The pandemic of the labour contract (Part 1 of 3)
Oprah: What WAS going on?
Dave: Man, where do you start? Damn this story! [Pause] I was doing sketches that were funny but socially irresponsible. I felt like I was deliberately being encouraged and I was overwhelmed; its like getting flattered with things that you do not pay attention to other things like your ethics …
Oprah: … some things that weren’t socially responsible, like what?
Dave: Like there was this one sketch we did that it was about this pixie that would appear whenever racist things happen, whenever someone make you feel like they are calling you the “n” word but don’t say it…. but the pixie was in black face.. it was a good intention behind… but the way people use TV is subjective… while we were on set taping someone laughed… I know the difference between people laughing with me and people laughing at me and it was the first time I got a laugh that made me feel uncomfortable… I did not want black people to be disappointed in me for putting that out there..
Oprah: You did not want to be disappointed in yourself..
Dave: You know what Oprah, you are right…….
….
Dave: …Manipulate. Sounds like someone was trying to put young Dave in a compromising position…. I went back to work and the vitamin love was gone because it was a real ugly negotiation… it was getting ridiculous… the whole time, they were trying to convince me that I am insane… the people who were trying to convince me that I was insane, I believe that they knew what was going on.
…
Oprah: What did you conclude about yourself
Dave: Oh I thought I wasn’t paying attention. I felt really guilty about falling asleep at the wheel… “Success takes you where character cannot sustain you”
Have you ever listened to someone’s story and felt like they are telling your story? This is what happened to me when I heard Dave’s story. I have listened to his story on different platforms and had a hard time picking which one to share with you but we all know good old Oprah Winfrey will have the most condensed version. There are so many important points in this conversation but I could not quote them all. I encourage you to listen to the conversation on the OWN on Youtube here.
I have wanted to write about this for sometime but I was afraid. Of what, you may ask? Well there are a couple of things. Firstly, one of my former employers threatened me with a penalty if I ever so much as talked about my story because they knew it would have them in a little bit of trouble. This was a condition attached to my last pay check, and because I was so desperate to leave, I just signed to get them off my back. I was afraid that no one would believe me, because even I did not believe myself. I thought I was misinterpreting the situation. My lawyer once asked me “Why are you finding it so hard that people can just be evil?” Lastly, I could feel a lot hanging on it, and did not want to ruin or lose my career because of it. I am still afraid as I write it now but I decided to do it afraid anyway.
I would lie if I said I had no encouragement. We are now in an era of conversation; where the conversation itself has become a tool to fight the injustice and suffering that thrived in secrecy. Chrissy Teigen and the Duchess of Sussex dared to talk about their miscarriages, Jameela Jamil talked about her abortion, and Dave Chappelle talked about his own work experience and plight in Unforgiven. I mean the Metoo Movement started with someone sharing their story. Why? Because there is a healing power in the conversation, in understanding that you are not alone; but also in having closure that you did something about it. The pain is there, the event happened, but you were able to speak up about it, and possibly help someone else dealing with it. This is why I choose to put my fear away and write today.
Like Dave, I want to say “Damn this story”. I do not even know where to begin.
I recently walked away from a job and teams I loved because the working environment was not good for my health (or anyone else’s for that matter), and I was at risk of losing my self and working against my values. Two years ago, I did the exact same thing, and I did it again two years prior. I am known for my stubbornness, which I choose to call resilience. I call myself naïve, but in reality, I am just a simple humanist who believes people should treat each other with respect and fairness regardless of who is holding the “social power”. It was this belief that made me do this thing three times. I was in denial but not anymore. We have a problem with our employee and employer relationships as they are governed by contracts. We have had a manipulation
A quick check on Wikipedia will tell you that employment contracts rose “out of the old master-servant law used before the 20th century”. Under it’s criticisms it states that, “the employment contract is a legal fiction in that it recognizes human beings juridically as mere tools or inputs by abdicating responsibility and self determination… the employee is legally transformed from being a co-responsible partner to only an input partner… since the person remains a de facto fully capacitated adult person with only the contractual role of a non-person… the relation between an employer and an isolated employee or worker is typically a relation between a bearer of power and one who is not a bearer of power.”
It is no surprise that in the 21st century, slavery continues legally in the work place. Employees are suffering and those that dare to challenge their employer may go down sinking with their clams. This is because of a couple of factors:
1. The corporate body has exponentially more power than the individuals. You need a fat bank account, and a solid character to be able to challenge the employer officially, and we usually just have character.
2. The employer is the source of livelihood you cannot upset “him/her”. Even if your co-workers witness your injustice, they can only speak words of comfort but will not stand and testify of what they saw — they still need to feed their families.
3. The thing called the contract, drafted by the employer, with the support of a legal team and presented to an employee who probably has no legal education or background, and is desperate for a source of income. I can barely understand the law dictionary, and that is only definitions, what more statements used together. The balance of power is skewed from the onset.
About 10 years ago, I changed careers. I wanted to work with companies that were doing work that aligned with my values. I am all about justice through equal access. I was raised to understand that what I have is because of what I did to earn it of course, but mostly because I got a chance to earn it in the first place. I wanted to serve communities that were not being given a chance to even earn a better life. I was lucky that an industry has arisen where people where focused on just that — impact investing, social businesses and the like. I thought, here I would make my mark.
I have a killer work ethic, almost obsessive, especially when it is work that addresses matters of access for underprivileged communities. I believe that if I can give more people access by working harder, then harder is how I will work. I have said it before, but I will say it again, and this time with more conviction, I am a black girl that works magic. It is a gift. I will join your company and completely turn it around; and when I leave, you will probably need two people to replace me. However, because it is work of the heart, I barely complain, I give feedback, I challenge you and expect to be challenged, and I also ask for very little, financially or otherwise.
There are more and more people like me whether in the social impact world specifically or in any industry. Over the last couple of decades, people have been awakened to the need to do the work that is meaningful to them or at least enjoyable. As such, more and more people are joining companies because they believe in the company’s vision and mission and less for the sole purpose of an income. They are looking for an opportunity to do what they love.
Companies are sprouting left, right and centre to address challenges in different communities, to be the responsible businesses people are looking to work with. Their founders are usually young courageous individuals who are keen to leave their mark in the world. When the companies start up, they are all about the vision and mission, being a socially responsible company and all. They are recruiting all these high energy people at low salaries, with the promise of large payment at a later date when the company’s shares or assets are tradeable.
However, in the process of of growth, the companies mutate, they start taking after the very companies that we walked away from in the first place. That is because, were are now talking about more money. A lot more is at stake. Yes, the mission stays but under different values and principles. They want to push tougher goals in shorter periods of time and with limited resources. Profit starts becoming a main goal.
The founders become slave masters. Over night they forget how it was you that helped the vision land and walk, even as a mere bookkeeper. They forget how difficult it was to just be able to get to the end of the month with a positive bank balance. They forget the sacrifice of your long hours, little or no salary in some months, your family time, your health as you toiled to make things work. We were a team, but not any more. They make it an expectation for you to slave away at that low income even though now they can afford to pay you better; they expect you to work as they do, long hours, constantly because that is how they work; but alas, they own the company and you do not.
The mistreatment will continue, and you will either endure it or you leave — but if you leave, you leave empty handed, because you did not last until the time you were due to be paid. You will leave with that heart breaking feeling of failure because this was something you actually loved and cared about. And when you leave, you also leave your work. They will continue to earn from it, but you won’t. These are the same people your next potential employers will want to talk to for a recommendation, but because you spoke up about your frustrations and challenged their way of doing business, that recommendation will not land you another job, all things being equal. They have a big platform, big enough to completely destroy you. You will be doomed, for a little while, until your light shines through once more.
This is what happened and is still happening to Dave Chappelle. This is what happened and is still happening to me. This is what happened and is still happening to many of us. And if this happened or is happening to you, this post is for you. You are not alone, you are not crazy, you are not ridiculous. You are principled, and it is ok to walk away.
Look out for my next articles where I will discuss my recommendations of what to do if you are the employer and the employee. It is a system that works perfectly to achieve its goals. We can choose to give the system new goals and make a few changes to ensure that this manipulation game does not continue. We cannot continue to use pre 20th century contracts in the 21st century. We need a major change. Such a change will see the entertainment industry change its laws and rules of conduct, and pay Dave Chappelle for his work. If Dave get’s paid, there is hope for us all. As a basic rule however, it does not matter what the contract says, did they work for it? If yes, pay them. Did you work for it, yes, then you should get paid for it — Period.
A special message to Dave Chappelle:
You did not fall asleep on the wheel, because if you had, you would not have left. Thank you for being bold enough to step out, and for giving us a story to look up to.
