#jonathan timm

[workandthoughtsaboutsuicide-blog]

On the day my bosses at the coffee shop told me not to talk tips, my morale hit bottom. An organization I once trusted was telling me not to ask basic questions about my compensation. Even if pay secrecy comes with good intentions, this is its unintended effect: It tells workers that their bosses have something to hide, or that they don’t have the right to get a second opinion on whether they are being treated fairly. As Craig Becker told me, “Workers can only improve their situation when they can understand their working conditions.” Deciding whether a pay scale is fair cannot be left up to the employer alone.

[idkidecay]

[letstalkaboutpay]

Did you know the National Labor Relations Act protects your right to discuss wages with fellow employees?

Jonathan Timm’s article in the Atlantic documents the widespread practice of employers discouraging employees from discussing their salaries. Jonathan says:

“Under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA), all workers have the right to engage “concerted activity for mutual aid or protection” and “organize a union to negotiate with [their] employer concerning [their] wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.” In six states, including my home state of Illinois, the law even more explicitly protects the rights of workers to discuss their pay. This is true whether the employers make their threats verbally or on paper and whether the consequences are firing or merely some sort of cold shoulder from management. My managers at the coffee shop seemed to understand that they weren't allowed to fire me solely for talking about pay, but they may not have known that it is also illegal to discourage employees from discussing their pay with each other. As NYU law professor Cynthia Estlund explained to NPR, the law "means that you and your co-workers get to talk together about things that matter to you at work." Even "a nudge from the boss saying 'we don't do that around here' ... is also unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act," Estlund added.”

Good to know!

[shimerians]

"Basically, I got hired for my abilities to think and write analytically, cut through complex issues and communicate effectively — exactly the skills liberal arts education should teach,"says Timm, 24, of Oakland. An investigator for a state agency, Habeas Corpus Resource Center, he gathers evidence to help indigent inmates on death row get a new trial, off of death row or both.

The job search took about a year, during which he also waited tables, took an unpaid internship and had periods of "doubt and regret." But if he had to do it over again, Timm says, he would again go to Shimer College, a liberal arts school in Chicago whose coursework is based on the Great Books.