Labour...How Hybrid Work has Changed Things
This post is inspired by Elon Musk’s interview in Business Insider:
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-remote-work-morally-wrong-get-off-high-horse-2023-5
Elon Musk said he sees remote work as "morally wrong" and the "laptop classes are living in la la land."
The billionaire said remote workers need to "get off the goddamn moral high horse" in a CNBC interview.
Musk told Tesla workers last year that they could work in the office fulltime or quit
Repeated in an NBC interview:
What Musk is NOT talking about is MONEY.
The reality is people who DO things deserve MORE money.
And, thus we’re actually in a class war.
The issue seems to be about getting people back into offices, it’s actually about paying people who DO things more. Nurses aren’t paid enough, Carers (PSWs) aren’t, Mechanics, Plumbers, maybe Garbage Men and Delivery Men (not so sure about them, autonomous robots are coming, just not sure how quickly).
Artificial Intelligence will replace the paper pushers, first; not the secretaries, so much as the brokers by an Algo-rhythm, and the office managers and human resources by redundancy…No offices, no need for the work et cetera..
That’s why Bloomberg talks about drinking and drugs in work from home situations;
And not RENT.
Because without OFFICE workers, one doesn’t need offices nor buildings nor LANDLORDS.
A huge percentage of bank profits are actually made from commercial loans.
It’s a huge shift that’s occurring, and scary:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-toronto-downtown-businesses-hybrid-work/
But, it also means we could solve our housing crisis quickly, transform urban spaces to be more communal, rejuvenate small businesses. To me, it’s a really exciting period. And, I found it curious the BOC remarked on women returning to work, but failed to recognize the adaption to the home work schedule currently happening.
Simple question: who is going to pay for childcare when one doesn’t have to?
Unlike Mr. Musk, I don’t see a division between workers at home and those ‘at work.’ I imagine greater flexibility is going to come to the eight hour day/ forty hour work week/ specific holiday schedule…A Universal Basic Income anticipatory of greater employment flexibility? I don’t know…I’m a big Micheal Hudson fan: Debt Jubilee?
The thing is for all of Mr. Musk’s criticisms, he bought ‘twitter’ and fired half his staff on a whim, and he is now pontificating about the ‘morality’ of office work? He’s just a hypocrite.