Understanding who works for whom, for what

Strikes are emotionally disruptive, of that there can be no doubt. Equally, the notion that someone controls your value to the extent you feel powerless causes a sense of rebellion.

Taken to extremes, these emotions cause chaos. I fear that chaos will spill over across the land, further threatening our democracy.

The Australian billionaire Tim Gurner perhaps secretly revealed how all seriously wealthy men and women feel when he announced, “We need to see unemployment rise, unemployment has to jump 40-50 per cent. In my view, we need to see pain in the economy. There’s been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them as opposed to the other way around.”

Mr. Gurner’s problem is that he believes his acumen and provision of wealth has allowed people to find employment and feed their families. He feels they should be grateful and beholden for the opportunity he — and hundreds of others of the 1% richest people on the planet — provide. In short, he provides them with work and all they should say is thank you and “Please sir may I have more?” His fellow billionaires made him recant his statement — too late, the billionaire’s truth was out.

Most businesses I have dealt with over the last half century, with a few exceptions, do not see employment as a debt the employee should carry. Nor do these employers feel they are beholden to the workers. It’s a cooperation, a trade of services for reward. As long as that exchange is fair and honest, open, transparent and legal, good companies prosper and employes remain loyal.

Henry Ford, hardly the perfect example of fairness in moral issues, nevertheless doubled the daily wages of his employees against the industry’s warnings. When asked why he did such a rash thing, his response was sensible: “What do you think they are going to spend the extra money on? They’ll buy a Model T.” He was right, of course. So it wasn’t philanthropy, it was good commerce. Corporate profits and long-term strategy were the backbone of the American economy until the last few decades. Now, the tables have turned to reaping the most profits while you can and leave the business weakened and lopsided when comparing the salary of employees versus management. When Ford and GM were making cars in the ‘50s, the bosses were making about $650,000 a year. They now make over $28,500,000 a year. That’s a jump of 4,400%! The line worker? In the ‘50s around $4,500 a year, and now, about $60,000. The line worker has only had a 1,300% increase. See the imbalance? Employees can and it makes them suspicious at best, but usually angry.

The real imbalance here is the lack of empathy, a lack of understanding of who works for whom or for what. The head of the car companies, hospitals, insurance companies, most of Wall Street, and the wealthiest Americans have forgotten who their customers are, where their income is derived from, and who, in the end, are the backbone to their very prosperity. Fairness is infectious (just ask CISCO’s founder), unfairness can only lead to a continuing season of chaos.

Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, now lives in New Mexico.