First Newsletter - An appeal to support the film project
Marketable people www.marketable-people.org
A film by Leslie Franke, Herdolor Lorenz and Stefan Corinth, 90 minutes
Help us to create a film which shows how solidarity is lost and how we are all in danger of sinking into competition amongst ourselves while the rich only get richer.
Europe is experiencing radical change. New paths are being laid out. Social systems which have been championed over decades are being undermined. The labour market in particular is changing rapidly. This where the film “Marketable people” points to.
Just 20 years ago about two thirds of the employees in Germany had full time employment with social security. Today that figure is just 38% . At the moment just under half of all employees are working without social security. They are working in internships, in repeated temporary work, in work contracts and in temporary employment through agencies! Or they are In totally unsecured jobs as „crowd workers“ (Internet-workers). These Jobs function „fee-based“ and are usually won by the lowest priced offer: A lector checks a book by a well known publishing house for a wage of 7.90 € per hour. That is not the minimum wage but the person is working freely. Even professors are now employed as freelancers. On Internet platforms such as MyHammer craftsmen offer their services. Here only that person gets to work who offers to work for the lowest hourly wage for example 5.80€ . Corporations such as Audi, Telekom Henkel, Deutsche Bank or Coca Cola, but even NGOs such as Greenpeace are moving their work out to crowd platforms. Some well educated people have to have 3 jobs to be able to survive. Whoever wants to compete in this environment must be prepared for this right from the beginning. This competition is in fact already intrinsic.
This development is not God given it is man made! The neoliberal ideas of a lean state and a global market without borders were first introduced into the US and England. In Germany these policies were taken over by the red-green government of Schröder/Fischer. Through the reduction of corporate taxes and the deregulation of work they managed to provide German companies enormous sustained cost advantages. Simultaneously real income sank between the years 2000 and 2010 on average by 4.2 percent. Employees in the lower half of the income pyramid had to cope with a reduction in real wages of between 13.2 and up to 23.1 percent.
Ruinous competition Through the reduction of corporate taxes and the deregulation of work they managed to provide German companies enormous sustained cost advantages, and other countries within the newly created Euro zone the corresponding economic disadvantages. In the end the financial crisis forced some of them to likewise lower their labour standards, allegedly be become competitive. “ I have delivered” is what the minister president of Italy said during his state visit to Berlin. He had delivered the deregulation of the labour market as had already before him Greece, Portugal and Spain. But the deregulation of their respective labour markets has not till now reduced the unemployment in any of these countries. On the contrary: Almost all people in Europe are losing in social security and are being sent into a competitive fight which encompasses ever more areas of life. Many people feel that something is “on the wrong track”. However this development does not mean “there is no alternative”. Democracy has a chance only if citizens recognize their concerns. “Marketable People” is to be a tool in achieving that aim.
“Marketable People” is being produced as a “Film from Below” , financed by those who wish to see and show the film. The latest projects of the film makers “Who's saving Whom”, and “Water makes Money” have shown how one can Influence decisions through enlightenment and mobilization.
Invest in the film „Marketable People“ and help to secure a part of your future.
With a donation you can be a promoter of the film. From 20 € onwards you will receive a DVD copy with the license to show the film in a non commercial screening.
- From 100 € onwards the promoters are classified as Gold Promoters. If you so wish your name will be listed in the final credits.
- From 1000 € onwards the promoters are distinguished as sustainability promoters. You will be invited to the premiere of the picture as a guest of honor.
Payments to be made to Account holder (Receiver): Marketable People, GLS Bank, IBAN: DE 49430609672020346200, BIC: GENODEM1GLS
is the film support from below to make the foundation on which the film can be created.