About
Content
Store
Forum

Rebirth of Reason
War
People
Archives
Objectivism

War for Men's Minds

Hard Labour
by David Bertelsen

Labour legislation in Europe is destroying its economies. That's bad. But the economic destruction is nothing compared to the destruction being wreaked on a more important treasure - the human spirit.

Men should morally be free to choose for themselves the terms with which they wish to exchange their time, labour, and indeed any other asset with other individuals. In Europe, this freedom is taken away from us, in what is quite possibly the largest destruction of liberty known to mankind today.

I'm an entrepreneur and employer in one European country, Spain, and see, daily, the horrific effects of centuries of socialism in the labour market.

The entrepreneurial spirit is the first victim. Anybody who has tried, will know about the enormous energy, not to mention time, money and risk, that is required to start a small business. Usually, you can't do it alone, and need employees to work with you. Well, European governments say that if I wish to employ someone, they shall dictate the terms with which I shall do so. And that they do, to great effect. They tell me how much I must pay, how often, how much compensation is due should I no longer require the services of my employee, who should insure him and pay his pension (the government), how much holiday I must give him, the list goes on. If I don't like it, then my option is to employ on the black market or just do the whole dam lot myself. Right now I do both, but I'm a tired, washed up shadow of the ambitious young man that entered the whipping chamber just five years ago.

So, are employees happy? No. They are the second victim of stifling regulations, though you wouldn't know it listening to their paternalistic representatives, the unions. Once you are in a job, with a government-required full work contract, then no matter how boring, low paid, dead end the job is, you'd be barking mad to walk away from it. Why? Because it is longevity that counts. For each year you are employed in Spain, that's another month to six week's wages that the employer must eventually pay should they decide they no longer require your services. Opportunity to get ahead in Spain is just that- get in a job, and wait. Don't rock the boat, don't push the limits, just wait. The results on society are astounding - nobody "likes" their jobs, but nobody is bothered by it. They are chemado" ("burnt") but will stay on regardless, waiting. This is a waiting of the worst kind- waiting for death- their own or that of the company, and it is mortal on the human spirit. The employer doesn't want the employee, and the employee doesn't like the job, but the two are locked together in a sinister devil's waltz towards the grave.

The third victim of this mess are those whose jobs are never created, because employers are not crazy, and will only submit to the self flagellation that hiring labour represents when every other avenue has been exhausted. Millions of young Europeans are demanding jobs from the government, without realising that it is those very governments which took their jobs away.

The next time you read an OECD report describing the devastating effects of European labour market regulations, nod your head and state, no shout your wholehearted agreement. But don't shout it for the sake of the economy - at the end of the day entrepreneurs will always still battle forth and create wealth. Shout it for the sake of that most important treasure, the spirit of mankind.

Let us be free!

Sanctions: 15Sanctions: 15Sanctions: 15 Sanction this ArticleEditMark as your favorite article

Discuss this Article (13 messages)