In today’s capitalist society, the idea of privatization is a common one. Many things have been privatized, postal service, transportation systems, roads, even the army, to name a few. The news story posted by The Detroit News “Editorial: Bobb trims the cost of DPS bus service by privatizing,” explores the privatization issues that the Detroit public school system is faced with to cut costs in their budget.
The article reports that faced with the high cost of transporting a child to school, an average of $2,133 per year, Robert Bobb, the state emergency financial manager of the Detroit public schools, came to the solution that by privatizing their bus transportation needs they would be able to save $50 million over five years, which would allow them to use the money on academics.
Milton Friedman would very much agree with Bobb’s decision of privatizing the student’s transportation. Friedman was a firm believer that if private companies can do the job, they should; he believes that a private company can do a much better job with better resources. And it should come as no surprise, looking through Friedman’s point of view, that by privatizing the transportation system for the Detroit public schools, they would operate more efficiently and save money.
However as reported on the article, the privatization of the bus system for the Detroit public schools has its down side; about 345 bus drivers and other employees will lose their jobs due to this occurrence. And while it was mentioned on the article that the employees that would be let go can go and apply for jobs with the companies that are taking over, in this economy it is safe to say that the companies will come with their own already trimmed staff, and these now unemployed workers will be left empty handed.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100225/OPINION01/2250342/1008/Editorial--Bobb-trims-the-cost-of-DPS-bus-service-by-privatizing
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Marx on the News
In Business today, in order to move up in the corporate ladder, one needs to “pay their dues;” meaning working extremely hard, with little, to no reward, in hopes that one day all this hard work will pay off. After reading Carl Marx’s “Wage Labour and Capital” I was reminded that this is not the way things should be. People have business norms ingrained in their minds and no one stops to ask the question of, is this really how things should be done, allowing for further exploitation of workers in general.
A lot of times, like Marx explains in his text, this devaluation of one’s own labor power is done by the workers themselves, who were put in a poor financial state and need to accept any treatment they are given in order to survive. In the news story “Is industry utilizing employees? Or exploiting?” Reported at CIOL News Reports, by Akanksha Prasad, Marx’s view is brought to life. The news reported on “positive employee utilization” (Prasad), which is just a fancy way of saying, making employees work more hours than they should without any extra pay.
With the ongoing financial crisis, and unemployment rates shooting through the roof, workers are put at competition with themselves to survive, and the more this occurs, the less valued their work becomes; which then gives rise to employer exploitation. The story reported complaints of workers who were made to labor 12-15 hours per day, and were denied petition for overtime pay. And when these companies were asked about these claims, some refuse to speak on the subject, others, said that these long work hours had been happening for a long time.
It baffles me that companies can use their exploitation tactics, as an excuse. But the fact of the matter is that in today’s society there is no escape from this kind of living. We are trained to sell our labor power for a wage, of which we are takers not choosers, and further ourselves down into lower wage rates, until we can no longer survive.
http://news.ciol.com/News/News-Reports/Is-industry-utilizing-employees-Or-exploiting/15210131523/0/
A lot of times, like Marx explains in his text, this devaluation of one’s own labor power is done by the workers themselves, who were put in a poor financial state and need to accept any treatment they are given in order to survive. In the news story “Is industry utilizing employees? Or exploiting?” Reported at CIOL News Reports, by Akanksha Prasad, Marx’s view is brought to life. The news reported on “positive employee utilization” (Prasad), which is just a fancy way of saying, making employees work more hours than they should without any extra pay.
With the ongoing financial crisis, and unemployment rates shooting through the roof, workers are put at competition with themselves to survive, and the more this occurs, the less valued their work becomes; which then gives rise to employer exploitation. The story reported complaints of workers who were made to labor 12-15 hours per day, and were denied petition for overtime pay. And when these companies were asked about these claims, some refuse to speak on the subject, others, said that these long work hours had been happening for a long time.
It baffles me that companies can use their exploitation tactics, as an excuse. But the fact of the matter is that in today’s society there is no escape from this kind of living. We are trained to sell our labor power for a wage, of which we are takers not choosers, and further ourselves down into lower wage rates, until we can no longer survive.
http://news.ciol.com/News/News-Reports/Is-industry-utilizing-employees-Or-exploiting/15210131523/0/
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