The Labour Market Is a Modern Slave Trade of Employees
Confronting Unemployment and Insecurity of an Uncertain Livelihood Means Confronting Monopoly Right
- K.C. Adams -
The massive rebellion in France of unemployed and racially abused youth reflects among other things the rage and hatred of the people at the unwillingness of monopoly capital to address internal flaws in the economic system. The cavalier attitude of those in authority at Stelco, the government and mass media regarding the possible cratering of Hamilton Hilton Works, the decisions and announcements of monopolies such as GM to close and downsize very valuable production facilities affecting thousands of workers and entire cities and communities and the centralization of the Quebec pork industry with the amalgamation of La Coop Fédérée de Quebec and the Groupe Brochu and the announcement by Olymel to move some production and retained added-value to Manitoba and Alberta causing disturbing sudden unemployment in rural Quebec raise serious questions about the viability of the economic and political system. Those in authority in the economy and its political system refuse to recognise and confront the condition of permanent mass unemployment, which emerges not from any shortcomings of the people but from internal contradictions within the economic and political system itself.
The economy holds captive a section of the people in permanent unemployment and another section in constant insecurity of employment, facing poverty and official disrespect and abuse of their personal dignity and well-being. Monopolies dominate the most important sectors of the economy and run them as their private fiefdoms. They demand a labour market with a large permanent pool of unemployed workers to be available at a moments notice and to put downward pressure on the claims of the working class. The monopolies base their investments and other important economic decisions on the well-being of their private empires and mostly ignore the social and environmental problems that are a consequence of their actions and system. Monopolies view permanent problems such as insecurity of employment and livelihood as essential to the functioning of their economic system. They refuse to use their authority to confront and change the conditions that are the basis and root cause of all major social and environmental problems.
An authority that shows such disinterest in dealing with problems that emerge from the economic system itself, such a state that allows monopoly right to run rampant, disregard social and other problems and trample on the dignity of people for years on end can only be considered a failed state. Any modern state or institution that refuses to address the problem of permanent mass unemployment and insecurity of livelihood and instead argues that such a state of affairs is necessary for the functioning of the economic system or ignores racial, gender, regional and other prejudices in employment does not deserve the respect and authority it may now hold. The ruling authority must address and change the conditions giving rise to permanent mass unemployment and insecurity of livelihood or the people representing the popular demand for changed conditions must organize to replace the authority that currently resides in the hands of the monopolies and their state.
The Canadian economic system and its ruling elite face a dilemma: either face up to the fact that modern mass production on its own cannot absorb the available mass of workers and therefore the state is obligated to provide without regret a Canadian standard livelihood to all unemployed by simply dismissing the quasi-religious anti-social nonsense that such a social program would dampen initiative and destroy the urge to work and ruin the economy; or, upon refusing to face up to the reality of the conditions and blight of permanent mass unemployment face a loss of authority and the rise to political power of people who are determined to change the conditions by changing the relations of production, eliminating the labour market and providing work for all at the level, ability and desire of each and every individual and guaranteeing the well-being of all from birth to passing away.
Whether an economic system, comprised of monopolies that control the basic sectors, imports workers through immigration, as is the case with Canada, or does not import workers, as is the case with Japan, the result is the same permanent mass unemployment. The rate of unemployment is governed by contradictions within the specific monopoly capitalist system itself and not by a growing or falling aggregate population. The total population of a country affects the absolute number of unemployed but not directly the rate.
Mass unemployment is a chronic feature of modern mass concentrated production exacerbated by centralized monopoly control of the main economic sectors. Full employment can only be achieved by abolishing the labour market itself and the backward archaic notion of voluntary-servitude as an economic factor to be bought and sold, and by instituting a social policy of providing work for all people at whatever level individuals can achieve or desire through education and training. At the present time such a campaign for full employment means confronting monopoly right.
If the monopolies refuse to abolish the labour market and insist on having a constant pool of unemployed, if they block the economy from providing everyone work at whatever level individuals can achieve or desire, then all those in the vast swirling constantly changing pool of unemployed and underemployed workers must be provided, as a matter of right and social justice, a Canadian standard livelihood with modern levels of food, housing, clothing, education, health and culture.
This must become a battleground based on the right to a livelihood for all regardless of ability, age, gender or any other criteria.
If unemployment is a permanent feature of monopoly capitalism and modern mass production and emerges from its very structures, as reality shows it to be, then the people are confronted with a challenge: change the relations of production and economic structures that continually reproduce unemployment; and, until that goal has been accomplished, force the authority to provide workers in the pool of unemployed, and all others old and young, a Canadian standard livelihood with full security of food, housing, clothing, education, health and culture.
If the monopolies insist on keeping a labour market with a pool of unemployed and underemployed workers to serve their system of uneven and erratic development in increasingly concentrated and centralized centres of production and distribution; and, if they block the country from moving forward to something new and enlightened, then the monopolies must be compelled to support the unemployed and underemployed with enough social product to guarantee everyone a Canadian standard livelihood.
Life itself and the direct experience of the Canadian working class prove that unemployment and underemployment are permanent fixtures of the economy and a source of great social tension and chaos especially in the big cities and certain deprived regions. If the entire resources of the nation were put behind eradicating unemployment, or failing that, supporting the unemployed with a Canadian standard livelihood, a great social injustice would be corrected and Canadian humanity and society would be uplifted. Such a nation-building project is now blocked by the monopolies for self-serving anti-social reasons.
The disastrous unemployment of the prolonged depression of the 1930s was drastically reduced when the full resources of the nation were mobilized during the Second World War, especially after the anti-fascist enthusiasm of the working class to confront the worldwide axis of fascism and militarism exploded into action after the German Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. At that point, many workers, employed and unemployed, entered the armed forces lowering the rate of unemployment dramatically even requiring new female workers to be introduced widely as a social productive force. The extraordinary experience of the war proved that with the full mobilization of the nation's resources the rate of unemployment can be brought down. However, the monopolies only identify a problem when their own private interests are threatened, as they were threatened by the monopolies of the fascist axis in the frenzied competition for global markets and raw material.
The problem facing the working class and progressive people is to fight for such a mobilization of the nation's resources in peacetime, in a battle for social responsibility to uphold the human factor/social consciousness to provide work and a livelihood for everyone. It means confronting and restricting monopoly right because unemployment emerges from the very bowels of the monopoly capitalist system and modern mass production.
The Organic Composition of Production and Rate of Unemployment
The rate of unemployment expresses the percentage of unemployed in relation to the total workforce. The total workforce is considered to be comprised of people working in the social economy or looking for work at any given time and does not include those who are not engaged in the social economy for whatever reason.
Unemployment affects all countries where monopoly capital rules. The rate of unemployment considered by the ruling ideology as "full employment" has gradually gone up over the years. The rate is greatly influenced by the centralization and concentration of production and periodic great crises of overproduction and war.
The organic composition of production expresses the amount of plant, equipment and material required to put to work one person. Modern mass production compared with petty production demands an enormous quantity of previously produced plant, equipment and material to put to work one person. A low organic composition of production is a peasant working a small acreage using mainly hand tools. A high organic composition of production is a modern mechanized factory producing products on assembly lines complete with robots doing many chores.
As a consequence of two related features of monopoly capitalism, centralization of ownership and control, and the accelerated concentration of production using science and technology, the organic composition of production and distribution is constantly changing with negative consequences for the rate of unemployment.
1) Centralization: Production and distribution become more centralized in ever-larger monopolies through mergers or one monopoly gaining control of another.
Examples are Alcan's seizure of the French aluminium monopoly Pechiney, the merger of Inco and Falconbridge, Mittal, the largest steel monopoly in the world, gaining control of a significant number of Stelco's facilities and the ongoing centralization of the pork industry, which recently saw Olymel of Quebec merge with Hytek Ltd and Big Sky Farms of Manitoba to become Oly West and announce plans to cut production in Quebec and centralize it in the West.
Centralization expands the power of monopolies to bring governments under their sway. The enormous added-value and revenue controlled by monopolies are required by governments to function and needed by capitalist political parties to run their affairs and campaign in elections. Governments and political parties are dependent on money from the monopolies either directly or channelled though taxes.
By using economies of scale and by centralizing management and other sectors of their workforce, the monopolies reduce employment generally. Global control can have a disastrous consequence on regional unemployment as a giant monopoly closes down one production site and moves it somewhere else in its global empire such as Alcan is doing subsequent to acquiring Pechiney or what is occurring in the Quebec pork industry.
2) Concentration: Production becomes evermore concentrated in facilities through the application of science and technology. A change in the organic composition of production through concentration means that at every stage of the production process a given amount of end product such as steel, vehicles or clothes requires more plant, equipment and material but fewer workers. For example at Stelco, compared to 1990, with the application of science and technology to production, far fewer steelworkers using greater and more concentrated amounts of plant, equipment and material can produce a greater tonnage of higher quality steel.
The ruling ideology adjusts upward what it considers "full employment" with each successive general change upward in the organic composition of production. The acceptable rate also changes with globalization and free trade and the increased power and right accorded to ever-larger monopolies to move centres of production and added-value wherever they want in the world. Given that monopolies have only a narrow perception of their responsibilities to their owners of capital, no official thought is given to the broader general consequences of their actions in concentrating or centralizing production. No official thought is given to how employment in the society could be harmonized with a higher organic composition of production.
Official economic thought simply raises the "acceptable" rate of unemployment and declares it "full employment." At one time in Canada after the Second World War, the ruling ideology understood "full employment" to be around 2 pe rcent. The percentage has gradually risen in the post-war period to over 6 per cent. In France and Germany, permanent levels of unemployment have reached over 10 per cent. With the dramatic crisis of overproduction in vehicles and other major commodities, and the announcement of major plant closures at GM and Ford, and the gradual increase in interest rates, the rate of unemployment in North America seems poised to climb significantly in the next while accompanied with a shift to non-standard employment in low-paid part-time, seasonal and contract jobs.
Centralization of Production and Distribution
Centralization of production and distribution is easily understood and seen in the listing of the largest corporations in the Fortune 500. The financial news in the monopoly-owned media gives graphic data of the latest merger or takeover. The largest steel monopoly in the world, Mittal Steel of the Netherlands, just bought the largest steel complex in the Ukraine in an obscene auction organized by the Ukrainian government. Mittal is also in the process of gobbling up three divisions of Stelco here in Canada.
A merger has been announced between Inco and Falconbridge that would create the world's largest nickel producing monopoly but even before the deal has been closed an even larger monopoly, the gigantic Swiss monopoly Xstrata PLC, has said it may buy out both of them.
Centralization of production and distribution in international monopolies such as Mittal, Wal-Mart, General Motors, Alcan or Inco directly determines whether unemployment in regions goes up or down.
The added-value produced at Alcan or Inco's separate locations around the globe can be pooled into one grand project far removed from where the added-value (or revenue) was originally produced. The centralization of production in colossal monopolies accelerates the tendency towards uneven economic development regionally and disharmony in the social economy among different sectors. After Alcan's purchase of Pechiney, an erstwhile rival French aluminium monopoly, Alcan began to divert added-value out of the Quebec Saguenay region to be used in speculation or projects elsewhere breaking solemn obligations that it had made to the people and workers of Quebec for investments and jobs in exchange for cheap electricity, concessions and other benefits. The centralization of the Quebec pork industry threatens hundreds of jobs in small towns where the social effect will be disastrous.
Centralization of added-value in the form of money-wealth has also given rise to what are called asset-management firms, which are an amalgamation between a holding company and a mutual fund. Asset-management monopolies such as Brascan/Brookfield can swoop down and exercise their dictate over large Canadian companies through purchase of a block of share equity or debt. Brascan/Brookfield, with assets in excess of $20 billion already, is in the process of seizing the assets of Stelco while it is under the judicial control of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). The attack by the New York Paulson & Co. monopolists against Algoma Steel is a most recent example. The demand of Paulson to rip out $420 million in retained added-value from Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie will directly block economic development in Algoma Steel, the city and Northern Ontario, and negatively affect the rate of unemployment in the region. [ 1 ] General Motors has issued a decree eliminating 30,000 jobs closing down nine perfectly good production facilities in their entirety and partially closing three others. The destruction of centres of production by GM does not solve the problem of overproduction of vehicles in the Canadian, U.S. and Mexican economies. GM focuses solely on its own survival and the preservation of its assets in competition with other vehicle monopolies.
GM's decree is evidence of the uneven development of capitalism and does not in the least deal with the economic problems associated with the change in the organic composition of production. GM completely ignores the problem of how all monopolies producing and selling vehicles in North America are going to provide enough added-value to meet the claims of retired autoworkers and deal with their other social responsibilities. Willy-nilly destroying means of production and demanding concessions from active and retired workers will only exacerbate the crisis of overproduction in the long run and do nothing to solve the problems of unemployment and providing livelihoods for all.
Concentration of Production
Concentration of production expresses both the bringing together in giant workplaces scattered means of production to effect economy of scale, and the accelerated use of science and technology in the production (and distribution) process. A kitchen in a McDonald's restaurant, construction methods using heavy machinery and prefabricated forms, computerized and robotic methods of steel and vehicle production are examples of concentration of production. Higher organic composition of production means more output with fewer workers using greater plant, equipment and material. The application of science and technology to the means of production results in fewer workers producing and distributing the same or an even greater amount of product at each step in the production and distribution process. This development of the productive forces brings with it unintended consequences for the social and natural environment. Aside from the effects on the natural environment, increased production and distribution with fewer workers has serious negative economic and social consequences such as unemployment, overproduction and a falling rate of profit that must be confronted if society is to move forward and enjoy the full benefits of the increased production.
People organized and engaged in politics and the class struggle to restrict monopoly right will gain the habit and power to abstract consequences before economic phenomena can cause social and natural damage.
Monopolies must not be allowed to pursue their narrow secret agendas in contradiction with the public good and in disregard for the consequences to the social and natural environment. The people must organize to restrict monopoly right and acquire political power themselves to bring the higher organic composition of production under the direction of the human factor/social consciousness.
Note
1. See article "Stop the Plunder of Algoma Steel," TML Daily , No. 179, November 3, 2005 .