Working for FREE!

Being an artist and a musician, I’ve often been asked to work for free.

“It’s good exposure.” “It’s just drawing pictures.”

My answer has always been, “…then you do it.”

Everyone who fills out a job application, sits through an interview and signs onto a vow to perform a task for monetary rewards knows what needs to be done to be able to find shelter or eat or care for a family.

Besides the minimal wage scale or the title to the occupation, people work for wages.

In these remarkable times of shutdowns and furloughs, many are given a long unpaid vacation (with the promise of reimbursed pay) or ordered to work for FREE or be fired.

“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

Try that and see if it works.

Banks or merchants or restaurants or automotive dealerships or hospitals or churches or even governments need their money on time to keep their budgets, purchase new inventory, buy insurance and pay their rent.

If employees wish to strike to make a point, the employer can negotiate or hire scabs. If an employee decides to ‘volunteer’ they don’t expect to be paid but work for the experience. If an employee declares their work agreement is to be freelancing for a particular time and project, benefits may not be in the package. If the employer decides to downsize, they can layoff workers unannounced, but that is final.

When the employer says you have to come to work and do you job because you are essential, but you won’t get paid until later. (Wonder if those back wages are getting interest bonuses?)

Raises and titles are all rewards of an employee exceptional performance, so what is a furlough?

If one is ‘essential’, then why not get a paycheck?

If everyone worked for FREE, we could barter our skills for food or shelter without money. Guess we wouldn’t have to pay taxes?

Throughout history there have been workers who were not paid. They were called ‘slaves’.