What Would You Do Today to Ensure a Good Economy 25 Years From Now?
September 15, 2015
By Roosevelt Institute
In January, the Roosevelt Institute gathered 30 experts and practitioners in technology, education, finance, and economics to discuss the next American economy. We asked them what they would do today to ensure a good economy 25 years from now.
Over the next few weeks, Roosevelt will be highlighting some key suggestions. Check out the experts in attendance and then explore their revolutionary ideas:
First up we have Michelle Miller, co-founder of Coworker.org, a digital platform that provides workers with campaigning tools and other digital organizing support.
Michelle recommends reimagining how we classify employees. As more and more people freelance and rely on alternatives to full-time employment, like selling crafts on Etsy or driving for Uber, Michelle says that we should rethink the current employment classification system in order to expand protections, like health care deductibility, that are currently available only to more traditional employees.
To read more about American workers’ changing roles and new challenges, check out the links below.
“The future of work: There’s an app for that,” The Economist
“Lawsuits facing Uber, Lyft could alter sharing economy,” CNBC
“What Happens To Uber Drivers And Other Sharing Economy Workers Injured On The Job?,” Forbes
Michelle Miller is the co-founder of Coworker.org, a digital platform that matches campaigning tools with organizing, media and legal support to help people change their working conditions. Since its founding in 2013, Coworker.org has catalyzed the growth of global, independent employee networks at major companies like Starbucks, Wells Fargo, Olive Garden and US Airways. Miller’s early work developing Coworker.org was supported by a 2012 Practitioner Fellowship at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. She is a 2014 Echoing Green Global Fellow.
Before co-founding Coworker.org, Miller spent a decade at the Service Employees International Union where she pioneered creative projects that advanced union campaigns. She is also a nationally recognized media artist and cultural organizer. Most recently, she directed the participatory media creation process for Hollow, a 2014 Peabody award-winning interactive documentary about her home state of West Virginia.
Learn more about Michelle Miller’s work by visiting coworker.org and her profile at EchoingGreen.org.