Work Reform

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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.

Our Philosophies:

All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.

Our Goals

Higher wages for underpaid workers.
Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
Better and fewer working hours.
Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

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2028

Something something far-left (feddit.org)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (9 children)

I think it should come paired with a heavily unionised workforce, otherwise you end up like the UK where the minimum wage keeps going up, but salaries of people who were previously not on the minimum wage stay the same, so now everyone else is actually earning less because prices are rising but salaries are only rising at the top and bottom, eliminating the middle class entirely. A doctor is NOT a minimum wage job, and yet doctors in the UK are earning almost below the minimum wage, given the number of hours they actually work.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

In the US, people we have the same problem with college degree+ level jobs being underpaid, but people without them are just impoverished for life. And some of the ones with the college degree jobs too!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Starting pay at many office jobs isn't much more than minimum wage, but at least young workers can tell their parents that they work in an office instead of running a cash register, and they wear a tie instead of an apron. That's supposed to be worth a lifetime of student loan debt.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I know it's not for everyone, but if you're reading this maybe it's for you. The trades! Be an electrician, HVAC, plumber, mechanic, etc. It pays well. I mean you'll probably never get rich, but you'll definitely be able to support a family. And, once you're established you could open your own shop. Be your own boss. Know the satisfaction of building something, working with your hands.

Not everyone needs college. I suspect we have enough art historians to get by. We definitely need more trades homies!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

If I could start over that's probably the route I'd go. I'm in a reasonably good spot - I just know plenty of people who aren't.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 days ago (2 children)

People will point out that it makes more sense to punch up than to punch down but the later is significantly easier and better paid.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Punching down gives the monkey brain that sweet squirt of dominance when you see the suffering of your subject. Punching up is unrewarding because you don't get results unless everyone else does it, and then you have to share the victory with everyone else.

Focusing your wrath where it belongs doesn't make the million year old monkey brain squirt the reward chemicals.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

These is why the alt right pipeline for women is transphobia/TERF shit.

Sexism is real, lots of teenage girls and young women feel frustrated and powerless, but they get easy wins going after trans women. They can’t get Dobbs reversed, but forcing trans people to detransition is an explicit goal of conservative power structures. They get to feel like they “won” with that UK court ruling - that “women’s rights” were won by something that did nothing to actually meaningfully help women.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's this, and it's also more than this: there has to be a limitation put on profit, a place at which the corporation achieves balance and success- enough to not feel the need to continually chip away at wages and working conditions or increasing enshittification in search of immediate short-term profits.

If enough profit is never enough, it will forever remain a constant battle between corporations and workers, and corporations and the public.

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