Jeroen wrote:
>Actually, many corporations are kept up and running by those
>unskilled,
>minimum wage people. If it weren't for low-ranking employees like
>receptionists, cleaning staff and cafetaria staff, not much would be
>done
>anymore.
What makes you think these people are being paid minimum wage? In most
cases they are not, especially receptionists and secretaries and the
like. And it all depends on the economics of the area. Where I live,
even McDonalds employees are making more than minumum wage. However,
across the mountains in eastern Washington, migrant farm workers are
probably making less than minumum wage, if anyone ever audited the
growers.
Your wage depends on your skills. If you speak fluent english, that is
a valuable skill. If you know to come to work on time, that is a
valuable skill. If you know how to dress appropriately for your job,
that is a valuable skill. And although employers might not like it,
knowing labor laws is a valuable skill...if you understand the job
market, if you understand your rights as an employee, you are liable to
make more money than someone who doesn't.
The reason growers can pay migrant farm workers so little is because
they lack the above knowledge. And also, many of them are afraid of
being deported if they complain.
And of course, some jobs that management THINKS are unskilled are
acutally skilled. So they try to offer low wages, but the jobs never
get done well. Well, that's a loss for the company. Capitalism
rewards management when they make correct decisions and punishes them
when they make bad decisions.
No employer is going to pay more wages than they yhink they have to,
just like no employee is going to accept a lower wage than they have
to.
>If the entire management doesn't do any work at all for a week,
>the company stills keeps running. But what do you think will happen if
>for
>a whole week the production personnel goes on strike, or your office
>building doesn't get cleaned for a week, or there is nobody around to
>make
>coffee for a week? Exactly: everything in the organisation comes to a
>grinding halt... Whaddaya mean, unskilled people don't contribute much
>and
>don't produce much value? Hah!
It's not that these people don't produce value, of course they do or
they wouldn't be hired in the first place. The question is, how many
other people could do the same work? If there are 200 people lined up
to do an unskilled job, the employer can select the one who is willing
to do the most work for the least money. If the employees of a
McDonalds go on strike, the management can find a whole new crew. If
skilled machinists or mechanics at Boeing go on strike it is very
difficult to find people to replace them. The trouble with unskilled
work is that there are plenty of people who can do unskilled work.
Only a few people can do skilled work. It really has nothing to do
with how essential the job is or how hard the job is. It is a matter
of supply and demand. If there is no demand for your skill it doesn't
matter how difficult, how dangerous, or how rare your skill is, no one
will pay you to do it. If there are 6 billion people who can do the
same work you do it doesn't matter if the work is difficult, dangerous,
or essential, you won't be able to demand much for your labor.
So what's the solution? Education, training, and clear-headed career
planning. People in the third world don't have access to any of those
things, so fof the next generation or so they are going to have low
wages, whether employed by multinationals or working as subsistence
farmers.
=====
Darryl
Think Galactically -- Act Terrestrially
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
