the shirt. Face should be obscured with sunglasses, surgical masks, hats, hoods, hijabs, balaclavas, burqas, theatrical makeup, etc. when doing this to ensure anonymity. Alternatively, the transaction can happen anonymously on the internet with vendors who accept cryptocurency. The shirts can be mailed to the purchasers' post office box (used only for this purpose to ensure anonymity). U S E Movement assumes no liability for independent vendor transactions. This website will list vendors worldwide who want to be listed.

- or -

Within the U.S.A., get a new post office box large enough to hold as many shirts as you want to order. Copy and complete the order form above using a pseudonym and use the address of your PO Box on the order form. Get a domestic money order from a post office for the total cost of the shirts at $40 per shirt ($37 per shirt for 10 or more shirts). Make the money order out to U S E Movement. Write illegibly in the purchaser's address and name fields of the money order. Send the completed form and money order to PO BOX 2556, Southwark, 925 Dickinson Street, Philadelphia PA 19147-9998. Certified mail can be used to prove payment was mailed.

- or -

Outside the U.S.A., get a new post office box large enough to hold as many shirts as you want to order. Copy and complete the order form above using a pseudonym and use the address of your PO Box on the order form. Convert some of your local currency to US dollars. This can be done at a national bank or currency exchange office. International airports may have a currency-exchange counter. Exchange rates may vary depending on where the exchange is made. Then, get a cashier's check at a national bank for the total cost of the shirts at $40 (US) per shirt ($37 per shirt for 10 or more shirts). You may need to identify yourself to the bank or have an account there to do this, but your name should not appear on the check. Have the check made out to U S E Movement. Send the completed form and check to PO BOX 2556, Southwark, 925 Dickinson Street, Philadelphia PA USA 19147-9998. Certified mail can be used to prove payment was mailed.

Cryptocurency transactions are not yet available at this website.

If you don't require anonymity when ordering the shirt -

Within the U.S.A., copy and complete the order form above. Get a domestic money order from a post office for the total cost of the shirts at $40 per shirt ($37 per shirt for 10 or more shirts). Make the money order out to U S E Movement. Send the completed form and money order to PO BOX 2556, Southwark, 925 Dickinson Street, Philadelphia PA 19147-9998. Certified mail can be used to prove payment was mailed.

- or -

Outside the U.S.A., copy and complete the order form above. Convert some of your local currency to US dollars. This can be done at a national bank or currency exchange office. International airports may have a currency-exchange counter. Exchange rates may vary depending on where the exchange is made. Then, get a cashier's check at a national bank for the total cost of the shirts at $40 (US) per shirt ($37 per shirt for 10 or more shirts). You may need to have an account there to do this. Have the check made out to U S E Movement. Send the completed form and check to PO BOX 2556, Southwark, 925 Dickinson Street, Philadelphia PA USA 19147-9998. Certified mail can be used to prove payment was mailed.

When

Shirts in English become available in May 2022. Allow 8 weeks for delivery.

Technical

To keep cost down, the answering services will be automated and will essentially operate as telephone answering machines. The answering service can also provide the website which lists the pseudonyms of the workers under the appropriate occupation (SOC number). There will be no need for the answering service to know the workers' identities. Here's how it will work -

The worker goes to the answering service and pays a small fee in cash for a month of service and indicates their pseudonym, the SOC number of their occupation and any needed information about what the worker can do or has done or credentials. Face should be obscured with sunglasses, surgical masks, hats, hoods, hijabs, balaclavas, burqas, theatrical makeup, etc. when doing this to ensure anonymity. (Alternatively, cryptocurency can be used and the transaction can happen anonymously on the internet.) The answering service then gives the worker two numbers. The first number is the extension number for that worker's answering machine. The answering service puts the worker's pseudonym and extension number on the website under that worker's SOC number (occupation). Employers (clients) can dial the extension to leave a message on the answering machine to arrange a phone interview. The second number is the worker's account number. The worker can call the answering service and enter the account number from a touch tone phone to begin message playback, or remove their pseudonym and extension number from the website. Caller ID can be blocked or a pay phone can be used when calling the answering service or clients (employers).

Workers with multiple occupations should use separate accounts for each occupation. Since it is unlikely that other workers would have the same combination of occupations, listing the same pseudonym under multiple occupations could become a means of identifying a worker. The accounts should be opened on different days.

Caller ID can be blocked by dialing *67 before the number being dialed. Caller ID can not be blocked for toll free numbers so calls should not be returned to these numbers.

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