To justify the-existence-of-one-thing-at-the-expense-of-another.
It is the relationship that is disconcerting. The one-thing can be one's self; usually a rich, powerful and/or entitled self. The one-thing can be an ideology, or a doctrine, or an organization, or an individual other than oneself. The one-thing can be anything that requires sustenance for its continued existence. An excellent example of one-thing within this dynamic of one-thing-at-the-expense-of-another is an employer; most especially a large employer. For an employer’s continued existence, it must be fed. An employer eats the blood sweat and tears of its employees, and to continue to survive, an employer constantly demands more for less. A large employer believes that by stacking layers upon layers of individual drivers they can increase productivity and efficiency, but from where I sit it appears that what pops out of the hat is the Donnie Darko Rabbit brought forth to intimidate the lower layers into a more-for-less mindset and to protect the uppermost layers from reality. Thus, as the demand for efficiency becomes ever more urgent, the bottom layer(s) are squeezed the hardest, and, the more layers of junior justifiers between the-expense-of-another and the chief justifier, the greater the expense as felt by another. I used to be a junior justifier. Today I am just another expense item trapped beneath layers upon layers upon layers and guarded by a few very scary rabbits.
Justification is not justice.
Yet justification has become our fallback position and for many junior justifiers it apparently feels like justice. And the closer a junior justifier is to the chief justifier, the less they see, hear or care, and the more righteous their justifications.
Last Fall I received a 2% increase in my hourly pay taking me from $18.40 to $18.77. This week, after hearing last Fall “Congratulations-on-your-two-percent-raise-it’s-what-everybody-got” I have discovered (thanks to my abilities with a pivot table and to the release of the annual salary report required by the state) that “everybody” did not include the entire university/campus system (approximately 10,000 individuals), the department I work in, the department I work most closely with, all other individuals with whom I share my job title, the leadership team closest to my responsibilities including the university president, and 8 other groups. In each of the first five groups, from 2020 to 2021 the average pay increase for combined hourly and salaried personnel was (respectively) 4.36%, 3.15%, 6.04%, 3.75% and 7.26%. And in the additional eight groups all but two exceeded my percentage increase. Obviously a large number of people did not get the 2% memo. The two groups who (interestingly) received a smaller percentage increase? 1) The group of individuals within the dataset making less than $20 per hour, and 2) Custodians.
I included eight individuals in the leadership team, (all making from $190,000 to $600,000 per year), but if I take out one individual who did not receive an increase, (I would like to believe she did so on principle), then the pay increase for the other seven ranged from 4.50% to 12.45% with an average of 8.18%. Again, my pay increase was 2.01% and I can’t help but feel that (because it was due to rounding) the .01% was given begrudgingly.
The saddest part? This is exactly what I expected to see. I am not at all surprised.
One individual included on the leadership team has the last name Jones. Out of curiosity I calculated all the Jones’s systemwide and it is no surprise that I also cannot keep up with the Jones’s. Their overall average increase was a whopping 13.83%. Again, my pay increase was 2.01% and I can’t help but feel that (because it was due to rounding) the .01% was given begrudgingly.
From 2020 to 2021 there was an increase of 19 individuals (from 9724 to 9743) within the parameters of this dataset. It is encouraging that approximately 10% of those making less than $20 per hour in 2020 have moved into the set, (or been replaced by someone hired into the set), of those making $20 or more per hour in 2021. It is discouraging that the increase in average hourly rate for those making less than $20 per hour was only 0.33% from 2020 to 2021 whereas the increase in average hourly rate for those making $20 or more per hour was 2.32%. Salaried personnel within this same set received an average annual salary of $104,984.07 in 2021 reflecting an average percentage increase of 4.03%, whereas (respectively) the numbers for hourly personnel are $40,356.96 and 3.45%. If the real dollars from the 0.58% difference between salaried and hourly personnel were added to the hourly personnel it would increase their percentage increase by an additional 1.50%. In addition, those making $100,000 or more in both 2020 and 2021 received an average annual increase of 5.40%. More simply put, the richer get richer and it doesn’t mean as much. Even more simply put, the wealth gap is alive and doing very well, thank you very much.
Looking again at the leadership team responsible for decisions leading to my 2.01%, I have to ask these seven individuals, why? I know you talk a good game, equity, justice, empathy, but can you talk me through this? 8.18%? Please help me to understand. If I had received your group-of-seven 8.18% instead of my 2.01%, I would be within 9 cents of the $20 club. You, both individually and as the group-of-seven, are the one-thing and I, along with thousands of others, are sustaining your existence at our expense. As said before I am not surprised. And the fact that I am reasonably calm and rational tells me that I have (sadly) grown accustomed to rhetoric and duplicity and contrivance and subservience and helplessness.
Here, I would like to note that I do see some validity in some justifications, and others I realize I am not in a position to judge. And I understand that I am working to the same end.
That said, I still feel helpless, discouraged, disillusioned, demoralized. To me the issue is not my 2.01%. I will continue to make noise and ultimately find my peace. Nor is it necessarily your 8.18%. Though I believe many rich, powerful, and/or entitled individuals will continue to make excuses in their search for a bigger piece. To me it is the relationship that is disconcerting. One-thing-at-the-expense-of-another.
Justification is not justice.