The power of words

In the beginning was the Word. This is one of the most famous sentences ever written. It is the key to the questions humans all ask at some time in their lives. How did it all start? What does it all mean? That we can ask those questions points us toward part of the answer. That you can speak a word means that you have consciousness, and by the perception that comes with consciousness you invest the word with meaning. You are, you exist. You have intelligence. As Rene Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am.”

Words are the essence, the core of understanding, of awareness and our sense of being. They are so vital to being that early societies made the concept of words sacred and understood that they had awesome power. Power both spiritual and physical. Power to control. That is why it was forbidden to say, or even to know, the name of God. So God got many “outside" names, the most famous being YHWH, then Yahweh since YHWH was impossible to pronounce; also Atman, Buddah, Brahma, Gaia, Eshwara, Manitou. There are hundreds, and as one of the Christian popes, either the Orthodox one or the Catholic one, once said, "The ultimate reality.” Each civilisation has its own perception of what those words mean. Probably each person has their own perception of what those words mean, or of what any word means.

People say “I love you” but do they know, do we know, what they mean by the word love? Love can mean erotic, instinctive passion, a foundational emotion built into the human body to ensure the continuation of human life, to ensure the appreciation of music or art, or it can mean familial love: what the ancient Greeks called “storge,” caring, supporting and nurturing which is, and is intended to be, quite different from erotic love to ensure that humans grow and develop.

Love can mean what the Romans called “ludus” from the meaning “game, sport or play” – the love teammates who win the game have for each other, or the feeling some people who regard romance as a happy game have for each successive partner, or that teenagers often have for their favourite singers. Love is also what the Greeks called “pragma” – a committed, understanding long-term everlasting love for a partner, or a friend rooted in deep romantic feelings and shared interests; and, of course "agape" – the universal love for all humanity, for whatever you regard as God, the love that gives without expecting anything in return. What people mean by love can start with one feeling and grow into another, even into obsessive or toxic love while they are not even conscious of it, which is why it is so important to understand the immense power of the use of words.

In industrial relations over the last few months we have been examining the need, as Prof Nancy Seear of the London School of Economics said, to make a distinction where there are differences. Just as it is necessary to distinguish between toxic, obsessively controlling love and familial love, so too in any industrial relationship, particularly those between employer and employee, it is necessary to understand the distinction between and among different forms and levels of discipline. The concept of discipline itself needs understanding since it is wielded by, and towards human beings with different needs and perceptions about the exercise of power. We need discipline to supply order and stability in our lives and undertakings.

We learn about the need for and acceptance of "discipline" in our lives, if we are lucky, from beings larger, older, more experienced and benevolent toward us as infants, who teach us self discipline for survival. We are not all lucky and may learn from people who think discipline means control, exerting obedience as a result of beating and suffering humiliation and physical or emotional pain, or both.That does not teach self discipline, but fear.

Discipline in the workplace is necessary to establish a level of order that allows productivity to take place. It must be mutually understood and respected which is why it is necessary to use words. Words that will lodge in the consciousness of people and be perceived as rational and just. Procedures to make discipline operable have to be set up. The Industrial Court repeatedly states that these procedures should be in writing and made known to employees when they are first employed. They should be reviewed every year or when circumstances in the environment change significantly. Changes in the socio/political environment require changes in procedures. In TT, those environmental changes may demand changes in disciplinary procedures, just as the pandemic did, just as the floods have. The wearing of PPE as required by government in the first instance, and late-coming and even absenteeism rules in the instance of the second – where employees may be using boats to get to safety, much less to get to work.

The rules of natural justice reach far beyond the principles of good industrial-relations practice, or common law (on which they are based), or even labour laws enacted by Parliament. There is no law, for example, that requires that three warnings, and a suspension must precede a dismissal, but principles of natural justice cover most observances. Where one employee, be they "management" or "worker" as defined by a still imperfect law, stabs another or commits fraud or sexually molests another, the rules of natural justice will prevail and disciplinary action, up to immediate summary dismissal, will be perceived to be procedurally consistent with natural justice.

But in practical and procedural terms, the court has to operate in accordance with its own dictates and will require that there be a hearing for the offender to be given a chance to explain their actions, and this, as a reflection of substance is an inviolable rule of natural justice wherever the word “justice” is used, perceived or arises in the consciousness of humans facing dismissal from their means of support for themselves and their dependants.