Book Tells Story Of Managers Playing Modern Day Robin Hoods

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/14155

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on September 13, 2010 - 2:19pm
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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.”