Author Finds Some Managers Are Modern Day “Economic Disobedience” Robin Hoods

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/13098

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on March 11, 2010 - 4:17pm
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As low wage workers continue to struggle in today’s economy a new book exposes a small group of managers that are playing the role of modern day “Robin Hoods.” Jesse Russell reports:

While researching a book about the difficulties of low-income workers, Brandeis University sociologist Lisa Dodson stumbled into the world that exists between low-income and middle class workers. Dodson found managers who were concerned about the wages being paid to workers they oversaw, but felt there was little they could do. However, among this group she found a number of modern day “Robin Hoods.”

: “It was a smaller group, but they not only thought it was unfair, but when they could they would do something about it. They would engage in what I call acts of ‘economic disobedience.’”

Dodson said the most common reason for these managers opening their eyes to the plight of lower wage workers had to do with children.

: “These were people who had close proximity with working class people. They had close - everyday they worked alongside them. And they took a moment to look them in the face and say ‘how would I feel if I were working that hard and couldn’t afford to feed my kids.”

The results of her investigations can be found in her new book “The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy.”

[kenfrequed]

1. hmmm

A little detail would have been nice. What are these 'robin hoods' doing and how are they helping the low income worker?

[eomer]

2. A little detail:

Not much, but you did say "a little". ;)

Here is a book that tells the real story of the countless unsung heroes who bend or break the rules to help those millions of Americans with impossible schedules, paychecks, and lives. Whether it is a nurse choosing to treat an uninsured child, a supervisor deciding to overlook infractions, or a restaurant manager sneaking food to a worker’s children, middle-class Americans are secretly refusing to be complicit in a fundamentally unfair system that puts a decent life beyond the reach of the working poor.

http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/1003B8E7-118D-4649-9DB3-BBBBE14D1629/