Once again, companies are bombarding us with ads for things we are told we need. This onslaught of commercialism can be overwhelming.
Nonetheless, it is hard to begrudge companies their chance to make profits now that will carry them through the year. The need to sell vast quantities of goods over the next month also reminds us how much our economy’s success depends on us, the consumers.
How often are we told that the consumer confidence index, which measures our collective optimism about the economy, is critical to determining how strong our economy is? The more confident we are, the less we save and the more we spend. Since our purchases support businesses, we as consumers are vital to sustaining a vibrant economy.
What about workers?
Those who make the products we buy are often viewed differently by CEOs. The twin goals of corporate leaders are to increase profits by improving efficiency and decreasing operating costs.
Common ways to do this are to replace workers with machines. While automation previously led to the loss of blue-collar jobs, the increasing use of AI threatens white-collar workers.
The other tactic for reducing costs is by keeping wages as low as possible.
When workers complain about these two threats to their livelihoods, they are often treated as problems to be solved by firing the “troublemakers.”
Following this strategy to its logical conclusion results in the loss of jobs for some and minimal incomes for many.
There are many problems with this approach to running a corporation. A pretty obvious one is that workers are also consumers.
The same people who are seen by their bosses as impediments to corporate success when on the job become the economy’s saviors when they cash in their paychecks and go shopping.
Strategies that yield profits at the expense of workers’ well-being, therefore, undermine our shared economy. Unions are one bulwark against these pernicious tendencies.
They at least provide a means for workers to have a voice that cannot be ignored in the conditions of their employment.
Ongoing efforts by such corporate leaders as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to abolish the National Labor Relations Board that safeguards workers’ rights, threaten the ability of unions to have that voice and so to protect their members.
Without unions there are no assurances that workers will be paid fairly or have access to adequate benefits. An impoverished workforce cannot support a functioning economy.
Sustaining a vital economy, therefore, depends on ensuring that workers get a fair shake.
The quest for efficiency cannot be allowed to proceed without regard for the lives of those who machines and algorithms will replace. The negative consequences of keeping salaries low for worker well-being and consumer spending have to be recognized.
It is immoral to build an economy on the backs of the under-paid. It is short-sighted and unsustainable to try.
Sincerely,
Edward Schortman
Gambier, Ohio