• A midnight curfew. If he's going to miss curfew, team officials must know in advance;
The Dallas Cowboys may claim to be offering only "guidance," but anyone with half a brain knows these rules were imposed on Bryant with at least the implication that if he did not accept them, he would have to find another job. As Tony Kornheiser stated on "Pardon the Interruption," Bryant is now effectively in a minimum security prison.• No drinking alcohol.• He can't attend any strip clubs and can only attend nightclubs if they are approved by the team and he has a security team with him.• He must attend counseling sessions twice a week.• A rotating three-man security team will leave one man with Bryant at all times.• Members of the security team will drive Bryant to practices, games and team functions.
There is so much to be outraged about concerning this situation. The racial undertones are obvious--why doesn't Rothlisberger have similar rules, especially since he used his private security team to help him rape women. But this post is about the eroding boundaries between labor and capital. Every worker in the United States should be irate that an employer would use its weight to impose these kinds of restrictions on a person's private life. [By the way, can I get some Republican support here for respect of "private lives" and small government/capital control?]
The relationship between employers and laborers should be relatively simple. Employers compensate laborers for output relevant to the product or service the employer provides. That is it. The employer's status as a worker's source of income does not entitle that employer to tell a worker how to spend her/his time, what beverages to drink, and definitely not when and whether s/he can be alone! That's not an employer's business! If a worker is breaking the law, we have police officers to enforce that. It is not an employer's job to enforce the law. An employer's power should start and end at the "shop-floor" door.
It truly disturbs me that more workers do not share my analysis of these events. So many people are saying that this is Bryant's last chance and praising the NFL's increasingly Draconian disciplinary policies against players. We need more worker solidarity! We need to recognize that employers--i.e. big money capitalists--are claiming more and more authority over our lives. They want to monitor our Facebook accounts, political activities, drinking habits, etc; and increasingly, they demand that we behave 24/7 according to bosses' interests. Republicans have even offered bills giving employers control over whether female employees will have access to birth control through insurance.
ALL of the this is WAY over the line. It's way past time we rose up as workers and demanded a stop to this madness. Employers only have authority over workers when workers are at work! [...and don't get me started about smart phones and how employers intrude on workers' time off. That's a whole 'nother post.]
The story is that he asked them for help. If he initiated, does that change your perspective?
ReplyDeleteThe way NFL contracts work is somewhat akin to a Right to Work state with some union representation, plus large signing bonuses/guaranteed money. So they can be dropped at any time (and pursue 31 other teams) while keeping the money.
I'm just glad he got 4 catches for 80yds+ against the Gmen, since he's on my fantasy team.
if you want to take a racial angle on it, why is nobody treating Gronkowski in the same way, since he likes to party, get hammered, hang out with strippers, etc?
ReplyDeleteI think I answered you on FB, David, but let me respond here briefly. As to your first point, there is a thin line between consensual and coercive. If Bryant wanted to confine himself to a prison of his choosing, he could do that without "help" from the Cowboys. I suspect it was "suggested" by his employer, which is why I wrote the posts above.
ReplyDeleteOh, and screw your fantasy team. You know I'm a GIANTS fan!