Lexmark and a #BasicIncome or LETSMARK a #BasicIncome for All
‘Printer and software giant Lexmark has fired dozens of workers from its factory in the Mexican city of Ciudad Júarez after they demanded a pay rise of $0.35 per day.
Hundreds of workers at the printer cartridge plant went on strike last week, calling for the company to increase its daily rate for experienced employees from 114 to 120 pesos – a raise of approximately $0.35.
Days later, Lexmark fired around 120 of the striking workers. Most of those dismissed had been involved in attempts to set up an independent union to advocate pay increases and improvements in working conditions.‘
It would seem impossible, but many of us don’t yet realize that the true asset of a company is it’s working force, no matter how much money a company has to invest, no matter how much they claim that ‘they are creating job opportunities’ -for which they get juicy tax rebates if not full tax holiday like in some third world countries, eager to attract foreign investments-, they are NOTHING and they can go NOWHERE without their working force.
We have become accustomed to a culture of replace-ability, our commercial system thrives on making people irrelevant in the working place, we have developed production models that alienate people while making them insignificant – or attempting to with all our might.
Of course it will be hard to put an end to this culture, mainly because it works, not for the people, but for the corporatism who is willing to trade the lives they don’t care to know anything about – for profit.
They are demanding better working conditions, a living wage, recognition of their right to form independent unions, a halt to sexual harassment, and legal protection from handling hazardous chemicals among other things. The maquila scene has not changed that much for workers since the city established manufacturing facilities fifty years ago.
Most of the demonstrators are laborers who are not paid sufficient wages to provide their families with enough food, clothing, and schooling, much less giving the families the opportunity to move out of poverty. Both the government and employers consider low wages as a “competitive advantage” that is used to attract foreign business interests. The laborers are caught in an impossible situation.
This feudal style corporate employment is a global problem, it pays for some to keep people too busy, too worried, too poor to even consider other solutions.
regardless of ‘what they are doing to keep things as they are’ we have a solution right up our sleeve, it’s a #BasicIncome, a #livingincomeguaranteed for All, can you see how such a simple solution would turn the negotiating table upside down -for good?
People who have enough to live, pay for a housing, pay for their food, their kids’ needs, their health needs would not have to put up with the hope of ‘having someone generous enough to lift them out of poverty in exchange for their hard work’ – that would be a given, then all the Feudal Employers of the Planet would have to reconsider how they attract their workers and would have to offer much more than sexual harassment and impossible living conditions -that some are now forced to accept.
They would have to provide an attractive working environment, benefits, working models that remember they are often times dealing with talented people eager to learn and do their best to participate in the company’s growth, and then a company like Lexmark, whose ‘revenue totaled $3.7bn’ last year, would be forced to reconsider how to share the profit including the bottom of the pyramid, because such pyramids can exist only if there is a bottom and unless the Feuda-tards start to realize that, they could go Topsy-turvy in a moment, when their ex-workers move on to more rewarding lives with a Basic Income or with Employers who have had no difficulty understanding or rewarding their companies’ True Assets.
Here is an example of the Future of Employment (an ad by a fast growing IT company)
What We Value
Clear communication, transparency, open-mindedness, empathy and patience are just a few of Buffer’s cultural values. We are looking for a person who understands this culture and will thrive within a team of people passionate about self-improvement, honesty and openness.
Where You’ll Work
You will work in the place that makes you happy, that inspires you daily, and helps you to become the person that you wish to be. You will work daily with team members scattered around the world and across time zones to build a better culture and product.
Get it?
The biggest oppositions to a Basic Income is Fear, the Pharaohs can see that implementing a Given Living for All would dis-empower them, which is not even true, unless one considers ‘Power’ making others lives a living hell to make sure their fear of survival ensures their fidelization to the company.
A Basic Income would change our social models to their very core- equality on the negotiating table will start only when all have a Living Guaranteed – why are not yet giving it to each other – if we are the 99%, who are we waiting for?
#BasicIncome – it’s not just a Solution- it’s a Revolution on the grounds of social justice and equality – we all have the same right to Life, that’s a given, so why isn’t a Basic Income A Given yet?
Money Matters 