I firmly believe that many of the problems our country experiences can be solved not by working harder but by working less hard. We are told if you want to make more money work harder or longer hours. Sounds good on paper but weve also seen over the last 30 years a dramatic increase in productivity but no corresponding increase in pay. Over the last 50 years business has manufactured 3 great pressures on labor which has driven up profits, taxes, and driven down wages. 1. Feminism--Exploded the number of women working and paying taxes. This empowered the government and allowed business to reduce wages. 2. Outsourcing--allowed business to export jobs to other countries that lacked any environmental or wage controls. 3. Illegal immigration--Tens of millions of illegals have come to this country and overwhelmed many industries. They have driven down wages, paid taxes, and increased the profits of business. The reason there has been no solution to the immigration crisis is not because of the humanitarian cost but because business lobbies the government to keep them here and illegal. If they are illegal they cant ask for more money, better conditions, or the same rights as us. They want them in a state of limbo because that allows them to exploit them. All these things have allowed business to increase profits by making workers less essential. If men wont work for low wages they would get women to do it. If women wont do it they will get people in other countries to do it. If those jobs cant be exported they will lure illegals to this country to do them. We are told that we should work hard all our lives so we can retire. For many of us (males and blacks) our retirement age is very close to the end of our expected lifespan. I think that working at something you hate so you can retire some day is nothing more than the carrot before the horse. I want a job that I dont want to retire from. I want hours that dont grind me into the ground making me too exhausted to do anything else. I want a wage that doesnt force me to work like a dog just to make ends meet. How to do all these things? I think we should work less. If everyone worked less they would be forced to pay more. Its simple supply and demand economics. Take for instance the trucking industry where drivers are expected to work upwards of 70 hours a week (at least). What if a million drivers suddenly decided to only work 40 hours? This would result in an immediate demand for 750,000 workers. Even a 5 hour a week decrease in hours worked will result in the need for 125,000 workers. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics 288,000 people were hired in June. If one industry could reduce its hours worked by 5 hours a week it would increase that number by almost 50%. Imagine what it would do across the board? What if every fast food worker decided they werent going to show up whenever McDonalds deigned to call them when they got busy but instead would only work hours they were scheduled in advance? What if they refused to stay later than scheduled hours? As the companies hire more workers, even at low wages, the pool of labor dries up. When that happens wages rise and they rise without the need to protest or cajole politicians who are in the pocket of industry. In the 1990s the U.S. saw a prosperous period under Clinton. It wasnt Clintons win, but a technology boom that caused a lot of hiring. People were being hired by tech companies who had little experience in tech. They trained them in good jobs and the new found spending power spurred the economy. In Bowling Green, Kentucky the starting wage at a Taco Bell was almost 10 dollars an hour. This was 20 years ago! Now the starting wage is much lower (thanks to the 3 pressures Ive mentioned above). We now live in a country where a college degree doesnt guarantee you a job. Where many skilled trades do not guarantee a person a middle class lifestyle or job security. Yet, the jobs are there. The profits are there. People at the top are making lavish fortunes, but they continue to tell us that they cant afford to pay more? I have no faith that our government (either side) can solve our problems. I believe that the solution lay in the people because we can control this country through our purchasing power and our work habits. One person alone cant do it, but millions who agree on a simple principle can make a huge difference. If you dont think you make enough then cut back your hours at work. I know this is hard for many, but this choice can empower you to make other choices like driving your car less or using your bicycle more (thus protesting with your dollars the cost of fuel or lack of good public transportation). We think our vote matters but it doesnt. Not because we are one in a million but because we believe the only place we can vote (and make a difference) is at the ballot box. We vote every time we go to work, swipe a credit card, buy a bag of potato chips, drink a soda, or take the stairs instead of the elevator. There is a reason that business spends fortunes tracking our behavior and choices on the Internet. Those choices matter. They matter more than our votes which they have already bought. They are the things that they cannot control (at least not all of them). We are convinced we must work hard to get ahead, but in fact, we dont have to work as hard as we do. We can create our own revolution without guns or ballots or constitutional amendments. Just as Ghandi pioneered non-violent protest by using civil disobedience we too can use employee disobedience by refusing to work long hours, show up with short notice, work on-call, or work overtime. I know many of you think you cant live without that money, but most of you can live without some of it and its just a few hours a week that will make the difference. Like and share if you agree. bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 21:04:23 +0000
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