What happens to your money?

• Simple theft and coarse robbery

If we are robbed in the street, or if someone breaks into our home and robs us while we are at work, we are probably raging, and will report the crime to the police. Robbing and theft are of course punishable, and the offenders can get jail sentences, even though the amounts stolen from us are small.

Not very pleasent to be robbed like this.

• Hidden theft and “masked” robbery

But what happens if our values and money ​​are taken from us bit by bit, over time? Values that are removed in a manner that makes it difficult to understand what’s really happening to us. Values that are taken away from us in ways that makes it hard to believe that we are being subjected to a systematic theft?

Another form of theft. Bosses deciding how much will be left for you when they have taken their “share”. (Illustration ,not real bosses)

Our values, what do they consist of?

If you find it hard to know what is meant by values ​​here, I will try to explain: 1. A. Material goods: When  being robbed by a simple thief we naturally refer to money, credit cards, our wedding ring,  or gold watch. Also our  PCs  and Macs, car or house, can this way be measured in cash. 1. B. Potential economical value: If we also have an attractive education or skill, we can talk about our potential monetary value on the job market. Being robbed and knocked down in the street can, can put this future value on the job-marked in peril. 

2. Affection Values: No doubt our closest family, children, friends and sweethearts, usually have the highest value in our life, together with the personal feeling of having value as a human being.

These are crucial values on a psychological level. They can hardly be measured in money, even if they are most important to us. I would add, very important for our self-esteem, and well-being.

3. Spiritual and immaterial values: Many of us share values attached to a special religion, philosophy of life or ethics. These types of values are also psychological, in the way that they can give us something to believe in beyond the material world. It can also offer mental peace inspite of a difficult life and broken dreams.

“Drugs for the people.”

Marx called this third type of values for “drugs to the people”. By this concept he meant that at least religion could easily  make people passive and “mystified”. That is ignorant of the real causes of their miserable lifes. Instead of protest and strike, and  demanding higher wages, religion could easily make people accepting their bad working conditions, bad housing and health, poverty and death of their children.

 4. A. Political values: These concepts of Marx makes a smooth transition to the kinds of values embedded in political awakening, parttaking and  activism.

4 B. The value of your work: In the extension of becoming political conscious we have the establishment of worker unions and trade unions. These organizations were meant to represent a powerful counterattack to the crude exploitation of industrial workers. For over 130 years now Labor Unions  have fought for bettering the conditions for the widening group of not only traditional workers, but employees all over the world. This must never be forgotten!

Metaphorically it raised the working class in the western world from slavery to nobility. But this position of power and earned privileges is nowadays bit by bit lost in the global way of running businesses.

Detached family homes in suburban England.

5. Values behind the foundation of our Welfare States:  Right wing movements both in America and Europe try very hard when they are in power to deconstruct the Welfare State, bit by bit. This is somewhat their trademark alongside slimming down public spending . The effect of this willed public anorexia, is to diminish our rights as citizens of a welfare  society. It is the neo-liberal conservative way of removing the public safety net for those who occasionally fall outside job, health, and economical security.

In many countries until now, we have received financial assistance in the form of sickness benefit if we become sick, unemployment benefits or social assistance if we fall out of work or disability benefit if we become seriously injured or chronically ill. These rights can also be measured in amounts of money, and be translated into values or assets.

From losing some hundred dollars by a simple theft, to several millions through “masked robbery”.

But let’s say, that we are slowly deprived of these rights in a welfare society. In that case, we will lose a lot more money than if a thief mugs us in the street, or brakes into our home. Through this form of theft, we might suffer such big losses that we risk becoming poor and even losing our home. We can hardly go to the police with this “theft” and accuse the society for being the thief. Then it would probably be us the police accused of not being able to differ between a police case and a matter of politics.

A family losing their home. Here eviction day. (photo from real life)

Creating The illusion of lack of alternatives

And here’s the problem I want to address in this article. There is much more money at stake for us in politics than we would like to believe. Landowners, leaders of business enterprises, capitalists and financial acrobats, have known this for centuries. Therefore, they engage themselves with much vigor and money in molding the politicians in your countries.

They usually threaten them with loss of jobs for the common man and woman. They even treathen with the possibility of industrial death and reduction of commerce and trade. That is, if the politicians do not reduce their business taxes, and stately fees.

Can we believe the reality in what they “sell in” to us voters?

For most of us there are no lobbyists working with central politicians on our behalf. And we have no extra money to pay for election campaigns. Soon we are sitting there, somewhat exhausted, in our sofa after work, following season four of some semi interesting series.

Lost in faith and trust on the authorities.

To endure, we dive into the internet and social media. We  drink our coffee and beer, eat our pizza, sometimes arguing with our spouse or parents. We are yelling about the rent, the rising prices and taxes for ordinary people. And we are swearing for ourselves about the trivial of life, and all the inept politicians in our capital.

But when election day eventually arrives, we don’t care for voting, thinking there’s no effect of our little vote in that big poll of ballots.  Or we vote for the “big savior”, the crusader and standard-bearer of our values and attitudes. In the reality, he might be the big propagandist or even liar, just pretending to fight for our rights and secure our future. This happened in America!  Is that also the case in Russia, Turkey. Hungary and France?

We must never forget that politics is a fight for power. Power to define what you and your country need. And we must never forget that the fight is about distribution of wealth and values. It’s about how much you will have in return for your work, and how much the owners of your workplace, and the shareholders will end up with, when they sell the result of your work on the global market.

In many countries the difference between two parties is poverty for you, and limitless wealth for your employer. In some countries however, the practical difference for you, between opposite parties is like zero, even if it seems huge in the ways they’re presenting the politics.

The fear of engaging ourselves in political questions. And the experienced fatigue in the population around politics.

Many of us are afraid of engaging ourselves in politics, because we might be persecuted for it. And many of us don’t like the frequently dirty fights between politicians and parties before an election.  I nevertheless urge us to take part in it at least by our vote!

Still there is one thing we can do about our life’s situation without entering politics. You and I can talk with other people working in the same branch of business or industry as we do ourselves. We can share experiences and opinions about our life as employees. In this way we might discover the factors that undermine our value as employees in the labor market, and undermine our self-esteem. This way we also might find out that we share untenable conditions at our workplace. Conditions that may degrade our feeling of self-respect, pride, and worthiness in life.

Workers united at Nissan. And labor union leaders united in the US.

In many countries like in Europe and the US. hard-won historical rights in the labor market, are lost, bit by bit. These have been basic rights as employees: And they were won through strikes and negotiations evolved over a century, in the many different industrial companies or in the many health and social care institutions we have. Not only have wages been falling,  the work has also been increasingly more labor-intensive?

Dangerous trends.

Also, the permanent employment that some of us have finally achieved after many years of hard work for the firm, can suddenly be terminated. This permanent employment has provided us with both security and loan facilities for housing and living. In addition, it has given us the opportunity for long-term family planning. In some countries, it has also ensured our children a better education.

Now the situation however is altered. in many countries. Paradoxically many of us need to apply for temporary employment in the company we were already permanently employed in. This is so because in the meantime this company or its services has been sold or outsourced to another company, which can end all previous agreements with the employees.

The Ambulance Aircrafts of “Norsk Luftambulanse” grounded in May, 2018, after Northern Norways Health Enterprice outsourced the life saving service to a cheaper company in Sweden. This company could do the job cheaper by reducing the pilots wages with 24%, and cutting their pensions and permanent employment.

The corporate structure of national and international companies works targeted to save on payroll, retirement, employer’s fees, and tax evasion. They call it to make themselves competitive on the global market. They have high-paid sharp lawyers who use their intelligence and expertise to find loopholes in the law so to make the business owners richer, at the expense of the employees.

An illustration of the degrees of exploitation of  laborers, from workers in the third world, to lowpayed employees in America and the fruits of this worldwide  labor for example in the “humble LA. dwelling” on top.

A  map of very complex international business strategy and division of businesses into various subsidiaries spread throughout the world. On top of this there is all the  sub-contracting companies involved to quit responsibility for the workers.

The employees on the other hand lose their small privileges, if they ever had any, and get poorer by the hour. At the same time they risk losing both their pension and in many countries also the sickness insurance.

Worst of all in this massive loss of rights in the job marked is when our employers deny us our only channel of influence. The right to organize ourselves in trade unions, or to report critical conditions at our workplace. Typical for the right-wing governments that are proliferating in the western world right now, is to encourage this negative trend, by doing more to secure the wealth of the rich, than ensuring employees fair pay and guaranteed pensions. A crucial question to ask at this point, is:

Who do we really believe creates most of the values ​​of the companies by their hard labor and work, and give most of their salary back to the society through their tax contributions?

In Norway, the government consisting of neo-liberal populist from the right wing and conservative right-wing liberalists, calls the abovementioned changes on the job market, “necessary restructuring”. They call for moderation by the employees, and acceptance for temporary employment. During the annual negotiations in the wage settlement both in public and private sectors, they also appeal to the labor unions of the employees to show solidarity in their demands, with the employers. The saying goes that workers of all kinds must take into consideration the difficult times for employers and business owners especially in the Oil sector.

Referring to numbers from the Norway’s Central Bureau of Statistics  the average real wages have fallen about 1800,- kr. from 2014, to 2017. At the same time on Oslo Stock Exchange,  the biggest dividend payments ever, were recorded, with a return of 19.1% on shares. While 5000 employees lost their job in Statoil, in 2016, Statoil paid its shareholders 23 billion crowns in dividends. (Marie Sneve, Klassekampen, 04.11-2018)

This is just a small example of where our values and money goes. You may wonder how working and payment conditions are in countries, known for far less control with the labor market than in little Norway. But in our world of global economy and trade, there is a way to evade this control even for Norwegian companies. I will come to this in a minute, with a fatal example.

Solidarity must be mutual!

Solidarity is an important term in the contract between employee, employer and society. But does it go both ways. Is it reciprocal? Where is the solidarity and consideration of employers and capital owners when the companies prosper? When was the last time an employer of a big enterprise for example like world’s second richest man and employer, Jeff Bezos in Amazon, showed solidarity with his employees, by giving them better working conditions and higher wages? Please tell me!

Gawker, May 2014 – “I Do Not Know One Person Who Is Happy at Amazon” From an anonymous Amazon employee.

“Amazon is getting a lot of good press today for a smart marketing move it pulled: offering a “thank you” discount code to its customers based on some stupid corporate reputation poll. But, here’s something to consider: Amazon treats its massive army of laborers like garbage”(William Turton.)

To build a strong and robust society you need to have citizens feeling their safety on the job market guaranteed.

Last year on Laborers Day 1. of May  2017, 10 people died and 18 were injured when a crane collapsed during the construction of  a Norwegian Drilling Platform at the yard in South Korea. The working conditions on the Platform were very bad, and chaotic. How can a very Big, Respected and responsible Company like Statoil, risk their employed workers life?

The fatal accident at the platform in South Korea where 10 workers were killed and 18 injured.

The key to saving money thru lowering wages and quitting responsability is 1. Having an international bidding round and give the project to the company with the cheapest bid. 2. Let this company choose as many subcontractors as they like, and leave it to them how to deal with wages and safety at work. As Main Contractor you just check and control the project a couple of times every year. In the above mentioned case very many subcontractors were used.

Workers at a sub-contracting firm with little security at work and even less guarantees regarding wages and pensions.

I call upon you all to make a difference.

I call upon you to walk up to the stage where the future “Play of your Working Life” is to be written and directed. Here you will not stay alone. There are billions of other employees out there waiting to enter this scene. And they have done it before, fought for their rights as workers or employees in all kinds of trades.

Since 1880 there has been a very long March for laborers to get their rights guaranteed thru a tripartite agreement between the unions of the laborers, the unions of the employers and the stately governments. Today not only traditional industrial workers belong to this group. Today this vast group of workers encompasses, pre-school and school teachers, health personnel, social workers, all the workers in the service sector, secretaries, officials in all kind of offices, taxi drivers, seamen and women nd and so on. You are so many! Don’t let the capitalists and company owners split you! Together you are strong. Union fait la Force!

Delacroix’s famous painting of a famous revolt against repression.

Then start with small conversations with your colleges about your working conditions. Next step is coming together and exchanging opinions. Then see the possibility in uniting with other branches, and above all feel your strength as a unity against exploitation, repression and social dumping. In my opinion this is one of the best ways to avoid depression and psychological fatigue and to hinder the feeling of being only an object to others greed.