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/
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Tatiane,
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that in today's world, wage-slavery exists. In our very own country that many think is so free, a form of enslavement happens. I think that as long as businesses and workers allow some sort of hiearchy instead of a communal approach to business, this problem will always exist. There are companies (not many in the U.S.)that are called ESOP's, which allows all employees to own the business. If we had more of an effort like this, I believe that we can send a message to the capitalists who only sole purpose is to capitalize on our labor power which we sell but it is because we do not have a choice-we would starve! Great piece, and I completely agree.
I agree with you that companies exploit their workers and the part where they refuse to pay workers overtime after putting in a 15 hour day is absurd. Today, everything is about money and most companies don't care for their employees when it comes to compensating them for their labor. Marx would say that its completely ridiculous that workers don't get paid an amount based on the labor they put in. I myself worked for a company where overtime would mean all the English speakers going home, and the ones with not so good of English stayed to work overtime. Reason behind it was that the people who knew little English would never say anything or do anything about their overtime pay. They would work 12 hours a day and no over time for them. Enough was enough where all the workers stood up and wanted their overtime to be paid. That problem was fixed really fast when the whole valet crew decided not to show up for work.
ReplyDeleteCompanies and corporations main going is to make money and to lose as little as possible. It does not surprise me that the refuse giving their workers overtime after working absurd amount of hours, they exploit them. Marx would disagree with this because the labor the workers put in they are not getting paid for, he would want them to demand overtime pay.
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad to know that we see and understand what the issue is, but we cannot do anything about it to change the current system, there is no escaping. It is a structure that has been intact for the last few centuries. I truly believe it is a battle not between the owners and workers, but rather it is a battle against the Capital system itself. It is the economic structure that brings the issue onto us, and it gives us an illusion that it is the owners that are under valuing our labor; truth is that anyone would have done the exact same thing owners done when put into the situation. We are not slaves to the owners, but rather to the Capital system.
ReplyDeletethis is true. if you want to move up in a company you have to make sacrifices and sometimes this means working longer hours and doing more work than they are paying you to do. we sell ourselves short in order to please someone else, make someone elese more money in hopes we will get it back but now days that is getting harder and harder. and we do not have a choice this the way the working class is forced to live under because if we dont we need will starve, we will not be able to provide for ouselves or a family.
ReplyDeleteI think articles like this are very interesting, I especially like your interpretation and how you say we are takers not choosers. This is very interesting to me I believe in Marx's argument, but I also believe that it is found to be true that most employees continue to try to 'climb' the corporate ladder by continuously seeking raises and looking for bigger and better opportunities. I also understand the argument about exploitation and utilization, and believe there is a very fine line between the two but through your article and interpretation it is believed that workers are being exploited and this is a perfect example of Marx's theory that workers basically exploit themselves through completion with one another and only striving to achieve what is needed for survival.
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