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Volunteerism turned into slavery

Written by Scott Silver

Tuesday, 05 December 2006

On September 28th, I shared a message I'd titled: Government Offers Volunteers Slave Wages . In it, I announced that federal land management agencies would soon introduce the new America The Beautiful public lands pass and that persons unable to pay the anticipated $85 - $100 price tag would be given the option to earn a pass by volunteering 500 hours for one or more of the land management agencies. Assuming the $100 price-tag, I pointed out that for purposes of this recreation pass, the government was valuing citizen's labor at 20 cents per hour. I was wrong.

Today the Department of Interior and the US Forest Service formally announced the introduction of this pass. While it will, as I suggested, still be available at absolutely no cost to anyone who volunteers 500 hours, the cash purchase price will be just $80 per year. The value of volunteer labor has thus been devalued by 20%.

I'd ask you to consider how much personal time 500 hours represents.

If you worked 8 hour days, five days a week, you could earn an America The Beautiful in 12.5 weeks.
If you worked 2 hours a day, each and every day after returning home from your normal place of employment, after one year you would have volunteered enough to receive an $80 pass.
If you worked 24/7 from this moment (December 5) until Christmas --never stopping for breaks, never stopping to eat or sleep -- late on Christmas Day federal land managers would be ready to reward you with a one of their friendly stocking stuffers.

I've said it before and will say it again. In America we have minimum wage laws. With today's announcement that 500 hours of labor will earn a laborer an $80 America the Beautiful Pass, land managers broke the law.

WHO WILL HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE?

Scott

PS... InterActiveCorps controls virtually all reservation services on PUBLIC lands where an America The Beautiful Pass will be accepted. In 2006, InterActiveCorps' CEO, Barry Diller, received $470 million in personal compensation....

Comments (1) >>

Bill W. said:

Things are "moving right along" for corporate interests, as note this quote from a 1981 Cato Institute paper.

"The organizing principle of this paper is one of ascending radicalism from reform through volunteerism and privatization of services to the outright abolition of public ownership and the transfer of the parks to private parties." - James P. Beckwith, Jr., 1981, publishing through the Cato Institute.

The public lands are, step by step, being stolen right out from under our noses.

December 06, 2006

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