SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2024 LABOR DAY

 FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2024 - GOLDEN RULE

(Maybe Saturday, August 31!! I started this on Tuesday, August 27, and just haven’t finished it.)

 ““n everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.”” The Golden Rule is also expressed in a negative form: ““Do not do to others as you would not like them to do to you.””

Labor Day is the following Monday (September 2, 2024).  

Economic theory has four production factors: labor, land, management, and capital. Looking at labor, that typically means human labor. With computing and technology, some jobs or parts of jobs are done by technology. Weather forecasts use large amounts of data. Robots help assemble cars. Robotic arms pick items in warehouses without human intervention, scan, label, and stage the items for delivery.  

All four production factors are interesting, but I want to discuss labor with Labor Day on the horizon.

The significant difference between humans and technology/robots is that technology can work 24/7/365, while humans generally work 8-hour days and five days a week. Humans need sleep; robots don’tdon’tere is a cost differential between humans and technology. Humans expect to get paid. We expect eight-hour days, a five-day week, time off for holidays and vacation, plus lunch hours, coffee breaks, and time to talk to our co-workers. 

In most companies, the most significant cost is labor!!! For management (or stockholders or owners) to make more money, they want to cut payroll down (that is, pay labor less). Management says, “Pay the “workers less, fill our pockets.”

One” reat solution in terms of greed is slavery. In slavery, owners can get the work done for almost free. In pre-Civil War, plantation owners enslaved people. Slaves were not necessarily free. There were food, clothing, housing, health, and other costs. But, if the enslavers could minimize the expenses, they would make more. Give the workers substandard housing and cheap food, and don’t provide healthcare (let them die off).  

We also had an era when the rich had servants (think Downton Abbey), and servants were slightly above slaves.  

It is part of “man’s inhumanity to fellow man.” Wars are so useless. Younger men fought traditional wars while the old rulers watched on the sidelines. And justify the wars. I grew up hearing (and not quite believing) the expression, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.”

Of course, laborers want more money. “I’m worth more, “I’m minimum wage.” Management ha” the upper hand—“take it—or leave “the job.” Over the 250 years, the United States courts and legislation have helped create a fairer society.

My community has an IHOP (International House of Pancakes). I don’t know the situation, but It seems like there just aren’t enough servers, cooks, or busboys. If I went to IHOP at an off hour, people might be waiting 45 minutes to get a table in the central part of the restaurant—with more empty tables than full tables. I’m not sure if management doesn’t want to doesn’t or if the workers are expected to do more than servers in similar situations.  

Labor can be challenging. I never worked as a manual laborer (for money anyway). Building houses, roads, roofing, and painting never came my way. (I did manual labor during college summers, delivering furniture and working in a warehouse.)Labor can be a tricky balance—pay people enough to live, and you risk setting the amount too high for your customers. Too low, and you have turnover. Generally, you want happy employees who are just under the breaking point of your economic structure.

And, (of course), management needs to treat employees - “In everything, do unto others what you would have them do to you.”..  Fairness, kindness”, and love - can all be a part of the labor situation - but it isn’t always easy to please people.

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS PEOPLE

Karen Anne White, August 31, 2024