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Senate The Labor Movement, Labor Struggles, and Labor Relations - General Discussion

Discussion in 'Community' started by InterestingLurker, Jul 25, 2021.

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Do you think that more workers should be unionized?

  1. Yes

    70 vote(s)
    97.2%
  2. No

    2 vote(s)
    2.8%
  1. Runjedirun

    Runjedirun Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    My observation is that Gen X (my generation) was always told we were amazing lucky to have anything. My job babysitting for $3.00 an hour, being responsible for 3 children all under the age of 6 for an entire evening and I got about 1/2 of the then current minimum wage. So you know when I turned 16 and got that minimum wage job I was through the roof! I operated roller coasters for minimum wage, at a fairly major park too, not the county fair (Kings Dominion). It was a few long hot summers and I never dreamed of complaining because I got a paycheck. My parents always ingrained how lucky I was to have everything I got and to never complain. Complaining just makes you ungrateful, that was the message I got.

    I have a Gen Z and a Gen Alpha child. My Gen Z is in 9th grade and I let him make lots of choices. He wanted to take Honors biology and he's staying up to do the homework two weeks into the school year. I've told him what factors colleges look at and I didn't force him to participate in sports. He's decided to take Japanese even though a lot of parents and friends think he's crazy to try. I don't push him to get all A's, some parents in my generation are pushing that and I think that's really unfair. As long as my kids are doing the work, I'm happy. I tell him he should get a job when he's 16 for the experiences it will provide and I know he's listening. I let him dye his hair blue, pink, purple, blonde, whatever color he is feeling. I was afraid to ask my mom if I could shave my legs even after most of my friends were and when I finally got the courage, she said "No". It was about a year later she had to give in and allow me, but the point is I was afraid to ask my parents just about anything. I don't want my kids to be afraid of me.

    My Gen Alpha child knows he has all the choices and it's so refreshing to hear him say things like, "I'm not going to drive. I'm going to have a car that drives itself and just relax." (Ha, ha, ha, ha). He's at least half right. He's also willing doing 4th grade homework after two years of pandemic no homework policy. Will it last all school year? I don't know but at least we are off to a good start.

    These kids know their rights. And know they have choices. Good for them. I'm still struggling to ask for anything.
     
  2. jcgoble3

    jcgoble3 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2010
    Oh really? Let me tell you what happened at my alma mater the semester before I transferred there, in spring 2019 semester. I had a front-row seat because I was already using their library to do my community college homework.

    The faculty contract expired in 2017. They deadlocked with the administration for a year and a half, without much leverage because it is a public university and so it was state laws rather than federal laws that mattered. The administration wanted to completely gut healthcare and retirement benefits and job security - this wasn't about salaries. In late 2018 a state Fact-Finder (a mandatory precursor to a strike for Ohio public employees) was sent to analyze the claims by both sides and put together a compromise contract. The administration flatly rejected this proposal and then invoked state law to impose a completely one-sided contract on the union against their will, except such imposition was supposed to be the "last, best offer" when it was actually worse than the last offer - the administration abused the process to unilaterally impose whatever they wanted to.

    This happened over winter break. On their first day back on campus, faculty voted to authorize a strike, which began on the second week of the semester. Many classes were not held as administrators were unable to find qualified substitutes, and it was generally a mess.

    But several students took it upon themselves to organize a group called Students for Faculty, drawing attention via a Facebook page to the many wrongs the administration was committing, even as the university used the official campus-wide mailing lists to spew anti-faculty propaganda in an attempt to turn the student body against the faculty union. I learned of this Facebook page when one of its founders, even before the strike officially started, came through the library slapping Post-It notes on tables with "the administration is lying to you" and a pointer to the Facebook page written on them.

    The strike lasted for three weeks, as the Students for Faculty page grew to 2,000 followers (at a school with total enrollment of about 12,000) and organized coffee and donut deliveries to the picket lines. In the second week, several striking professors, as a thank you, held free lectures in a nearby hotel conference room on topics related to labor history and labor organizing, each of which was attended by dozens of students.

    Even as this was going on, the university made an empty offer to reopen negotiations - empty because what they were really offering was to open early negotiations on the 2020 contract, when what the faculty wanted was to negotiate the illegally imposed contract.

    Finally, as the propaganda from the official mailing lists ramped up, students took it upon themselves to organize a sit-in protest outside the administration office suite in the third week of the strike. For 36 hours straight, as many as three dozen students at a time sat on the hard floor right outside the suite, their mouths taped shut with masking tape with pro-faculty messages written on them. Many students did shifts, but a few stayed for the whole time, getting up only to use the restroom and sleeping on the floor.

    That protest broke the administration's back; it was then that they realized they had lost the propaganda war and lost the student body entirely. The day the sit-in ended, they reopened the imposed contract and began caving to the demands of faculty, and 24 hours later a strong contract favorable to the union was agreed on through 2023.

    Moral of the story: Don't **** with Gen Z.

    We millennials were told the same thing. The major difference is that millennials saw through the bull**** from the beginning, while Gen X became adults before they learned better -- because millennials as kids learned from observing the Gen Xers who were learning this as adults.

    And then collectively, these two generations broke the chain of lies and taught their Gen Z kids the reality, leading to scenarios like the above.

    This is a good thing.
     
  3. Dark Ferus

    Dark Ferus Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 29, 2016
    I think looking at the process of universities and their worker-boss relations works great as a minuscule example of the capitalist system as a whole and why many see it as oppressive despite showmanship- many students who are used to the setting of a university will use it to understand the genera struggle- and they will learn to sympathize with the overall working class. This Gen Zer has definitely learned by participating in marches and listening to speakers talking about the administration’s efforts to cheat workers and spike living costs out of retaliation.
    All while they put on a show about tolerance and diversity- easy to see.

    I’m really glad that so many of us are waking up- of course I have met many pro-status quo Gen Zers too.
     
    Vialco, Juliet316 and jcgoble3 like this.
  4. Runjedirun

    Runjedirun Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    I hear so much complaining that kids today aren't disciplined. Whenever I take my own kids out or go visit schools, I'm told my kids are so well behaved. Well, there are absolutely no rules at my house. I mean we all just get along and help each other out, but my kids get all the screen time they want once homework is done, so in the summer all the screentime they want. They go to bed late, they eat at their computers, they eat what they chose, not at all what I make. My 14 year old can cook a chicken breast, mac and cheese, Ramon noodles, it's the best. If a kid stands around the kitchen with the refrigerator door open I remind them it costs us energy/$ to have the door open, or if they open the front door I remind them they are letting bugs in and AC out. They understand and close the door. My older son tends to eat in the basement where he hangs out and I never pick up after him. Eventually it starts to get so bad aka dishes piled up that he brings them up himself and puts them in the dishwasher.
     
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  5. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I have literally one rule for my kids—“don’t be an ***hole”—and they are pretty good about following it.

    My experience in education is that kids who are badly behaved are not undisciplined or given whatever they want. Usually the opposite, they are overly disciplined and receive too much negative attention or they are ignored.
     
    Vialco, blackmyron, Jedi Ben and 5 others like this.
  6. SateleNovelist11

    SateleNovelist11 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2015
    https://www.news.com.au/world/europ...w/news-story/232aadb9463dd600ae56cb6455c02236

    So, Putin apparently is having businessmen who criticize his war killed. It's not surprising, given how he is infamous for killing his enemies and critics. Of course, he apparently killed a bunch of diplomats after 2016. But I wasn't aware that he had killed this many people this year.

    So, this oil baron was at the hospital, and he was pushed out of a window. This appears to be a pattern. One guy was pushed out of his apartment. Another was thrown from a cliff.

    While I understand this is the type of totalitarian behavior that tyrants like Stalin would manifest, I just gotta ask... Have any of these guys ever heard of the concept, "Get him before he gets you?" If Putin keeps doing this, he's going to continue terrifying people. If I were a rich person in Russia, I'd bribe a general to take Putin out. I can't believe I'm quoting Littlefinger, since I dislike him, but I agree with this statement.



    If someone with power and influence opposes this war, they should not talk about it. They should sneak up on this maniac and end him.
     
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  7. Dark Ferus

    Dark Ferus Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 29, 2016
    Thena and Iron_lord like this.
  8. jcgoble3

    jcgoble3 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2010
    Interesting, but wrong thread, perhaps?
     
  9. SateleNovelist11

    SateleNovelist11 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2015
    Yeah, I'm not sure why that happened. Lol. I posted an explanation in the Russia thread.

    https://www.klcc.org/economy-business/2022-08-15/labor-strikes-at-eugenean-starbucks-stores-expand

    But on a labor-oriented note, Starbucks workers in Eugene were striking in August. Not sure if that is still going on. But I support the workers. As such, I refused to eat at Starbucks.
     
  10. AnarchistMando

    AnarchistMando Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2021
    It's Labor Day!
     
  11. Thena

    Thena Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    May 10, 2001
    Keeping an eye on this...
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2022
  12. InterestingLurker

    InterestingLurker Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2011
    Unions warn new British PM Truss of ‘fierce resistance’ if she targets workers – People's World (peoplesworld.org)

    On another note:

    Is anyone else keeping up with Britain's recent union wave?
     
  13. Luke02

    Luke02 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 19, 2002
  14. InterestingLurker

    InterestingLurker Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2011
    Book Review: Fightin’ for the Union - Progressive.org

    You can purchase or pre-order the book here:



    From the book's blurb:

    Seems rather interesting!
     
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  15. jcgoble3

    jcgoble3 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2010
  16. Thena

    Thena Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    May 10, 2001
    Will be interesting to see how the new PM handles this
     
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  17. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Listening to news reports on Powell’s actions to cool inflation and a few points get repeated:

    —the job market is still hot
    —the stock market is down

    …to both I ask “and the problem is…?”

    …which leads to the next “cause” of inflation: with a hot job market, employees are negotiating for better wages, which companies then pass along as an “expense” via higher prices. And the reports I am hearing, state this as a given, as if there were no alternatives. I end up yelling “Cut CEO salaries and company windfall profits! Why is no one else saying this?” at my radio.

    I’m listening to Thom Hartmann at the moment and a calling to Midday with Mark (Pocan) finally said it.

    Blaming inflation on workers actually wanting to be paid a living wage is disgusting and immoral.
     
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  18. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
  19. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    Imagine being this disingenuous

    “As this process continues, our focus remains on advocating for the millions of app-based earners who choose this work because of the flexibility it provides,” Kristin Sharp, CEO of FLEX, a trade association representing gig companies, said in a statement.

    You can give them flexibility while classifying them as employees and paying them fairly
     
  20. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    It would be great if the Feds overrule Prop 22 over here in California. I was hoping the PRO Act would do it, but whatever gets it done.
     
  21. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    “Flexible scheduling” is usually capitalism code for “****ty hours”.

    Apparently this CEO also thinks it is code for “no benefits and ****ty pay.”
     
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  22. jcgoble3

    jcgoble3 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2010
    "Flexible scheduling" means flexible to the employer's needs, not flexible to the employee's needs.
     
  23. Dark Ferus

    Dark Ferus Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 29, 2016
    It can also be really hard to turn down requests to work extra days or hours- and the managers can make it so that workers can’t schedule their vacation weeks during the holidays.
     
  24. CT-867-5309

    CT-867-5309 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2011
    App based gig work often is totally flexible for the worker. A lot of people indeed choose that work because they can pick it up and put it down whenever they want. The hours are literally whenever they want. A lot of them do it as a second job they can do whenever they want to, and not do when they don't want to. I know people who do that sort of work because they basically can't get themselves out of bed or they're otherwise not capable of maintaining a set schedule.

    This flexibility is often important to the people who do this work, and as Vivec said, it can be given (nothing need change) to them along with the rights of employees.
     
  25. jcgoble3

    jcgoble3 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2010
    When I worked at Kroger (which was a union shop, where the union was worthless), we had to submit our requests for vacation weeks in January, and in early February the entire store's vacation schedule for the whole was made and no changes were allowed from then on. It was done by seniority, so if you were low on the totem pole you basically got assigned whatever was left in your department, no matter what you requested. You also had to take it as whole weeks (not individual days) and as calendar weeks (no Wednesday to Tuesday or Saturday to Friday, for example)

    They also blacked out basically every busy week, so there were easily 15+ weeks blacked out every year.

    Of course, this was also a place where you got no vacation at all in your first year, and only one week per year for the next two years before it grew from there. I started in an August and had to go through the vacation request process the next winter (and could only get my vacation after my anniversary), but quit in April before I became eligible.
     
    Dark Ferus likes this.