"The working class and the employing class have nothing in common"

[Taverner]

This is how the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) Constitution begins.

And it is absolutely true.

Some of you might say "hey, I am a manager of ten people! I have a lot in common with them!"

Indeed you do - and you are not part of the Employing Class. Nor are you part if you own a small or medium sized business.

The Employing Class is the list of Board Members and CEOs who seem to move around from company to company, not rewarded on merit, but rewarded simply by being a member of the employing class.

It's a tight knit club, and you ain't in it.

You never will be.

These are the Meg Whitmans, who run companies into the ground, and then get jobs as CEOs all over again. These are the Ken Lays, who steal everything that isn't nailed down.

This would even be Steve Jobs, who has decided Elk Grove, CA is a bad place to build products, and instead farmed these manufacturing jobs overseas.

The only way to fight these people is to organize. Organize a union, join a union - but organize and let your voice be heard.

[MADem]

1. I think the statement is devisive, and I don't honestly think you can parse what an 'employer' is

Let's be blunt--if you employ people, you are in the employing class, whatever that class is.

You might not be WEALTHY, but if you want to distinguish between rich people and poor people, be honest and do that. Don't set up false divisions to exhort the masses.

To be clear, I am not accusing you, personally, of doing this--I get that you are citing a source. The source is wrong, though.

Call those Board Members/CEOs the "Board Member" class, if you want to be accurate.

Here's a rich guy in the "employer class" who was a mensch: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/03/60minutes/main561656.shtml

[Taverner]

2. "Employing Class" is the term used by the IWW

That's why I used it:

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.

Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth.

We find that the centering of the management of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers.

These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all its members in any one industry, or in all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.

Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."

It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.

[MADem]

8. I know, and that's why I said the source, not you personally, was just wrong.

It sets up a false animosity between employer and employee.

Most people don't make distinctions about how rich a guy is--the boss is the boss, and that's that. The person paying you is usually presumed to have more dough than you do.

I think these kinds of distinctions are the GOP's dream, especially in a 'down' economy. Hype this up, and the disgruntled will show themselves, ripe for the firing, and the more complacent can be hired on at rock-bottom wages.

If everyone is "equal" then there's no motivation to go through the brutal hard work to start up a company, to be creative, to take on debt and risk.

[Taverner]

10. "If everyone is "equal" then there's no motivation..."

"...to go through the brutal hard work to start up a company, to be creative, to take on debt and risk."

You're missing the point. Employee-owned businesses can be just as competitive as the other kind. Equality is not the problem.

[Scruffy1]

5. The division happened a long time ago.

In my world there are only two classes and the capitalist class has always been at war with the working class. Those that opt to support the capitalist class receive rewards such as cushy jobs and more money. They are from the working class but in my opinion not of the working class. This would include all who hold power over the working class including supervisors and managers.
Sure, they can be nice people, but the net result is the same. But then again, what do I know? Only been working 46 years.

[MADem]

9. It's a false division. Not all employers are rich, and not all employers are assholes.

When one generalizes and uses the word "employer," the average schmuck with a GED is NOT going to say "Well, the person who gives me my pay every Friday is not an employer, really, because they don't have a large amount of savings in the bank." They won't parse.

This kind of divisiveness helps the GOP. It turns employees into unsympathetic, complaining little ingrates in the public mindset, who bite the hand that feeds them.

[blindpig]

14. Ok, 'Capitalists Class' would be more precise.

Those who profit without labor purely by ownership.

Your lamentation is that of the petty bourgeoisie, small business folk who employ others but do work themselves. This sub-class is in an ambiguous position, on the one hand many of it's members aspire to join the ruling class of Owners even as those same Owners seek to drive them out of business and/or assimilate their enterprises. In truth they should recognize that the Capitalists are as much their enemy as the Capitalists are the enemy of the workers. But most will not and will follow their unworthy aspirations to perdition. Those who see clearly will be welcome into the ranks of Workers.

[FSogol]

3. If you prick them, do they not bleed?

:shrug:

[moodforaday]

6. You never get close enough to them

to prick them.

But please, when you hear a lady being compared to a rose, do you say "but she doesn't grow on a stalk"?

[CrispyQ]

4. Investor Class - those whose money makes them money.

Working Class - those whose time makes them money.

Time is the essence of our lives.

[kelly1mm]

7. How about a worker with a large 401k or company stock options?

I think one of the things that has made classic distinctions problematic it the widespread distribution of stock ownership due to the delcine of the traditional pension. Even union members now often check their stock portfolios on a regular basis and cheer when it goes up. While the percentage of stock ownership among the working class is still small compared to the owner class, the lines have been blurred IMO.

[CrispyQ]

12. That's part of the problem & it's worked great for the investor class.

People making $250k - $1 million think they're wealthy. As if. One bad medical event could wipe that out. Yet they feel more kinship with the wealthy than they do with the $50k'ers, even though they are much more in our boat, than theirs.

Chris Rock said, "Shaq is rich. The man who signs Shaq's paycheck is wealthy."

[eridani]

11. What about both being carbon-based life forms? n/t

[CrispyQ]

13. Wait until the silicon life forms (AI) use the corporate life forms to enact their (AI) agenda.

Who knows, it might be a better world.

:D