What do you make a year?
Every year, municipalities release Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) reports that include the remuneration paid to staff and council. Reporters write stories on the figures and, like clockwork, readers take to the Internet to post or write letters to the editor about the outrageous pay of certain individuals. One such letter was the most read on The Squamish Chief website for a week.
The backlash arises from two things: a distrust of any level of government that runs so deep many believe the lot of them should be fired and monkeys put in their place; and the collective, ingrained discomfort with discussing income.
Here’s a homework assignment for you: Around the barbecue this weekend, ask your friends or even your family what they make. Chances are even those who are open about sex, politics and religion will squirm.
Where does this discomfort come from? The answer may rest with whom the information serves. Unless a workplace has a union – thus, wage increases are on a published schedule – business owners since the dawn of capitalism haven’t liked employees to discuss salaries for fear it could lead other employees to ask for wage parity.
For the record, reporters at community papers make between $24,000 and $40,000, depending on the market.
Even if you have a workplace that is open about what employees are paid, the competition won’t much like employees exchanging this information out of the same fear of workers wanting equal pay for equal work.
There can be other repercussions too. When a Seattle business owner announced every employee would make at least $70,000, other businesses and some clients spoke out, saying it wasn’t fair to publicly raise the bar that high.
Our credit card society also means many amass much more in material goods than they actually can afford. People don’t want their neighbours to know that their house, sports car, boat and even leather couch are leased, not owned.
The reluctance also comes from fear of just the backlash that District of Squamish employees faced online when their salaries were released.
It always makes me wonder why instead of collectively trying to raise up those who have less, or instigating a community discussion about the nature of capitalism, people instead attack individuals.
