Wake up early, and like every human being, I get ready to go to work. Work is the foundation of almost every society in this world. All decent people work. And so I too reach my workplace, as it has been assigned to me for my mission. By car. Necessarily by car.
The Morning Commute
Dawn has not yet broken over the ring road as the radio plays the notes of Just A Gigolo / I Ain’t Got Nobody sung by Louis Prima. While my eyes stay focused on the road, my mind drifts toward the time and costs that affect the working human masses.
By car. Necessarily by car. There’s no alternative. The web of public transportation required wouldn’t allow me to reach my workplace in “human” times. Probably, many others are in the same situation, judging by the enormous number of cars already on the highway at six in the morning.
Most of these cars run on combustion engines — they require fuel derived from oil or gas, raw materials that have recently become significantly more expensive. Electric cars, supposedly the only ones we’ll see in the future, certainly don’t come with lower costs, and for now, their presence is still quite rare.
In the Past, There Were More Public Transports
Older people say that many, many years ago, there were more public transportation options: not only trams and trolleybuses that allowed people to reach any urban area, but also numerous shuttles and trains, especially during rush hour, helping workers and students reach every industrial zone and every school district.
Families didn’t need two cars. One vehicle was more than enough, and many used it only on Sundays or holidays. In cities, public transport was sufficient — convenient and affordable.
So, what kind of progress has been made? None. The entire cost of mobility has simply been shifted onto the human masses — a growing cost that continuously erodes their purchasing power.
Salary and Working Hours Are Not Equal for Everyone
Even when salaries are identical in amount, they are rarely equal in real purchasing power. Workers who commute longer distances at their own expense effectively earn less.
An employee who spends more time traveling to work than a colleague of the same rank and salary who lives nearby not only earns less in practice but also works longer. The travel time required to reach the workplace adds to the working day, taking away personal time from one’s private life.
The cost of reaching the workplace should be covered by the employer. Working hours should also take into account the time needed to get to work. Only then could there be true salary equity.
But in this society’s system of governance, the issue isn’t even discussed. For most workers, it seems completely normal to pay out of their own pockets — and with their own time — just to fulfill their so-called “duty” to work.
Toward “Zero-Distance Work”
A more advanced and thoughtful government could aim to eliminate commuting altogether, ensuring “zero-kilometer work” or at least something as close to zero as possible.
Take public employees, for instance: a teacher forced to travel 100 kilometers a day to reach her school should have the right to be reassigned to a school of the same level closer to home — unless she personally chooses otherwise. The benefits would be numerous, both for the worker and for the environment.
For the private sector, this may be more difficult, but the problem lies in the unwillingness to reform what clearly no longer works.
It’s just like transportation: instead of expanding public transit over the years, those in power have chosen to reduce both its quantity and quality while simultaneously financing toll infrastructure for private vehicles.
The Cost of Distance and the Erosion of Rights
The government structure, in its effort to reclaim what it grants in the form of wages, takes even more money from those who live farther away from their workplace. Just think of the taxation on highway tolls, fuel excise duties, and even VAT applied on those excises — taxes on taxes.
The same applies to work itself: what was once a right is increasingly becoming a concession. So much so that young people now feel “lucky” to have found a job, even a precarious one. In this society, it seems normal that a young temp worker travels hundreds or thousands of kilometers for just a few days of service in a public institution.
Like with transport, there has been no investment in work — neither in its quality nor in its quantity. In recent years, we have witnessed an increasing precarization of labor, pushing the brightest minds to seek better opportunities in other, more favorable systems (read: other countries).
But that will be the subject of another reflection. Perhaps.
For now, I’ve arrived at my workplace. Louis Prima is no longer singing. For my mission, I’ve been given a fixed-term contract. I must meet people. Understand. And, ultimately, act.
This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)
