What is a “worker” and what is “working class?”

Formal definitions are easy enough to find such as:

Worker: member of working class: a member of the working class, especially a factory employee or manual laborer.


And


Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs (as measured by skill, education and lower incomes), often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes. Working classes are mainly found in industrialized economies and in urban areas of non-industrialized economies…working class is defined and used in many different ways. When used non-academically, it typically refers to a section of society dependent on physical labor, especially when compensated with an hourly wage. Its use in academic discourse is contentious, especially following the decline of manual labor in postindustrial societies. Some academics question the usefulness of the concept of a working class.

These are somewhat precise, so how do these apply to teachers in Wisconsin? All are college educated, many with Master’s degrees, making above average wages? The simple answer is they don’t. By tradition etymology many of the so called workers in the United States are actually employees.

A more honest definition of “worker” would be “anyone who pays union dues.” Note that I did not say union members. This is because many employees working in “union shops” are forced to pay dues to unions to which they do not belong. In rhetorical terms “worker” and “working class” are anyone who fits the purpose of socialist leaning political activists.

The terms have been undefined and are functionally meaningless. There use is wholly political and designed to imply a class separation that does not exist. This is especially true in the case of the Wisconsin teachers, who are generally more educated, better paid, engage in little if any physical labor, and do not produce a tangible product. This is not to diminish the role of teachers in general, there are supremely important and are often underappreciated.

So what terms are more appropriate? I have five suggestions:

• Non-union employee: This is someone with a job who is not self employed and is not in a union, the more general term “employee” is also acceptable for this person
• Private sector union employee/member: This is someone with a private sector job who is in a union, e.g. a UAW member working for Caterpillar making tractors would
• Public sector union employee/member: This is someone with a public sector job who is in a union, e.g. our Wisconsin teachers
• Self employed: This is someone who owns the business or is an independent contractor, e.g. family doctor, independent website designer, car dealer
• Unemployed: Someone without a job

When we allow a words and phrases like worker and working class to because misused and morphed into political tools that have nothing to do with their definition then we are allowing ourselves to be manipulated.