Are todays employees yesterdays slaves?

Is an employee in fact what used to be a slave?

I suppose if you break it down they are. Having a job truly does make you the property of an employer in the sense that that employer controls how you spend your time, what you do in that time and how well fed and housed you are.

Having a job is modern day slavery and it seems with the decline and hollowing out of social liberties and rights that many employers are keen to make sure that whatever they give employees is as little as possible. Sure, people don't wear chains in the literal sense anymore but in many ways little has changed since the days that they did have to wear them.

Even today when one is looking for a job one often uses interim agencies and recruiters to get one. And what are they except for slave traders because they line up potential employees to be judged and selected by an employer for a fee. And often times one will have to offer themselves up for work, showing off your youth, health, skills, whatever and willingness to do whatever they want. Just like in old times, because slavery was often a sort of chosen way of living, where one was poor and slavery the only means of getting enough food and care, in Europe at least. What's the difference with today, I ask you?

Most people are stuck in their jobs, unable to get out of them and completely depended on it for their food and housing as they live from meager paycheck to meager paycheck. And just like in old times your owner would occasionally throw the slaves a party to keep them happy and thinking that he truly cared for them. And on occasion your owner would allow you to take a few days off for a holy day, wedding, funeral or something for the same reason. This is different from today how exactly?

And in return for your indentured labor he would feed you and house you but never in the amount that you could achieve independence from him. Similarly an employer today just gives you money with which to buy food and shelter but never enough so that you could achieve their level of prosperity. Funnily many businesses are now so large and all encompassing that the employee will often end up spending their hard earned money on food, necessities and housing in businesses owned by the same employer that paid them in the first place. That way the employer gets back the money he paid the employee in the first place. Doubling the profit, ah, capitalism at its finest and most disgusting.

If an employee wasn't a slave then why aren't they allowed to profit from the fruits of their labors like the employer obviously does. He has many working for him and he is the one who will gain wealth and prosperity from their labor. He will pay his employees just enough to keep them alive and moderately happy and healthy. If they weren't slaves then why must they conform to the rules and morals of their employers, often even in their spare time. Why are employers allowed to demand loyalty of their employees and forbid them from seeking better offers.

Slavery is far from gone in this world and in some ways it is more prevalent in the West than it is in 3rd world countries. At least there one wears chains and whip marks as a testament to their bondage and exploitation while in the west the chains are invisible, the exploitation veiled but the people chattel none the less.

Liberal democracy, as the west has it in the system of productionism/consumerism, ultimately means these kinds of side-effects you're mentioning. The friends of the system will argue that if you don't like your job you can just try to study to get a better one or achieve for a new career. Those critical of the present system will say that the system itself is inherently unjust and needs to be changed (however, to date no so called "cure" for it has proven effective).

While I think it's not totally justified to see employees as victims and employers as oppressors (the real problem is the sin in us humans and the God ordained order in which men should live does not promise a egalitarian utopia) there's something in this prevalent system that is creating much problems in people's social relations. One reason for it is the environment in which most people are engaged. With the decrease and decline of farming and agriculture, giving way to industrialism and high-technology/space/digital age, the terms on which most men lives has changed drastically. Our natural way to live is close to earth and in villages, not in huge cities with large industries.

Before capitalism/socialism and industrialism, in agrarian societies, many of the problems we have now did not exist.

Thank you, Marjolijn, for a very thought-provoking & debatable subject. I look forward to reading the responses of our friends.
I do agree with Tribesman's sentiments contained in his last paragraph.
Personally, living in a rural, farming community each day is another battle, for the farmer, against the attractive, succulent looking, pesticide ridden & cloned fruit, veg & cuts of meat
Tesco's shelves.
This is compounded by my upbringing in rural West Cork, raising beef, lamb, cereal crops & the odd bottle or 20 of poteen produced from the illegal still @ the back of the byer! It could also be a quite risky experience clearing the ditches to have a Paramilitary volunteer, who'd been hiding from the British Army, leap out at you - but thereby hangs other tales!

I'm very, very fortunate in my work. Within a large Agency I've worked with the same Director for nearly 20 years. She has always been there for me especially when I've collapsed, mid-seizure, & just before charging someone. Knowing all about my brain injury & the risks, whilst I get bounced all round Europe, she always let's me take time off - working from home if need be - to recover from the rigours of flying BA!
This year sees me having to shave my budget to the bone to comply with Govt spending targets & yet again , thankfully, I'll meet my target using voluntary redundancies of staff who've had enough, For the third time of asking my name will be at the top of the list. And this time, with the backing of my Consultant & Director I can't be refused. Ironically I'll be better off not working than I will be working.
But no-one should be in a position of deciding who goes or stays;
one should "volunteer" for redundancy & No-one should have the power to shackle a person to their desk. Mycomputer screen saver incorporates the Irish Declaration
Of Independance, enforced against the British @ the time of the Easter Uprising.
Looking around the various financial crises worldwide, & the well-heeled fools who think this is a mere blip in GDP, I think my screensaver sits pretty well.
Go mbeannai Dia Duit.
J.

I think a better example of slavery in the modern world is the US prison systems. Many people are locked away for a long time based more on their social standings then their crime (I know, this isn't always the case), they work for basically nothing, while private prisons make millions of dollars. You should look into it.

Hi Saul. Good to read your thoughts & to "meet" you. I'm afraid I don't know anything about the US prison system (except a recent TV documentary, over here, highlighting a prison in Miami, supposed to be your toughest).
I can only speak from my own experience whereby Magistrates here are under pressure to hit Home Office conviction targets - It looks good @ election time!! But the only way those targets can be hit is by handing down custodial sentences. However 3 years ago, the plan to close prisons or reduce existing capacities took hold. Result?
Increased custodials but nowhere to put the offender except into overcrowded prisons; often 3 to a 2 man cell. There is even serious talk of recommissioning prison ships currently lying idle in breakers yards. We have no private prisons even to temporarily ease the burden & prisoners are now being housed in the cells of some of the larger police stations - but they're designed for overnight stays only pending a morning appearance before the Bench. Chicken & egg? Catch 22? Nah simply brain dead politicians & it seems you have those too!
Best wishes.
J.

Friend, I fear that America is the kingland of brain dead politicians....

I love how here, the politicians do the exact opposite of what people are in favor for. I often think about moving to a new country...but I have been a lot of place, I don't think it is actually any better anywhere else lol.

The demographics of where you live, Saul and Jim, and my home I return to next week, have changed hugely in 15 years, especially for Saul and me, with the middle class withering and the two 'camps' of the 'haves' and 'have-nots' becoming a very relevant perception.

I don't know what it's like in Germany and France to affect you there in Belguim, Marjolijn, but if the middle class reduces and reduces, there goes your national prosperity, so "wage-slaves and masters" will be with you for some time to come!

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