I have heard this line oftentimes
and for those who do not speak Bisaya, let me translate this in English: “It is
work that you are looking for eh?” This has been used to motivate people those
who are sick and tired with their jobs and used by those who are helplessly
fatalistic about the dreaded situation. Although this might have an existential
bearing, it cannot be denied that such statement favors exploitation. Even
though a person may try to find himself or herself in the job one is doing by
saying these words to one’s self, but such linguistic expression is an
expression of the modern day slave drivers and I would gladly point out somethings
to unveil the messages that are carried over.
Through the statement, a job is
the only reality there is that can help one succeed in life. The assumption of
looking for a job is always tied to finding means to survive as jobs guarantee
an income that can support basic needs and if the jobs are paying off good,
then a bourgeoisie lifestyle awaits. We all have to agree that this necessity
to work was already connected with humanity’s quest for continual existence
such as the ancient yet collective production through agriculture and fisheries;
however, if a job is already exploitative i.e. meager salary and a high demand
of output, then it is also necessary for the worker to complain as to the
justice there is to be enshrined with the compensation and the conditions of
labor. People farm a long time ago to live, yet they sing songs, joke around
while doing it and under the assurance that each gets a fair decent share with
a fair decent job assignment. But such is not the case of the modern industries
wherein we all are expected to give it all while those who hold our wages give
less. Songs can still be sung and jokes can be still aired out, but the last part
about salary is absent or is in lack. It is a different feel when one cracks
jokes for a laugh to ease the burden of labor and still knowing in the end
there is fair share. It is hard enough to see top bosses display the vulgarity
of their pampering while those who are at the forefront of the industries just
pretend they did not see those big pizzas delivered. I know they too are
hardworking but is it not worth noting the big disparity between pays? And talk
about the main purpose of the company which is to dispense this kind of service
yet those who are at forefront in delivering such are the ones being usurped?
Moreover, when questions arose and legitimately raised, we are told by the
above default line in the syntax of the company and in the exploitative working
world in order to assert that the individual chose the job in the first place
without a glimpse and internalization of the bigger realities why people are
even pegged down to choose such jobs. The rendering of everything as a matter
of existential choice downplays a huge environmental factor to the person’s
ability to choose. No choice is made in a vacuum thus no choice is made because
one truly does so. It is a job you are looking for then swallow the perverted
maxims. If only many will also say, “it is a business that you are looking for
eh?” And if all the exploited who also realized the need for an upheaval will,
then it is no longer about an individual threat to one’s security of tenure but
a threat to the money making machine of an enterprise. The people already know
that they have the capability, but refuse to assert such. Moreover, the
pervading culture has already infested a malignant value system that those who
steal time from their bosses are thieves, but their bosses who steal time and
money from their workers is his or her right. The old feudal values still exist
in the modern times, that even the thought of lordship still is a business fad.
It is easy for these nobles to kick out peasants because there is the abundance
of human resources who are all desperately waiting in line just to taste a
meager salary to survive as for the moment. The basic principle in economics
tells us, as the supply increases while the demand is meagerly stagnating,
expect the prices are down to the decently lowest bidder and that is how the
laborer sells himself or herself - cheap. Again, they say, “it is a job you are
looking for eh? You want to live?” “Do not question the spoon that feeds you”
and that is the worst of all pretext in values.
Pegging down the ability to question
and be critical to something as a series of consequences one can avoid if the
person carefully chose where one belongs is an understatement to one’s
capability to profoundly think and try to transform the world. Fear and
injecting tremble to workers just to shut them up is slavery. Moreover, such
renders thinking as unnecessary if it does not generate the necessary profits
that can help the industry in terms of sales measured in money and not in the
happiness and the beautiful community an industry can be if managed humanely.
However, there are ways to address humanely which are not just about trivial
actions. A monthly food gathering cannot substitute the decadent system in play
because it is just aimed towards mitigating the pain but not address the
totality of the origin of such pain. The system is broken and the attempts to
fix it are typically approached in a band-aid-solution-manner. Sad to say, many
surrender their critical nature for scraps of food and there is no denying that
amidst hunger, one can have a perception of a messiah to the one who offers
bounty. It is like giving beggars food on the streets but never really solving
the greater crises of massive unemployment, rising prices of commodities and
poverty. Such tendency to be a messiah is well abused by corporations in order
to appear benevolent in which a careful observer always sees it as an empty
façade. “It is a job you are looking for eh?” “Can you not be grateful by these
mercies and benevolence that we show?” In order for the many not to see beyond
the edifice is to keep obscure the machinations of the system by rendering a
confusing yet inviting state of transparency which in fact never was in the
first place, only an illusion of transparency is needed. If ever the system can
be seen nakedly, then questions will further arise as to how it is functioning
which drastically affects all and even engines the exploitative and unequal
dilemma many are in. It would be even more provocative if the wealth gap is
shown and I always wonder why is there a certain kind of banality and a taboo
atmosphere about mentioning the salary? Why keep it private? Why instill a
culture that aims to keep it private? Moreover, refrain from telling those who
directly avail the corporation’s service from the reality of how their money is
used – blind the customers that they are indirectly involved in mass
exploitation? Many will shift their purchase when they know the production
process and I know they fear the negative feedback that arise that with such
great pay, little really went to what was actually paid for. Then we go back to
line, “is it a job that you are looking for eh?” A refusal to answer or a
refusal to refuse and a refusal to instigate change even first in perspective
indicates the weakness in character, subservient to masters. It will start
first as a question that can infect, fan the flames and let it burn so that a
new forest can rise from the ashes.
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