Disguised Slavery

Slavery has existed since antiqui­ty and time immemorial. Recall­ing the beginning of human his­tory, Rousseau said, “Laws gave the weak new burdens, and the strong new powers; they irre­trievably destroyed natural freedom…”. The usurpation of rights has always been imposed upon the mass­es through laws and litiga­tion—what are today’s ordi­nances, SROs, etc., strengthening elite capture and further weakening the oppressed and downtrodden.

Slaves were objects of law and not their subjects. Deprived of basic human rights, a person was treated as chattel, a piece of property, and a servant.

The immoral and impudent policy of forcing any person into submission and servitude, mostly without remu­neration, is abject slavery. At best, the owner would provide meagre food and even less clothing; only shelter was “free,” more for the owner’s conve­nience than as a facility for the slaves.

Intimidation and the threat of brute force are instruments deployed by one person to dominate another. It is not merely law, regulations, rules, pro­cedures, and regulatory dictates that subjugate, but also the ‘innocuous de­suetude of our minds’. Standards and codes, other than those that monitor conduct, essentially rob an individu­al of their innate qualities and sever­al inherent characteristics. When this is done at the corporate level, individ­uality ceases to exist. All are made to look alike, fashioned according to the desires of the owner or entrepreneur.

Aristotle wrote, “He who is by nature not his own man, is by nature a slave”. Corporate slavery is a weed that keeps growing in every organisation and in­stitution. It sees a rapid rise when the economy is weak or on a downward slide, creating scarce alternative em­ployment opportunities. This is when the employer thrives; economic weak­ness is exploited to the fullest.

Rousseau’s social contract states, “Coercion created slavery, the coward­ice of the slaves perpetuated it”. Em­ployees succumb to economic exploi­tation and coercion; this is further exacerbated by the inability to survive without the crutch of a fixed income, which preserves the status of slavery until the hair begins to grey, and that’s exactly when the die-hard, arrogant, and deceitful employer shows them the door. Over time, therefore, corporate slaves begin to enjoy being enslaved.

Frederick Douglass, in 1845, wrote, “I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do things I wanted”. The capitalist entrepreneur’s worst night­mare is the transfer of economic power from the arrogant and dominant elite to the possibility of a growing middle class. It seems audacious to the own­er or entrepreneur when a worker de­mands participation in strategic man­agement or ownership. I once upset a business tycoon by suggesting that en­trepreneurs like him specialise in hir­ing those who have lost or imprisoned their ability to “think”, as they only hire individuals of mediocrity; the fear of hiring those better than themselves is obvious. Service with a free mind is different from service done in fetters. “This is servitude, To serve the unwise” (Milton, Paradise Lost).

Some entrepreneurs offer lavish handouts to employees, not out of goodwill or the nobility of giving, but with the intention to enslave ‘individu­al performers’ who are made econom­ically weak and therefore accept slav­ery. The option of losing a quality of life that depends on a credit of a cer­tain sum at the end of a given period is an exploitative tool.

The trappings of office held are the greatest tools for creating a sense of subservience; these offerings impris­on the ability to think freely. All se­nior management in the private sector and all bureaucrats in the government have a “bell” affixed to either their worktops or the side table, typical­ly obscured from visitors’ view, which their ladyship or lordship presses, usu­ally incessantly, to summon the “office boy” – any delay in response can po­tentially provoke their wrath. The of­fice boy is human (a reminder to the reader); domesticated animals also re­spond to a whistle… what’s the differ­ence? None. Entrepreneurs and man­agers treat them alike, and in many cases, animals receive preferential treatment. This does not happen only in Africa but here too, as well as in oth­er “enlightened” societies.

Human Resources policies related to succession planning, promotions, increments, perks, privileges, allow­ances, and learning and development opportunities are designed to secure submission and subservience to the dictates of the owner or manager, who, by merely listing their institu­tions on exchanges, come to be recog­nised as “corporate persons”, which is far from the truth. One can only imag­ine with disgust the situation pre­vailing in organisations with no rec­ognition of the separation between ownership and management.

I was told of a Chairman of the Board who kept the HR policy in the last sec­tion of his drawers… no employee should take perks and privileges as a “right”, in his view; no, these are meant to be given to a chosen few, as “hand­outs”, “favours”, and to appease. Slavery is often confused with loyalty… absolute nonsense! Suffering in silence is not loy­alty but a compulsion, shaped by con­stituents and characteristics specific to the employee’s age and career stage.

Large listed companies at the Paki­stan Exchange are dominated by con­centrated ownership, and consequent­ly, control of the boards. With this dominance, high ideals of good gover­nance and adoption of international­ly accepted best practices are discard­ed. According to rumours, a CEO was shown the door for presenting an HR benefits paper without prior approv­al. Independence of thought must re­main perpetually for sale or be per­manently mortgaged; otherwise, the consequences are severe, especially for senior management. Diversifying ownership is the solution to change at­titudes towards employees.

CEOs must not bend their spines out of a misplaced sense of responsibili­ty by not wanting to rock the boat too hard; learn to keep sailing and navi­gating without bending backwards… stand tall on the spine… exhibit that the “vertebra of office” has no gaps… fissures in the spine are very painful.

The way each of us treats our help­ers at home reflects our upbringing; and it is this upbringing that we bring to the institution.

Sirajuddin Aziz
The writer is a Senior Banker & Freelance Columnist.