Our Collective Voices
The power of working in harmony with each other
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When I think back to my days in school, I remember how the students outnumbered the adults.
This was especially pronounced in the elementary school cafeteria, where there were maybe six or eight adults watching over 100 or more students during lunch and recess. We all knew to behave, so that ratio wasn’t a problem. If one student acted up, they were quickly removed from the group so as not to create a bigger disturbance.
The fear of “getting in trouble” whatever that meant seemed to be enough to keep all of us in line. But had all of the students chosen to act in concert and towards a single common goal, there was no way that the adults supervising us could have kept us all in line. It’s a numbers game.
Those days sitting in the cafeteria under the watchful eye of a few were really training for what was to come in the real world. There are a handful of people in charge, keeping us all in line. We far outnumber them, but the fear of losing work, losing friendships, or getting in trouble is enough to keep most of us well behaved.
Were we to ever present as a united front, working towards a common goal, those in power would have no choice but to listen. But we have been conditioned to ignore our collective power and think our only choice is to silently complain about things rather than take action.
In a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, 68% of respondents supported a ceasefire in Gaza, with roughly three-quarters of Democrats and half of Republicans voicing support. Yet only 37 congresspeople have spoken in favor of a ceasefire. That’s less than 1% of the members of Congress.
Similarly, according to Pew Research Center data, 58% of U.S. adults are in favor of stricter gun laws. 88% of voters support making it harder for people with mental illness to acquire guns, 79% believe in raising the age limit for buying guns to 21, and 64% would back an assault weapons ban. Yet after every mass shooting, we are told that no action can be taken by our legislature and are offered hopes and prayers.
When the duty of writing laws is given directly to the voters, change happens quickly. In my home state of Ohio, which twice backed Trump for president, citizens recently overwhelming voted in favor of abortion rights and marijuana legalization, despite local opposition by the Republicans in charge of the state house. Had it been up to the elected leaders, these laws would never have been written, even though the ideas behind them clearly resonated with citizens.
Our collective voices are just as useful in the workplace as they are in politics.
The United Auto Workers ended a strike last week at Ford, GM, and Stellatis (parent company of Ram, Jeep, and Chrysler), which will lead to 33% wage gains. When is the last time you heard of anybody getting a 33% raise?!
In response, the non-union American manufacturing plants for Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai also raised pay rates at their factories to remain competitive and stave off a possible unionization. Collective action benefited everyone, even those who were not part of the organizing effort.
In perhaps the most high profile strike in recent memory, the entertainment industry was shut down for much of the past year as the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild fought for better contracts. The writers strike lasted 148 days, while the actors strike lasted 118 days.
But unionization efforts don’t always lead to progress. Starbucks workers went on strike last week, after they have gone more than two years without a contract despite voting to unionize at more than 300 locations.
Perhaps some of the reluctance to negotiate comes from the mistaken belief that those at the top are the source of value for a business, rather than those at the bottom. After all, the top 1% in America now control 26.5% of household net worth. What would Starbucks look like without the baristas to pour coffee and make drinks though?
Of course, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bob Iger, Tim Cook, or Jeff Bezos don’t get to be extremely wealthy on their own. It takes an entire army of senior and middle managers enforcing the policies that have led to citations for dangerous working conditions in Amazon facilities, for example.
These managers are working for a small percentage of the income those at the top but make slightly more than the folks they are overseeing. That small pay bump is enough to buy loyalty to the company rather than to fellow coworkers.
What would happen if the managers realized they had more in common with the workers than with the owners? What changes might be possible?
I learned to be skeptical of the whole system of management when I was maybe 10 years old and first listened to the Fugees. In the song “The Mask,” Wyclef Jean raps about being offered a fast food job promotion:
“I used to work at Burger King, a king taking orders
Punching my clock, now I'm wanted by the manager
Souping me up, saying, ‘You're a good worker
How would you like a quarter raise, move up to the register?
Large in charge, but ya gotta be a spy
Come back and tell me who's bagging my fries
Gettin' high on company time’"
Would you take the deal offered to Wyclef? A small raise, slightly better working conditions, but turning your back on your fellow workers? Many, many people do.
Our entire system of everything- politics, economics- relies on each of us worrying about our individual well-being more than our overall societal well-being. As long as we are happy, comfortable, and getting paid, we are willing to turn away from the suffering of others.
Were we to consider our collective wealth rather than our individual wealth, we would be like the students in the school cafeteria. We would be a force to be reckoned with, and the handful of people that are now in charge would be no match for our combined and focused willpower.
As I look around and see a broken world at the moment, I wonder how much could be repaired and improved if we worked together to reach a common goal and forced our leaders to take action?
It’s a bit like that scene in Finding Nemo where a large group of fish have been caught in a net. Each fish is frantically trying to save its own life and swimming in what it thinks is the best way, which is different than every other fish.
When each fish is looking out for their own interest, it is easy for the fisherman to raise the net and capture hundreds of fish.
But when Nemo directs them to all swim together in the same direction, the force of their collective action is so strong that it breaks the boom holding the net and all of the fish are suddenly freed.
Perhaps it’s time we start swimming in the same direction. For one when fish is liberated from the net, every fish is liberated from the net.
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