Work Reform

Turkey_Titty_city , in The system isn't working if we can't even afford healthcare.

The system is working. It's designed to enrich the wealthy and extract that wealth from the poor.

The entire medical industrial complex is not going to give up their wealth willingly.

Plus most doctors are born into money already. They don't ever associate with ordinary people in the lower 80% of households.

backseat , in The system isn't working if we can't even afford healthcare.

My wife is deaf. She gets given batteries for her free hearing aid plus an assessment from the audiology department once a year.

My daughter was born 5 weeks premature. She was in the ante natal care unit for three weeks.

My daughter also had open heart surgery when she was 9 years old. Full medical team at a world-famous teaching hospital, 2 days in the paediatric cardiology intensive care (nurse to patient ratio 1:1, 24/7) and 2 days in the post-op ward (ratio 2:1).

None of this has ever cost us anything.

America needs to fix its health "service". While you're at it, fix your gun laws too (children practising hiding from gunmen in schools? Really??). And your legal system. And women's rights. And police corruption. Once you get those sorted, the rest of the civilised world has a long list of other suggestions.

neanderthal ,

fix your gun laws too (children practising hiding from gunmen in schools? Really??). And your legal system. And women’s rights. And police corruption.

I’d say they are all symptoms of the same problem, economic insecurity and misaligned incentives. People like to blame communism and praise capitalism for the results of the cold war, but I see the US making the same mistake that lost the USSR the cold war, but inflexibility and misaligned incentives. The US in the 20th century went from almost unregulated capitalism to a regulated market economy. IMO, it was that ability to change that brought the US ahead, not some magic of capitalism or brokenness of communism. Now we are stubbornly stuck on the ideology that could very well could have led to the collapse of the US in the 1930s.

Take the freight rail strike fiasco and recent train wrecks. Capitalism creates an incentive for the companies to reduce costs as much as possible. The rail unions are practically useless due to a terrible federal law. What we need is a more pragmatic government and population that will allow them to be and pass legislation that deals with it. One reasonable approach is to deregulate the unions a bit to ensure a quality workforce. Another is regulations that micromanage operations. Maybe fine companies in key industries for both preventable environmental disasters and failure operate under the threat of forced liquidation if they can’t get their act together. Another is professionalizing rail workers so no worker will risk personal liability or loss of licensure for cutting corners. Something else?

At the scales we are talking about, there is so much complexity that it is almost impossible to predict the outcome of a policy, so I am a big advocate for flexibility.

BaldManGoomba , in A Clear Look At "Record Profits"

All Income earned in USA was 21.8 trillion dollars in 2022. The U.S. labor force is projected to reach 153.5 million in 2022. That means there was enough income for every worker to make $133,333.33. United States population will be 332,403,650 on Jan. 1, 2022. Or $65,582.91 income for every person in usa. GDP in 2022 was $25.46 trillion. Gdp is all things produced in America. So all those numbers could be higher. According to the calculator below if you made $65,582.91 67% of Americans make more less than you. If you make $133,333.33 90% of Americans make less than you. In the United States, median individual income was $46,001 in 2022. That means 50% of Americans make less than $46,000. In a country where every worker is producing over $133,333.33 of value or ever person is producing over $65,582.91 of value. The wealth is being hoarded 67% of American workers don't even see a half of the value they are producing for the economy.

All other information is from quick Google searches

https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/?fbclid=IwAR2DutyN21Zr9zCYCSgS7Tpf2Bk-U-lz5LwdhkHo9OB46XxbSNizhmk0i1o

bionicjoey , in A Clear Look At "Record Profits"

Don’t forget price gouging

fubbernuckin , in It doesn't work. Not anymore

I’m pretty sure it does work, actually. That’s the problem.

Rogue_General , in Soy protein workers in the US strike against company intent on ripping up their working conditions (See post body for full details)
@Rogue_General@lemmy.world avatar

The IFF offer included the company being able to change benefits (like health coverage and retirement) with a 30-day notice and take away contract language of overtime pay after 8 hours, among other takeaways. IFF has already increased benefits costs and made multiple attempts to reduce union rights in many matters that would rob members of personal and family time.

That’s just despicable… I wish the workers success.

c2h6 , in Super-rich warned of ‘pitchforks and torches’ unless they tackle inequality

Gotta love the narrative here. “what’s the bare minimum we can do to keep the peasants from revolting?”

Lenins2ndCat , in What this community is for (and welcome!)
@Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.world avatar

Are you the same people that started the subreddit? Or just borrowing the name?

seeCseas OP Mod ,

Not the same - I started using lemmy after the reddit changes and thought this place deserves a workreform community as well!

Lenins2ndCat ,
@Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.world avatar

Ah that is positive, in case you’re not aware - the community over there was started by bankers after the successful takedown of antiwork as a means of coopting the movement and deradicalising it. They were completely successful.

Have receipts.

seeCseas OP Mod ,

the community over there was started by bankers after the successful takedown of antiwork as a means of coopting the movement and deradicalising it

I’m not sure about that - I was part of the original antiwork sub, but it was clear that the sub consisted of a mix of folks - there were the “literal” antiwork folks who want to abolish paid labor, and people who wanted better wage equality. After the whole Doreen incident, the latter split off into workreform.

Lenins2ndCat ,
@Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.world avatar

This is inaccurate. The founders of the workreform subreddit had absolutely nothing to do with the antiwork team, they were Canadian bankers. This was exposed and then a lot of fuckery occurred to hide it with usernames and moderator positions juggled around. Some people from antiwork’s team were either gullible(like doreen) or simply could not do without being in a “position” and got themselves added to it later added giving it credibility, that or they were collaborators all along, we will not find the truth.

The original evidence for this is here: www.reddit.com/r/GreenAndPleasant/…/huegc4h/

I also have a very long list of posts about it that were removed for the following 6 months after its creation.

I also have the discussions I had with Belle and Kumquat about this at the time, as I was very much attempting to help in the power struggle that was occurring internally to takeover the subreddit and fill it with liberal powermods, helped along by Spez pushing them on the team presumably on the advice of Ashooh and the outside influence of the shits at Goldman Sachs that saw the subreddit as a threat.

What was your username on the antiwork team? Were you actually on the team at the time of these events or was that more or less before it? A person I shall not name also had an alt on the team when it all went down, all the discord comms and modmails were saved should they ever become useful.

seeCseas OP Mod ,

You misunderstood me - when I said I was “part of antiwork”, what i meant was that I was a subscriber (and somewhat frequent) poster, but I was never a moderator of anything on reddit. And by “folks”, I meant people who participated in the sub, not the founders or mods.

I know about the whole debate with the founders being CIBC bankers. I honestly don’t know what’s the true story with the mods. What I do know is that the name, description and stated purpose of “work reform” is more in line with my personal views than “anti work”. antiwork started off as an anti-labor movement and as the sub grew, the mods didn’t really keep the discussion on track, so it became this weird hybrid sub that was supposed to be antiwork, but had 70% workreform and 30% antiwork posts. Admidst the discussion after the Doreen incident, it was clear from the comments within the sub (from users, not mods) that there were strong antiwork voices as well as strong workreform voices. It was just the catalyst that gave the workreform participants a chance to split off.

The only moderation experience I have on reddit was a few years ago, and I stepped down after the sub got past >25k subs because I just wasn’t interested in dealing with reports. I have no intention of becoming a “top mod” or whatever here, and I’m not that interested in admin/mod drama and shenanigans. Lemmy is a new start for many of us old-timey Redditors, and I created this community because I couldn’t find one that gels with my philosophy on work, and I believe it’s something that affects enough of us that we should talk about it.

If you believe in the stated goals of workreform (addressing wage inequality and capitalism, as opposed to abolishing labor altoghether), you’re welcome to participate here and mod if you want!

Lenins2ndCat ,
@Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.world avatar

Ok I see my misunderstanding here. In that case, let me offer an explanation for why you should be more radical.

There’s a reason that the banks and ruling class were worried about antiwork. It’s not a coincidence that this came out and then not long after a coordinated attack between the billionaire media forces and wreckers in the community to heighten the drama happened alongside the creation of a space (by yet more financial bros) to coopt the split they created and deradicalise the movement.

The negotiating position of “workreform” is weak. They are very sophisticated at stringing workers along with reasons that workreform can’t happen, and it leaves workers in a weak position begging for change.

The negotiating position of “antiwork” on the other hand? It had no intent to negotiate. It terrified the ruling class because it showed a position that was essentially “we will abolish you”. It scared them because they knew that if such a movement continued they would be forced to make changes happen, or face the reality of that abolishment.

The fear here is significantly important. A movement that strikes fear into the opposition drives them to change, a movement that does not is unlikely to see much success beyond individual victories - and they like that.

Consider another scenario - which of these messages do you find to be more effective rhetoric for the urbanist movement? /r/fuckcars or /r/automotivereform ?

redpen ,
@redpen@lemmy.world avatar

I like the cut of your jib.

seeCseas OP Mod ,

That’s a fair point, but antiwork as a brand is effectively a laughing stock now. Anybody who wants to discredit the movement now and in future will simply point to the Fox News interview. If the conspiracy theories were true, the false flag operation worked.

My original point still stands - the antiwork sub is a mix of people with different goals. That’s not sustainable. fuckcars as a movement is more homogenous, so it works.

Lenins2ndCat ,
@Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah I’m not suggesting antiwork can be rehabilitated. It can’t. Spinning off of /r/fuckcars into a “fuck work” direction could work, particularly because “fuck work” doesn’t have to mean abolishment of work, it works better than the original antiwork messaging for the average person while retaining its edginess. It can also more inclusively unite black and red aspects of the left, one of the major reasons antiwork collapsed was its anarchist team getting sectarian and kicking communists out of the subreddit. Kicking the people most invested in educating people leftwards out of a space effectively causes a space to move rightwards. They tried to U-turn on that when the crisis hit, and we tried to help, but there were so many forces pushing and pulling in different directions by that point as well as a completely contaminated modteam with several liberal powermods added by reddit, and on top of that reddit were clearly helping the takeover happen as they wouldn’t take action against obvious manipulation occurring. It all spun into a very losing battle.

On the plus side sectarianism across the site pretty much stopped afterwards, it only continued in spaces like 196 where the vast majority are liberals or socdems (and children) rather than actual leftists. Everywhere else on the site it ended and basically every mod team joined one server together to agree on anti-sectarianism needing to be a key pillar. So I guess that’s a positive.

Beliriel ,

Out of the loop: What’s the Doreen incident?

seeCseas OP Mod ,

independent.co.uk/…/anti-work-reddit-abolishwork-…

dailymail.co.uk/…/Dog-walker-30-works-20-hour-wee…

Here’s the full interview - you can see the Fox news host get nicer and nicer as he realises that this is going to be a slam dunk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yUMIFYBMnc

seeCseas Mod , in Gen Z are the most disgruntled workers and that's a problem for employers

Workers: “I can’t even live on a full day’s work and rent costs more than half my wage”

Media: “Wow workers are really disgrunteld nowadays, no idea why but it’s going to be a problem for megacorps”

Call_Me_Maple ,
@Call_Me_Maple@lemmy.world avatar

Funny you say that because my rent just went up another hundred dollars. Just over half of what I would make were I working full time.

Edit: fixed a logistical error in my brain process, it’s late.

darcy , in ‘It’s exhausting but I think I’m going to have to keep working’: the over-65s who can’t afford to retire

It’s true. I see more and more elderly working around me, when they should be living off their pensions.

Lazycog ,
@Lazycog@lemmy.one avatar

And this has a yet another bad side effect: my company has not hired new young workers to train because there is no need - all the retirees keep coming back when they are needed. There is a huge issue with finding a job for young people because there is enough old people working still.

darcy ,

These companies are just pushing the problem to 5 years later, when all the elderly physically can’t work anymore.

Lazycog ,
@Lazycog@lemmy.one avatar

Agreed.

RobinRoswell , in Gen Z are the most disgruntled workers and that's a problem for employers
Mutelogic , in Gen Z are the most disgruntled workers and that's a problem for employers

I’m rooting for you, Gen Z. Do and say the things that previous generations were trained not to do…

LilDestructiveSheep , in Gen Z are the most disgruntled workers and that's a problem for employers
@LilDestructiveSheep@kbin.social avatar

"The disease is causing the ailment that is quiet quitting and the Great Resignation. That's not the problem. That's the manifestation of this underlying sort of chasm between the needs, wants and expectations of the modern employee and what employers are providing."

There you go. Calling the reasons for this a disease.

Sahqon ,

Also as an older employee and one who knows even older and retiring employees, employers used to provide more. More in money (adjusted for inflation) too, but also more in benefits. MUCH more in benefits.

Shadywack , in Gen Z are the most disgruntled workers and that's a problem for employers
@Shadywack@lemmy.world avatar

This article is aloof and out of touch. The challenges facing Gen Z are obvious.

Pollak recommended that companies employ a method called “reverse mentoring,” in which junior and senior employees meet regularly to discuss their perspectives on the workplace.

That mix could help increase workplace satisfaction and counter negative feelings younger workers have about their jobs. For instance, older employees are more likely to find their jobs enjoyable and fulfilling

No shit, older people have their housing, and also canard advice like “just show up”. When Gen Z shows up with 60k in debt, outrageously obscenely unaffordable housing prospects, absurd healthcare costs, and inflation all stacked ontop, the issue is not with the generation but the disparity. “Reverse mentoring” will only infuriate them.

This is coming from a Xennial, who is still waiting for those “good times” to show up that the fucking idiot boomers got handed early on.

malloc , in Gen Z are the most disgruntled workers and that's a problem for employers

Feels like CURRENT_GENERATION is most disgruntled articles always pop up during periods of pending or current recession.

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