ownvalue

Situation

• • When I am having a part-time job in one of the restaurant in HK, I found there are serval levels of salary in the same situation. Although we are on the same channel to do the similar duties to let the restaurant run, the “treatment” is not the same. What does it mean? I did not pay more effort than them? Who set those standard? Why can they get a higher level of salary, but I cannot? Just because they started to work there before than me? That is what I tried to find the answer.

Research

• • Law of value the economic exchange of the products of human work, namely that the relative exchange-values of those products in trade, usually expressed by money-prices, are proportional to the average amounts of human labor-time which are currently socially necessary to produce them1. There should have a ratio of value that exist between products and human labour. There are some common “agreements” to set the value of the commodities, on exchanging the effort paid by someone to get or produce those commodities. For example, there is labour used 10 days to produce 1 apple, thus people pay $10 for that labour to effort the expenditure of those 10 days.

Elaboration

• • In the restaurant, there are the market price for the “exchange” between the food and money, people can pay that price of money to get those food. On top of that the food need to be cooked and served on table to those people, thus the restaurant needs to hire people to do that. The restaurant needs to give some of the part of the money to these people paying their time and effort for serving.

  • How much can they get for paying those effort on serving? Take delivery service as an example, for each order, the people provide delivery service can get 10% of the charge. Then their income depends on how much orders they finished. But in the restaurant does it also work like this? It seems not. There is the standard of the salary based on the level of the position in the restaurant, just like you are the level of a manager you can properly get more salary than a normal staff. But who and how to be “upgrade” to an upper level? The more effort we paid then we must upgrade to other level? There is no one can for sure about that.

Idea of the project

• • The campaign is called “ownvalue”, most people think the value of a person should not just depends on the salary level. Under capitalist society, how to evaluate the socioeconomic status of a person, the salary level seems like to be the first priority.

  • In the campaign by asking a straightforward question: How much you think you are valued at in your workplace? Participants need to think more about the reasons and the result based on their considerations about the exchange value of themselves.

  • Target is to raise the awareness of them to think more about why there are the differences and what should be the “considerations” for that? Based on their age? Education level? While they type in the number to valued themselves, they need to consider those questions. Is a chance for them to reflection on this issue, that may not have the answer why and how it caused, but this phenomenon occurs.

Result

• • There may not have an answer on why such system or reason are based to set those salary level to value the effort of a person paid. We should think more about does it should be a must to be like that? Is it all happening but without reasons? Not just to accept all the things, think more can be a better life.

  • During the interview some may type in they valued themselves having $55/hour, which is 2 teenagers. At least 2 adults valued themselves more than $100/hour. One participant said that “as a fresh graduate” the salary should be $60/hour. That means it is one of the “standard”. Yes they all have their consideration and “standard” on valued themselves, but what is that and why these “standard” are in their mind, hoping this project can remind them to think more about that.

#ownvalue #installation #arduino #interview #ATM