(Expansion) – In Modern Times (1936), Charles Chaplin portrayed the conditions of workers during the so-called Great Depression. One of his most famous scenes takes his character through the gears of a huge machine, while it seems that it devours him, to which he continues to tighten the nuts without rest. It is your task and you cannot stop it.
A few weeks ago I received several comments about the previous article that we have too many problems to solve on this planet to waste valuable time looking for anything on Mars.
From claims for apparently being against the progress of the human species, to confessions of loss of faith that we will be able to stop climate change in time and it would be timely to consider a galactic zip code change, we are divided between our beliefs and our reality like never before .
This same week, in an extensive business report, one of the global companies that has made the most profits during the pandemic, Amazon, was exposed for severe irregularities in one of its huge distribution centers, specifically the one that serves its customers in New York City.
Supported by algorithms and technological monitoring tools, Amazon’s human resources system measures and notices variations in the productivity of its employees, many of them hired by the hour and without benefits.
As the company grew in size, the system became more complex and lost sight of surprising details for a global company so admired by the press and by consumers on this planet. The main one is that your collaborators are people. And all of them and they are the explanation of their growth.
It has become commonplace to say that the most important thing in organizations is their people, but it is still an unwritten economic law. If we take a closer look at the companies that took the best advantage of the pandemic, most of them did so by using a workforce in precarious conditions to maximize profits that will be historic for their balance sheets. Nothing that didn’t happen in Chaplin’s movie.
At the end of this health crisis, income will be even more concentrated in the world and labor rights will be in one of its most vulnerable points to date, because the loss of jobs, the same ones that before this strain of coronavirus prevented living with dignity, they will force millions to accept the same conditions.
O no.
The United States, for example, has not been able to fill thousands of vacancies for several months because those who can fill them do not want to return to survival jobs and have even decided to change the course of their lives to avoid traffic, distance and problems of transportation. the big cities where the supply is concentrated.
The possibility of maintaining work at a distance and even performing it in localities with a higher quality of life has led different companies to put additional benefits on the table to attract talent.
This coincidence of interest has also sparked a new movement in favor of the union organization so that corporations like Amazon modify their business model and protect their numerous staff through real benefits and not gifts, bonuses or discounts on merchandise.
Despite how difficult it was to stop the world in its tracks to reduce infections, in this crisis there were no empty shelves and home delivery of food or furniture increased, which means that millions of people kept working in the fields and in warehouses closed so that the rest of us could cope with the confinement.
Those realities, the one who guaranteed the lettuce harvest, packed the portable lamp for a better presentation at a remote meeting; and that of those who were able to stay at home or in a rest house during the contingency, has exposed an economy of extremes. The one in which a majority accumulates hours of work that end up becoming an accumulation of profits on the other side.
And the solution is not only in a better distribution of wealth or in the balance in the payment of taxes (both important elements), but in an awareness of what role we have as members of this society so that social mobility can recover. as soon as possible through free, quality, public health and education services.
It does not mean that private options disappear, there are not many anyway and they are markets that should open up to greater competition, it is about guaranteeing authentic opportunities and not mirages that, with much desire and effort, at some point will allow us a life comfortable.
In 15 months we could see that our western economies don’t work like this and they haven’t for a long time. Consumers today have that power to analyze the policy of a company towards its workers before paying what was added to the shopping cart.
By the way, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will go into space in one of the ships he owns. The places to accompany him will be available at $ 28 million. According to the New York warehouse report, one of its best hourly employees was laid off at the end of a bad day of productivity calculated by the apps monitoring her.
Editor’s note: Francisco Hoyos Aguilera is Director of Liaison and Communication of the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration. He is a communication specialist. Graduated from Tec de Monterrey with a master’s degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana. He was a reporter for the Excelsior newspaper and the New York Times correspondent in Mexico. It has been in public and private communication for two decades. Follow him on and / or. The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
