(OPE-L) Re: the productive macworker

["Gerald A. Levy" <Gerald_A_Levy@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Mike L.

> That's not the issue--- it's whether the macworker is in the sphere of
> production or the sphere of circulation.

If that's the issue, then I'd have to say that [most] macworkers are in
the sphere of production.  They transform the use-value of food by
cooking and preparing it so that it becomes distinctly different
commodities.  They are also wage-workers who are employed by
capital.  Why wouldn't we consider them to be productive of surplus
value?

While it is true that the spheres of production and circulation can
both exist within a single location (in this case, a local MacDonalds
franchise) and while it is true that some of the same workers may
work in both spheres (e.g. there can be job rotation whereby some
hours individual workers perform labor in the kitchen and other
hours their labor can be performed a few steps away entirely at a
cash register) most workers and most labor hours are engaged
in something more than distributing commodities by means of money.
As with just about any capitalist firm, some proportion of the wage-
labor force is _not_ productive of surplus value, however.

Is this particularly controversial?  Don't other list members believe
that [most] macworkers are productive?

In solidarity, Jerry