#labor

See tagged statuses in the local bookrastinating.com community


“When you understand the mechanics of , all the contradictions resolve themselves. It is simultaneously true that pays a very low per-stream rate, that it pays the Big Three labels gigantic sums every month, and that are grotesquely underpaid by this system. There are many lessons to take from this little scam” https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/21/off-the-menu/#universally-loathed by @pluralistic

“At a certain audience size, you just assume those people are locked in and will consume anything you throw at them. Then it just becomes a game of lowering your production costs and increasing your prices to increase your margins. This is why executives love AI and why the average American can’t afford to eat at McDonald’s anymore” - Ryan Broderick

This take from @pluralistic deserves more play.

TL;DR: is not a fix for your fears. Bullies want you to think they're on your side, but it's a trap. Bosses blame immigrants for low wages, while they actually take workers' wages. Corporations claim to protect creative workers from AI companies, but they exploit them just as much. It's a ploy to gain control and exploit workers, while deflecting blame onto others.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/13/hey-look-over-there/#lets-you-and-he-fight

Animated GIF of Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars saying, "It's a trap"

Just had an inspiration. An app, a blend between and . It aggregates data easily and lets prospective hires know the total layoff history of a company. Maybe it helps you decide on which position to take? It might also create a subtle supply and demand curve to layoffs. Lay off too much, and your hiring team starves to death. Then your company stalls and… implodes.

Hmm. That would be fascinating to see work in our world.

United, the independent labor union for Trader Joe's employees, is currently *not* calling for a boycott in response to management's attack on the constitutionality of the (National Labor Relations Board).

Right now they are "asking folks to support Trader Joe’s United by signing on in solidarity and letting us know you’ll stand with us if we call for a customer strike!"

https://actionnetwork.org/forms/stand-with-trader-joes-united-sign-on-in-solidarity/

On corporate wellness programming:

"As it stands, it seems premature to recommend individual-level interventions to all workers (e.g. NICE, 2022). I concur with reviewers of the field that organisational interventions, such as changes to scheduling, management practices, staff resources, performance review or job design (Fox et al., 2022), appear more beneficial for improving well-being (Lovejoy et al., 2021)."

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/irj.12418 (open access)

Guess what the first thing will be that I'll do as a university lecturer next week!

... I'm going on strike! 😅✊🏼

I still find myself giggling that I went back to work in the ivory tower, joined a union, and now am striking - the conservatives were right! It's all just pinko commies! 😱🤣

Seriously though, I am 36 and this is the first time I've ever been eligible to join a union. And I am proud to get to participate and be a part of the labor movement fully. Also, I love that the majority of the CFA's demands are actually about equity and students' well-being: we are demanding safe and equitable bathroom access for trans folks and lactation stations for people who breastfeed, that they hire more counselors so that there are more than 1 counselor to every 1600 students (seriously, ugh), and that the union be …

Let's all support the REI union, which is suing the "coop" owners for violations of labor law.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/rei-accused-widespread-labor-law-violations-unionized-us-stores-2023-11-15/

The union wants publicity about this for now.

Many boosts, thank you! Editing to add a link to the union statement:
https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/rei-workers-take-nationwide-legal-action-against-employer/?link_id=0&can_id=69f83eaea21abe8748558cdee31c91f9&source=email-article&email_referrer=email_2115001&email_subject=urgent-rei-union-takes-legal-action

Edit 2: You can sign the union's "solidarity pledge" here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/i-pledge-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-rei-union/

and read more about the union at https://www.ourrei.com/

Hollywood’s Dual Strike Is Over, and the Studios Lost

By late October, the devastation of so many halted productions was rippling through the release calendar, threatening to upend an entire season of broadcast television and the whole 2024 movie-release schedule.

The unions’ victory was unambiguous, and also established bulwarks to build upon in future negotiation.

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2023/11/hollywoods-dual-strike-is-over-and-the-studios-lost/675951/