just a factoid: the move to calling workers something other than employee has been around for almost 3 decades. It started in factory employment, especially the auto industry, (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3292/is_199208/ai_n7994289) and was related to the Tom Peters crapology, In Search of Excellence with the Quality Circles and other horse shit -- and all of *that* adopted from the u.s. twist on Japense manufacturing practices designed to get maximum information out of "associates" etc.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE1DE1F3FF934A15751C1A96E948260
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1154/is_v74/ai_4563494
*snort* *funnee*
"Gore devised the widely praised "lattice" organization, a model for executives looking for effective, nonauthoritarian approaches to management. The idea is that people work better in small groups or task forces, where they know everybody and can perform interactively and cooperatively. No one is "boss." Workers are called "associates," not employees. Describing the system once, Gore chuckled and said he could give orders, but nobody would take them."
At 02:10 PM 10/30/2008, Andy wrote:
>The cruder examples of this have filtered into just about everywhere
>-- how often do you see an employee called an employee? It's always
>associates or partners or some such. Big box stores seem to
>specialize in this, but maybe that's because their signs are public.
>
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)