I will start my musings (perhaps incongruously but bear with me !) by recalling a visit to the hairdresser here in Bom Retiro, an area absolutely saturated with hairdressing salons. Back in the UK, I have a weakness for what I call the "sheep shearing" approach to haircuts: no messing about with scissors, just a satisfying army-style sweep of the clippers back and forth across the scalp. Even with my unruly hair, I can be in and out of the chair within ten minutes.
This radical approach to haircuts became popular in the 1990s. It seemed to complement the rise of technology in our lives and the desire for automation and efficiency. Many men even bought their own set of clippers, bypassing the hairdresser altogether.
Yet here I was in a Sao Paulo hairdresser, where a lovely chap, who also happens to be my neighbour since we live above his salon, was slowly and delicately snip-snipping my locks. Eventually presented with the finished product, I apologetically asked him to use the clippers and take more off. The end result could have been achieved pretty much solely with the clippers if he'd used them from the start.
I was then offered a shave. A good old-fashioned barber shave, with a good old-fashioned razor. What the hell, I thought, I've tried it once or twice in my life, why not give it another whirl ? So off he went, razoring and wiping and dabbing ... and razoring and wiping and dabbing ... on and on ... and on ... I began to think we'd be there all night (I was his last client of the day). It was agonisingly, bum-numbingly slow.
The end result seemed fine. But maybe not quite as satisfyingly smooth as when I take five minutes with my Gillette Mach 3 razor and a bit of liquid soap. A couple of batteries, a vibrating blade - once again, technology wins the day.
The total cost of this male grooming marathon was R$ 25, which is just under £10 or just over $15. I added a R$ 5 tip, feeling embarrassed at the pathetic monetary reward for all his effort.
I was reminded then, as now when I read about the IT strike, that Brazil has it all the wrong way round and is embarrassingly out of sync with the modern world. In the US and UK, it is services which have seen the most price inflation, while products often lag far behind. In an age of automation and efficiency, services should become something special. Human labour should be rewarded more for its skill than for its simple mechanical abilities.
Yet here in Brazil it seems that labour, apart from doctors, dentists and a few other high-status professionals, is regarded as mechanical, something of no great value in itself. It's a profoundly reactionary, anti-commerce mentality. Pay peanuts and you will get monkeys.
A Brazilian hairdresser or an IT worker toil long and hard for their money, all of which can disappear in a flash when they enter the supermarket or use the phone ! In marked contrast, IT workers and good hairdressers in the UK command premium salaries.
As I said in a previous post, Brazil's fundamental problem is that the local market is not free and competitive and thus allows those with capital and connections the ability to exploit those with neither.
IT, of course, stands for Information Technology. It's the most global of industries in our newly globalised, technology-led, information-rich world. Companies in the UK routinely outsource their IT needs to cheaper countries like Romania. The market is open to competition: let the best and the best-value win !
Brazilian IT workers need to look towards a more entrepreneurial, small business or self-employed future, where they can sell their skills directly to the client, sitting at the table in their own right rather than begging their employer for a few crumbs of compensation. Obviously, that will remain a tough option as long as the Brazilian government continues to make it so hard to be self-employed or a small business.
If IT workers in Sao Paulo are as plentiful as hairdressers in Bom Retiro, then perhaps a dose of Darwinian evolution will be a healthy thing ? Only the fittest will survive and the Brazilian IT industry will be leaner, meaner and more prepared to do battle in a global marketplace.
Ultimately, this strike is not about employers versus employees. It is about the need for a more dynamic, entrepreneurial and competitive (IT) marketplace.
* For any Brazilians who might take offence at the title, it's a reference to Bill Clinton's election campaign slogan in 1992.
PS: Article reposted on IT Decisions.
Even accountants and lawyers are seen as almost as valueless as maids in Brazil. Degrees have been expedited and minimised to give mini diplomas, enough to be an accountant of sorts, although the resulting pay is often de minimus. However it's been enough to force the whole profession to lower its fees too. Everyone's a loser, including the consumer who now receives a crap product.
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