By C.J. Atkins
Revealing the true sentiments of the capitalist class, Australian billionaire real estate developer Tim Gurner recently declared that “arrogant” workers must be tamed and that to do that “unemployment has to rise.”
The surge in worker power that has been seen globally over the past few years has ruling elites upset, and Gurner is giving voice to their frustrations.
Speaking at a “Property Summit” hosted by the Australian Financial Review newspaper, Gurner said it was necessary to “remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.”
Not content with the 20 percent margins his property developments currently bring in, Gurner pinpointed labour costs and lower productivity as threats to profits. He said the pandemic made employees lazy, and they’re expecting too much pay for their work.
“People decided they didn’t really want to work so much anymore through COVID, and that has had a massive effect on productivity.” Talking about the skilled tradespeople who build his condo towers, Gurner derisively remarked, “They have been paid a lot to do not too much in the past few years, and we need to see that change.”
His solution: Raise unemployment – massively. Gurner called for joblessness to rise “40 to 50 percent” in order to discipline workers: “We need to see pain in the economy.” He said Australia’s government was too “supportive of the unions” and their demands for higher wages.
Exposing the truth that class struggle is all too real, Gurner pushed for harsher measures to control workers who become conscious of their exploitation by bosses and in turn demand more respect on the job and bigger paychecks.
“We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.” He slammed workers who have dared to question the dictatorial power bosses have in the workplace. “There’s been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them, as opposed to the other way around.”
Gurner argued that it’s better to have desperate workers eager to have any job they can get. He advocated tipping the scales back in favour of bosses and removing any gains workers might have made over the last few years in terms of bargaining power and confidence.
“We’ve got to kill that attitude” among “arrogant” workers, he said. “And that has to come through hurting the economy.”
Gurner praised central bank officials in various countries for doing just that by sending interest rates soaring. “The governments around the world are trying to increase unemployment to get that to some sort of normality.”
[Reprinted from People’s World]
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