Despite the reality that the coercive undercurrent of all legislation to uphold rights in the workplace and in just about every other area of life overlooks and simply redirects the true nature of the problems to even greater depths, we should at least be grateful that the existence of issues has been recognised and that that in itself is a positive step.
Recognising that rights legislation simply encourages people in positions of influence to hide prejudices which very few people would find themselves without, should they be facing precisely the same decisions in the same circumstances, is in itself controversial. It gives the lie to the premise that the way we all think can be conditioned by forcing us to behave in particular ways.
Regrettably, the passion for rights implementation, whilst full of the best intentions, is nonetheless a highly quixotic pastime. Not least of all because it overlooks the intricacies of every circumstance, attempting to whitewash every situation as being fundamentally the same, just in the very same way that the legislation used is flawed because it doesn’t allow for the potentially infinite number of ways that each and every person thinks.
Workplace legislation is neither friend to employee or to employer once you look beyond the universality of the rules and focus on the different circumstances of the individuals and the specific organisations or operations concerned.
There is absolutely no doubt that the way employees have been treated in less enlightened times has been terrible and the source of much fear. Yet we have moved on considerably from the point where a sensible balance was reached.
We have now entered a dangerous period of having laws for laws sake. The areas of life, business and government where the champions of social justice are now taking aim may gain a superficial benefit for the few, but it will inevitably result in a much higher cost for us all.
With the ongoing debate over the status of those ‘self employed’ involved in the gig economy, we are seeing the damage that can be done to whole business ecosystems by new market entrants who exploit loopholes in law to create what appear to be industry changing business models. Technology based wonders that are little more than modern day exploitation or slavery models which make massive profit whilst their true nature remains unaddressed. Meanwhile destroying the ability of traditional providers to continue in legitimate marketplaces being destroyed by business models only sustainable because they can undercut as they exploit.
The cost is immeasurable. In a society increasingly obsessed by the drug which is supply and response at the touch of a button, with no requirement for physical journeys or interaction in between, we are indeed sleepwalking into a nightmare scenario akin to a cultural prison, where the unscrupulous will remain anonymous as they inflict great pain on others as part of what we are being sold as the ‘consumer society win-win’.
Our social justice warriors, focused rightly but nonetheless superficially on changing the rules to create rights for these exploited employees who are technically self employed, do not look beyond to address the model of industrial tyrany which sits beyond it. Nor do they consider the inevitable impact of what their new rules will have upon real life for others who neither want nor can afford to operate and develop real businesses with the shackles placed around their business which are being created by everything that do-gooders have idealistically done.
The greatest level of responsibility any one person can have in business is to be a sole trader, responsible for every aspect of a business, including the delivery of the service or product, the time and effort expended – all of which forms the basis upon which success or failure will be built and what the future fir them and that business will become.
Restrictions placed upon these entrepreneurs, professionals and tradespeople by people who have no understanding of what the life choice of self employment actually requires of them in what they do, will restrict creativity and the viability of small businesses and with it, everything they do for us as a society beyond.
Giving rights to everyone in every situation without thinking through the consequences is a danger to everyone. The example of being a sole trader demonstrates the existence of a job which isn’t and shouldn’t be treated as a job, but there is another example which exists where the misplaced implementation of ‘workplace rights’ has an impact upon everyone and not just those directly involved.
Perhaps the greatest responsibility that anyone can have is that of being elected on behalf of and to represent others.
Being a Councillor, Mayor, Police & Crime Commissioner or MP is a significant, potentially open-ended responsibility and so much more than a job.
Yet these Public Roles are positions increasingly treated as simply being jobs and therefore worthy of attracting the terms that a normal employee would expect in the workplace, when the responsibilities which come with the Role go way beyond those which any employee would expect or have.
Some of the similarities between self employment and being an elected representative are striking. The reality is that either are what we would ever call 9-5, 5 day week with bountiful holiday roles. Yet that is exactly how they are now viewed and are being treated. And when it comes to those with the responsibility for legislating on behalf of us all, simply treating being an MP as being nothing more than a career or a job is a frightening endorsement of how trivialised the responsibility of being a Representative of the People in this Country has now become.
The difference between them is that when you become a Representative of the People, you should put others before yourself in every sense.
Such responsibility requires a level of flexibility and commitment which overrides all the normal trappings of being an employee. The fact that many of our Westminster incumbents now treat the whole experience as being about their own working conditions and the privileges that they can secure speaks volumes about why Brexit has become such a ridiculous mess.
This is simply not what being an MP or Politician in a democracy is about. It’s not the way that good Government works and how meaningful things which affect everyone get done.
A job may have responsibilities but responsibility itself is not just a job.
MPs need to stop thinking about themselves, remember how to represent the People who Elected them and get on with doing whatever is necessary to get this Country sorted, no matter the time or commitment needed.
The responsibility of being an MP must come before anything else. It is not a job. It is an Elected role and the People have the right to expect 100% commitment from incumbents.
Otherwise they should stand aside and let others stand in their place who will be dedicated and put others first. Not simply treat the role as being all about them, which is what Parliament to current MPs who think they have a job is all it has become.
Adam Tugwell 