 |
| Pictured: Vince McMahon? Photo via TV Tropes |
Yesterday, WWE announced that for the first time ever, it would be broadcasting its flagship show, Monday Night RAW, live on Christmas and New Year's Days. The landmark days of the holiday season usually mean that most of the non-essential workforce is at home with their families, opening presents, cooking meals, nursing hangovers, or relaxing on a hard-earned respite from their jobs. Wrestling is far from an essential job. The nature of the business means that nearly everyone who isn't from the Chicago on Christmas or Miami on New Year's will not be able to spend it with their families unless those families go on the road with them. Furthermore, WWE's decision will make countless employees of the venues work on what normally would have been a holiday for them.
Of course, because wrestling fans are nothing if they're not cantankerous gits bent on arguing with each other on every little thing, the decision sparked debate on whether or not it was right for Vince McMahon not to run a clip show or content taped on an earlier date at least on Christmas Day. People in favor of the call cited that territorial promotions used to run Christmas shows all the time, and that they would be well-attended and celebrated, or that the National Football League and especially the National Basketball Association also run games on Christmas. They cite the fact that convenience stores or other nonessential places of business also are open to provide last minute services for coffee, food, medicine, or other items, as if it somehow CRUSHES the argument of those who think that McMahon maybe shouldn't be playing Ebenezer Scrooge to his roster's collective Bob Cratchit.
The question, however, really should be centered on why capital expects its labor force to work at the drop of a hat, sometimes without extra compensation, especially on days when a large majority of the workforce has enjoyed time off, or even worse, that those in capital and upper management enjoy off the clock. The fact that the Christmas holiday was announced as rescinded on Labor Day, the one day of the year on the American calendar when people begrudgingly celebrate the working human, has to add insult to injury. Additionally, it came after McMahon, a noted union-buster, hollowly wished everyone a happy Labor Day by noting that "hard work makes anything possible." Tell that to Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, and anyone else who worked hard to attempt unionization before noted rat bitch Hulk Hogan dimed them out.
Anyway, does an employer reserve the right to make labor work on special days, or more pointedly, on demand? Luckily, labor unions and leftist reforms answered that question with a resounding "no" at the beginning of the 20th Century, at least they couldn't without making monetary concessions. I have no doubt in my mind that the stadium employees will make double, maybe triple time when they work RAW on Christmas and New Year's Days. But what about the wrestlers, who by and large are considered independent contractors without union protection? Will they be compensated fairly for their sacrifice? Furthermore, can money replace the time away on a special day on the calendar? One's mileage may vary on that front, but human interaction, especially with family and friends, is hard to replace with money, even when that money is in deep desire.
Of course, in this world of sharing economies and gig employment, of independent contracting and outsourcing, automation and downsizing for maximizing the profit margins of those who do the least labor, some folks may not have the choice, and that's fucked up. I've covered the Fight for $15 and unionization, and universal basic income is another hot topic of leftist ideals, but all of that converges when holidays and vacation time and any time that isn't spent at the job come up. Capital and upper management and shareholders all expect this massive amount of productivity, requiring an unhealthy dedication to being on the clock. Time is the most precious resource anyone has, more than money, more than anything. To expect someone to give the free amount of it up for any reason, whether it be to meet a deadline or to provide the circus for the petit bourgeoisie after they've had their Christmas bread, feels wrong.
So yeah, maybe people should learn how to make a cup of coffee at home for that one day a year where family, not work, is the emphasis. Maybe the only basketball that should be on television should be NBA 2K18 on whatever gaming system that family might have. But the fact that those things exist doesn't make it right for McMahon, who is perhaps the most flippantly anti-labor business figurehead in the nation, to make the announcement that his wrestlers, whom he unethically and perhaps illegally calls independent contractors, and the ancillary staff, both that he employs and that are employed by the venue, must work on a holiday on a day where those workers are supposed to be honored. It's wholly unnecessary and it further drives home the point that American workers are not respected, not honored, and not appreciated at all.