To the owner, the spoils

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) recently introduced a bill that would guarantee workers up to seven paid sick days per year.

Business advocates see such measures doing more harm than good for workers. To pay for additional benefits, employers may have to reduce wages or other benefits, said Randy Johnson, vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Business logic with respect to employees rests on the idea that because what generates greater profits for the employer has the potential to benefit workers, social goals must therefore defer to this formula at all times, because it necessarily will.

However, I think the larger point history would like to make is that it won't, necessarily: whether some portion of the profit created by workers is subsequently captured by them is a decision that lies squarely with management, and made in what is perceived to be their own best interest. Because this means different things at different times, and for different reasons, it is impossible to say what greater profits -- or conversely, greater obligations -- will mean for workers in every case.

What can be said with any degree of certainty is that employers are constituted in a way that compels them to pursue profit, and being so constituted, they will do so by any means they can. It is a public responsibility to enforce decent behavior.