Employees Of The World…

A worker implies work whereas an employee implies an employer. Interestingly enough, the change in terms came about in the Industrial Revolution when the singular artisan worker became an interchangeable and plural employee. In conversing with the eminent Fletch, he reminded us that the term worker comes from the Middle English term wright, which is still used as in stone wright or playwright.  Again, the term employee came during the Industrial Revolution and is out of the French. We probably use the term worker more frequently as the term was used in the first translation of the Communist Manifesto. This was produced in Britain where the term worker is more like an independent contractor versus the employee who is hired to work a particular job with a more or less set schedule.

All this to say that when companies say, “no one wants to work” they seem to be talking about workers and not employees. People want to be engaged in what they do and not a slave to it. Employees have relations with the employer and by extension the product that they produce. Workers are detached, doing what is required of them without engagement. Look at Lyft and Uber drivers. They are there to provide a profit and service with little or no engagement with the larger organization and the larger organization has less responsibility to the source of its wealth.

Perhaps no one wants to be a worker but an engaged employee.

Fear the Light

While listening to the Afikra Podcast‘s discussion with Marwan Kraidy, we were fascinated by his take on recent media moving from the myth of a homogeneous media to the splintered idea of a consumer with many media. We thought about when there had been a similar diffusion and our thoughts went back to the Reformation, another time when a new technology led to the beginning of immense political and social change. As we have said, every new media seems to spawn a social revolution as information becomes more available and accessible.

Think of the similarities, Information controlled by few (The Church, the three major networks, and print media) to a place where technology allows free dissemination of information, (the Printing Press, the internet). Just as many in the Reformation considered it the end of the civilized world, we now feel that the internet, social media, and cell phones are bringing about another decline and fall – the Apocalypse. But remember that the word Apocolypse comes from  Apokalupto while the source for the word Apocalypse, in Greek, means to uncover or to make known what was unknown previously.  And is that not precisely the purpose of information, to illuminate the places that were previously dark?  Perhaps what we fear more than the end, is change.

 

The Illusion of Personal

As you know, there are times when we need to reexamine our words and their suitability to communicate what we really mean. Some believe the term fast food is no longer appropriate, as well as other favorites like Hot Chili and Jumbo Shrimp. It seems that now the idea of personal information needs to join those ranks of oxymorons. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t see another company that has suffered some data breach and learn that a great number of people have had their information stolen. Not only are there several sites for the latest on data breaches, there is even a Cybercrime magazine. Where do we draw the line between what is personal and what isn’t? We share so much of our lives in electronic communities, from selfies to sex tapes, how do we say, this is personal and this isn’t. Are we being fickle in saying you can see my lunch but not my medical records? Our address, email address, and phone number can be discovered but our social security numbers are sacrosanct. On the other hand we gladly give over all our “digital exhaust”  to media companies who are making billions off our information yet draw a fuzzy line between public and private. I could livestream my plastic surgery but call my medical records private. Hollywood stars can go sunbathing naked on the beach, but paparazzi can take, but not share the pictures. If we have learned nothing else, we should have learned that when profit is concerned, if we give an inch- we find a mile taken.

Economy Uber Alles

It has been fascinating to watch the current angst-filled parade of businesses decrying California moving to a wage of $20.00 per hour for fast food workers.  While not wailing, and gnashing their teeth at the indignity of having to compensate people fairly, there are more cries and lamentations that this will bring down the economy and small businesses. Of course, higher costs in other resources are either absorbed or passed on to the consumer but labor costs- they are the stuff of rants and shareholder panic attacks. Maybe these businesses need to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps and find creative ways to do more with less like they have been asking of workers for the last few years- the corporate equivalent of eating cereal for dinner. Perhaps we need to understand the prevailing idea that capitalism is non-negotiable. It is the 800-pound gorilla that must be fed (and not cereal at that).  Corporate loss is a moral shortfall.  Stockholders must be paid, and CEOs must be compensated no matter the cost. We are committed to the system above all else and if we need workers who can not live with the wages they are paid, the problem must be with the workers. Perhaps like the lyrics in Tom Jones’s Thunderball, [they]  know the meaning of success (their) needs are more, so [they] give less.

Whoever said the system had to work for workers?

 

Because every day needs a little Tom Jones