“Precarious work” contributes to rampant inequality, increased insecurity, and the crisis of public and mental health. “Gigs, Hustles, and Temps” explains why. In this profoundly troubling and incisive look at the state of work and welfare in Canada, Jason Foster reveals the long, often-hidden process that has left our jobs less secure, our livelihoods more uncertain, and the pockets of Canada’s wealthy fatter than ever. This phenomenon, the rise of “precarious work,” touches the entire economy and contributes to levels of income inequality unseen since the early 20th century. Our world is less secure than it has been in generations. Gigs, Hustles, and Temps describes how we got here, and why. Jobs across the economy are increasingly more precarious, and they share similar characteristics: impermanence, little to no benefits, and no union representation. Uber, Starbucks and Amazon have led the way. Governments are contracting out more labour than ever before. Tech companies hire workers on “flexible” contracts without the prospect of long-term employment. Migrant workers, too, are working without a safety net, figuratively and literally. No matter where you fall on the socio-economic ladder, your life is probably more precarious than your parents’ once was. Foster offers insights into the many consequences of our increasingly precarious world. He also details some of the less obvious repercussions of precarious work, including its contribution to the crisis of mental and public health across Canada. Foster argues that the rise of precarious work is more a “return to normal” for capitalist economies. But there is a flip side: advances in worker welfare have come through solidarity, struggle, and negotiation with the forces currently promoting precarious work across Canada's economy. Things don’t have to be the way they are. Gigs, Hustles, and Temps is a comprehensive, accessible, and essential guidebook on the road to a better world.

Choose your hours, choose your work, be your own boss, control your own income. Welcome to the sharing economy, a nebulous collection of online platforms and apps that promise to transcend capitalism. Supporters argue that the gig economy will reverse economic inequality, enhance worker rights, and bring entrepreneurship to the masses. But does it? In Hustle and Gig, Alexandrea J. Ravenelle shares the personal stories of nearly eighty predominantly millennial workers from Airbnb, Uber, TaskRabbit, and Kitchensurfing. Their stories underline the volatility of working in the gig economy: the autonomy these young workers expected has been usurped by the need to maintain algorithm-approved acceptance and response rates. The sharing economy upends generations of workplace protections such as worker safety; workplace protections around discrimination and sexual harassment; the right to unionize; and the right to redress for injuries. Discerning three types of gig economy workers—Success Stories, who have used the gig economy to create the life they want; Strugglers, who can’t make ends meet; and Strivers, who have stable jobs and use the sharing economy for extra cash—Ravenelle examines the costs, benefits, and societal impact of this new economic movement. Poignant and evocative, Hustle and Gig exposes how the gig economy is the millennial’s version of minimum-wage precarious work.

In Temporary, a young woman’s workplace is the size of the world. She fills increasingly bizarre placements in search of steadiness, connection, and something, at last, to call her own. Whether it’s shining an endless closet of shoes, swabbing the deck of a pirate ship, assisting an assassin, or filling in for the Chairman of the Board, for the mythical Temporary, “there is nothing more personal than doing your job.” This riveting quest, at once hilarious and profound, will resonate with anyone who has ever done their best at work, even when the work is only temporary.

A stirring, comprehensive look at the state of women in the workforce—why women’s progress has stalled, how our economy fosters unproductive competition, and how we can fix the system that holds women back. In an era of supposed great equality, women are still falling behind in the workplace. Even with more women in the workforce than in decades past, wage gaps continue to increase. It is the most educated women who have fallen the furthest behind. Blue-collar women hold the most insecure and badly paid jobs in our economy. And even as we celebrate high-profile representation—women on the board of Fortune 500 companies and our first female vice president—women have limited recourse when they experience harassment and discrimination. Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy explains that the system that governs our economy—a winner-take-all economy—is the root cause of these myriad problems. The WTA economy self-selects for aggressive, cutthroat business tactics, which creates a feedback loop that sidelines women. The authors, three legal scholars, call this feedback loop “the triple bind”: if women don’t compete on the same terms as men, they lose; if women do compete on the same terms as men, they’re punished more harshly for their sharp elbows or actual misdeeds; and when women see that they can’t win on the same terms as men, they take themselves out of the game (if they haven’t been pushed out already). With odds like these stacked against them, it’s no wonder women feel like, no matter how hard they work, they can’t get ahead. Fair Shake is not a “fix the woman” book; it’s a “fix the system” book. It not only diagnoses the problem of what's wrong with the modern economy, but shows how, with awareness and collective action, we can build a truly just economy for all.

For many, the gig economy is part of everyday life. It affects how our food and groceries are delivered, our transportation options, and where we stay when we travel. But while apps like Uber tend to receive the most attention, this shift in the labor market manifests in many different ways. Essentially, it applies to anyone who forgoes traditional full-time employment for temporary or contract-based work. Your readers will experience a wide range of viewpoints that consider how the gig economy has developed, its advantages and disadvantages for both workers and consumers, and whether regulation could help ensure its growth is beneficial to all involved.

Foreword by Vadge Moore, drummer for the Dwarves From the darkest rat hole basements to flash arenas, here is a wild ride through Rock's worst moments. Rife with confessionals, Gigs from Hell strips the mythology and starry-eyed allure of life on the road to its barest essentials - puke, rip-offs, come-downs and the odd stab at glory. Collected and translated from drunken rock-speak by music writer Sleazegrinder, this book offers a rare glimpse at what it's really like to tour, record and survive in the cut-throat music industry. Illustrated.

This book will teach you how to start, scale, and sell a small business from scratch. It is intended for entrepreneurs of all levels, from first-time business owners to seasoned executives looking for a new perspective. Once you've dug up enough pennies from between the couch cushions to start a new business, you're going to need a plan. How to Launch Your Side Hustle will walk you through the process of crafting your venture. Author Troy R. Underwood, a trained software developer and entrepreneur, emphasizes using low-cost techniques and creative ideas to finance, market, and run your business, even as it gains momentum. Using his previous company as a model of what to do—and sometimes what not do to—Underwood candidly takes you through the steps of building your business, guided by the principle of necessity. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular facet of business, from hiring and training the right people to pricing your product or service, buying the right software and tools, navigating legal issues, and understanding when it's time to sell the business. This book provides you with basic best practices in a quick and simple format, so you can get back to work on turning your aspirations into a reality.