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The Disposable Worker: Why Capitalism Needs Christianity
Chuck Colson
BreakPoint
Last week, electronics retailer Circuit City announced that it was laying off 3400 employees.
What made these particular layoffs noteworthy was not their size but, instead, Circuit City's stated reasons. They had "nothing to do with skills or whether they were a good worker or not." Instead, "it was a function of their salary relative to the market."
In other words, Circuit City was laying them off so it could replace them with people who make less. Rotten!
To be fair, Circuit City is not alone in this practice. It is part of a "new way of controlling labor costs in the service industry." Employers "determine the prevailing market wages for particular jobs in various geographic regions" and "then find ways to make sure that their workers' salaries stay within that range."
There is no consideration of an employee's productivity or quality of work. Nor is there any claim that the company can't afford to pay what the workers are currently making-only that it doesn't have to. It is hard to imagine a clearer example of how rapacious unrestrained economic power can be. With all due respect to the late Milton Friedman, corporations' social responsibility goes beyond maximizing shareholders' returns.
But even if you do not think that unapologetically getting rid of workers so that they can hire cheaper workers is degrading and dehumanizing, it goes against your self-interest. That is because it undermines the moral and cultural consensus that sustains free-market capitalism. Michael Novak has written about what he calls the "three-legged stool" that makes democratic capitalism possible: economic freedom, political freedom, and moral restraint. Take away any of these three and the system collapses.
Christianity's great contribution to this consensus was that it provided capitalism with a moral dimension that capitalism could not provide for itself. Its teachings about the necessity for moral restraint in the marketplace were rooted in the Old Testament concerns for social justice, fair wages, and care for the poor. It incorporated the consistent biblical teaching about human dignity, including the dignity of honest labor. Thus, when poet William Blake wrote about nineteenth-century England's "dark satanic mills," his criticism invoked unmistakably biblical language and imagery.
Christianity provided more than a basis for criticism of capitalism-it helped forge an alternative that kept what John Paul II called "the circle of exchange" going. In the aftermath of World War II, democratic capitalism in Europe appeared to have failed, leaving communism as its likely successor-until, that is, Christian statesmen like Konrad Adenauer of Germany created an alternative to amoral capitalism and socialism. It was called Christian democracy, and it saved Western Europe from communism.
Closer to home, there are companies like ServiceMaster and Herman Miller, which are run explicitly on Christian principles and have proven that a concern for your employees' dignity is not incompatible with making a profit.
Christianity has shown that capitalism can be the servant of justice, which is why I am so disturbed at Circuit City's actions. It is yet another reminder of Christianity's diminished cultural influence, which leaves people as disposable commodities and dehumanized. This is a sober reminder of why restoring Christian influence is so urgent.
What made these particular layoffs noteworthy was not their size but, instead, Circuit City's stated reasons. They had "nothing to do with skills or whether they were a good worker or not." Instead, "it was a function of their salary relative to the market."
In other words, Circuit City was laying them off so it could replace them with people who make less. Rotten!
To be fair, Circuit City is not alone in this practice. It is part of a "new way of controlling labor costs in the service industry." Employers "determine the prevailing market wages for particular jobs in various geographic regions" and "then find ways to make sure that their workers' salaries stay within that range."
There is no consideration of an employee's productivity or quality of work. Nor is there any claim that the company can't afford to pay what the workers are currently making-only that it doesn't have to. It is hard to imagine a clearer example of how rapacious unrestrained economic power can be. With all due respect to the late Milton Friedman, corporations' social responsibility goes beyond maximizing shareholders' returns.
But even if you do not think that unapologetically getting rid of workers so that they can hire cheaper workers is degrading and dehumanizing, it goes against your self-interest. That is because it undermines the moral and cultural consensus that sustains free-market capitalism. Michael Novak has written about what he calls the "three-legged stool" that makes democratic capitalism possible: economic freedom, political freedom, and moral restraint. Take away any of these three and the system collapses.
Christianity's great contribution to this consensus was that it provided capitalism with a moral dimension that capitalism could not provide for itself. Its teachings about the necessity for moral restraint in the marketplace were rooted in the Old Testament concerns for social justice, fair wages, and care for the poor. It incorporated the consistent biblical teaching about human dignity, including the dignity of honest labor. Thus, when poet William Blake wrote about nineteenth-century England's "dark satanic mills," his criticism invoked unmistakably biblical language and imagery.
Christianity provided more than a basis for criticism of capitalism-it helped forge an alternative that kept what John Paul II called "the circle of exchange" going. In the aftermath of World War II, democratic capitalism in Europe appeared to have failed, leaving communism as its likely successor-until, that is, Christian statesmen like Konrad Adenauer of Germany created an alternative to amoral capitalism and socialism. It was called Christian democracy, and it saved Western Europe from communism.
Closer to home, there are companies like ServiceMaster and Herman Miller, which are run explicitly on Christian principles and have proven that a concern for your employees' dignity is not incompatible with making a profit.
Christianity has shown that capitalism can be the servant of justice, which is why I am so disturbed at Circuit City's actions. It is yet another reminder of Christianity's diminished cultural influence, which leaves people as disposable commodities and dehumanized. This is a sober reminder of why restoring Christian influence is so urgent.
Copyright © 2007 Prison Fellowship
BreakPoint with Chuck Colson is a daily commentary on news and trends from a Christian perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets nationwide, BreakPoint transcripts are also available on the Internet. BreakPoint is a production of The Wilberforce Forum, a division of Prison Fellowship: 1856 Old Reston Avenue, Reston, VA 20190.
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christianlawyer09
4/18/2007 12:45 AM
I agree that it doesn't seem like the most Christian thing to do in the world. But I think the other side of the argument here needs to be addressed.
I have some recent experience in retail. I was transitioning out of the military and applying to law school. In the interim, I got a job at Target making $9.50/hour. I was working alongside people who had been working there for several years who were making a few dollars more per hour than I was. But they weren't necessarily more productive than me. Some were, because they had great experience, but not by much. Out of curiosity, I investigated how much of a raise I could expect if I weren't going to law school. The answer - an average 25-50 cents an hour after 90 days, and after that, I would have to wait a whole year to get another one! After several years, I could expect to make maybe $14/hr doing the same job. You can't raise a family on that kind of wage curve.
I will continue this in a following post as I'm out of characters....
I have some recent experience in retail. I was transitioning out of the military and applying to law school. In the interim, I got a job at Target making $9.50/hour. I was working alongside people who had been working there for several years who were making a few dollars more per hour than I was. But they weren't necessarily more productive than me. Some were, because they had great experience, but not by much. Out of curiosity, I investigated how much of a raise I could expect if I weren't going to law school. The answer - an average 25-50 cents an hour after 90 days, and after that, I would have to wait a whole year to get another one! After several years, I could expect to make maybe $14/hr doing the same job. You can't raise a family on that kind of wage curve.
I will continue this in a following post as I'm out of characters....
rmorgan416
4/9/2007 1:07 PM
the company goes too far. if they thought their labor costs were too high, rather than punish workers, who did nothing wrong, they should adjust future labor costs thru attrition. as people leave they have every right to pursue new workers at whatever price they deem appropriate. if those new workers think the rate is too low they wont work there.
for existing workers to be fired for "making too much" at the very least is an admission of mis-management by those responsible for hiring.
i can assure you that such heavy handed action will ruin employee morale, and customer service will suffer...leaders of this company, and its shareholders, are very shortsighted. they may reduce their labor costs, but the market will certainly punish them for their method.s..
FOR AN EXCELLENT DISCOURSE ON BUSINESS MORALITY, SEE GEORGE GILDER'S WEALTH AND PROSPERITY, WHICH ASSERTS THAT SUCCESSFUL FREE MARKET IS BASED ON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES OF SERVICE TO OTHERS..
richard morgan
dallas,
for existing workers to be fired for "making too much" at the very least is an admission of mis-management by those responsible for hiring.
i can assure you that such heavy handed action will ruin employee morale, and customer service will suffer...leaders of this company, and its shareholders, are very shortsighted. they may reduce their labor costs, but the market will certainly punish them for their method.s..
FOR AN EXCELLENT DISCOURSE ON BUSINESS MORALITY, SEE GEORGE GILDER'S WEALTH AND PROSPERITY, WHICH ASSERTS THAT SUCCESSFUL FREE MARKET IS BASED ON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES OF SERVICE TO OTHERS..
richard morgan
dallas,
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Those kinds of wages are not enough to support a middle class lifestyle in the US, especially not if one is raising a family. Some would say that Target (and Circuit City) should pay more and just suck it up because it's the Christian thing to do. But frankly, they are looking at a bigger picture. They know through market research that most consumers don't want to pay the higher prices that come from that course of action. To them, the answer is simple: retail jobs are meant to be STARTER, SHORT-TERM jobs, that allow people to gain some experience and transition to something else. They aren't long-term careers, at least not at the worker-bee level. I know it's hard to hear, but those Circuit City employees should have been getting an education and moving on, not just sticking around expecting Circuit City to care for them. That's the modern, dynamic economy. Staying in one place will hurt in the long run.