The worst #labor#shortages we are now seeing are not just a matter of skills or even finding workers. The problem is to find people who are willing to do these strenuous #jobs for such low pay and under such bad conditions, chart @ETUI_orghttps://shorturl.at/vEGOX
“I also shouldn’t overstate the magnitude of the gain here. A week of sick leave is objectively pitiful by international standards. Still, it’s far better than nothing, and it certainly wouldn’t have happened without union pressure, support from Congress and the Biden administration, and substantial media coverage of the dispute.”
I’m reflecting on living in a country where 7 days of #SickLeave per year is a victory.
Academic Workers at the University of Washington Just Went on Strike and Won
2,400 academic workers walked off the job at the U of W in Seattle for six days. in response to what they describe as bad-faith bargaining by the university. Academic workers complained in particular about the university’s trying to unilaterally reclassify some employees as hourly workers in order to avoid paying them a higher minimum salary as required by Washington state law.
We want honest pay for honest work, and mutual respect between employer and employee.
In reality, employers are trying to squeeze as much as possible out of their employees for minimal pay. Some employees counter this by slacking, cheating and/or looking for other opportunities. Employers cut staff or replace with cheaper labor.
Even if they want to be good, the competition on the market forces them to comply or go bankrupt.
"71% of Americans say they approve of #labor#unions. Only 40% of Americans say they approve of Joe #Biden. Unions are more popular than the president, by a long mile. In fact, the popularity of #OrganizedLabor is at a 60-year high."
Hate this. I refuse to accept that people — workers — have to suffer for commercial art. Solidarity with all the animators and others who worked on these productions 😢✊🏼🌠
All this conversation about #Meta on #Fedi feels like the worst parts of geek culture. So technical, without understanding context or what strikes can actually do. My thoughts:
Meta will make a great app for Fedi because it has more money to throw at the task. People will start using that because it's better. It will have QTs and an algorithm. People they want to follow will be there.
The roles of #FreeLoaders and #Suckers in an ecosystem play a part in a sustainable ecosystem. I don't want to be a Sucker. I'm way out of date to be able to provide labor. Don't need to #monetize my attention. Trying to figure out how much currency helps enough but doesn't make me a sucker such that if I leave too much of a currency hole is left, weakening the ecosystem. This same analysis has to be happening with those whose major contribution to powering the ecosystem is their uncompensated labor.
#Microbiology research is exploring how microbial ecosystems operate. The language they use includes FreeLoader and Sucker. Nothing derogatory intended. Open to alternative names for agents who take advantage of others' generosity without giving anything in return.
"One recent analysis estimates that 79% of working women (nearly 59 million) are in occupations susceptible to disruption and automation. That’s compared to 58% of working men, according to research from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School."
"Bild, the German tabloid owned and operated by major European publishing house Axel Springer, is expected to replace over a hundred human editorial jobs with artificial intelligence, a leaked email first obtained by the German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) has revealed."
Some organized Starbucks stores will strike across the U.S. starting Friday in Seattle after the coffee giant and the union representing baristas publicly clashed over claims that the company was not allowing Pride month decor in cafes.
If you don't speak up with disabled people when we're fighting for more accessible working conditions, including online access, don't be surprised when they come for you.
Even if you can check off a lot of hegemonic checkboxes, solidarity with each other in the face of a ableist, racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQIA, anti-labor neoliberal university system benefits you. A more just system benefits us all.
Kurt Vonnegut Warned Us About the Dangers of Automation
Player Piano depicts automated processes manufacture all goods and standardized tests select the few elite engineers who will run the massive, automated manufacturing plants, while the vast majority of society is kept alive with some sort of basic universal subsistence payment and made docile with television, alcohol, parades, and other diversions.
-Nestlé in talks with union demanding the company's last U.S. coffee plant stay in N.J.
-Apple illegally Interrogated Staff About Union, Judge Rules
-This Day in Labor History: Molly Maguires
-More...
A Union. We should create a Union. Like a labor union. But of Fediverse users.
A Fedi Union.
Just like a #labor union aggregates the diffuse power of many #workers into something formidable that can stand up to the concentrated power of large #capital, a #fediverse#union could stand up to the concentrated power of, say, large tech companies entering the fediverse, if needed.
Glad to see Republicans doing everything they can to protect (white) kids from dangers like "seeing gay people be happy" and "learning racism exists," so they can be shot to pieces in school in between floor shifts in the factory. You know. Like God intended.
Workers at Spirit AeroSystems begin strike as contract talks resume (www.kmuw.org)
A federal mediator has stepped in to oversee the resumed contract negotiations.
Thousands of Spirit workers to strike after rejecting contract (www.kmuw.org)
Workers at the facility have not gone on strike in 28 years.
Inside the AI Factory (www.theverge.com)
As the technology becomes ubiquitous, a vast tasker underclass is emerging — and not going anywhere.