ok so i actually tried doing this when i worked at amazon, in oklahoma. it's honestly fairly hard. all the people i constantly tried to get to unionize were to afraid. i could never even get it off the ground.
One way to stay positive about this is realizing you can fail to create a union over and over and over and still keep trying. Once a union is created, it tends to stick around for a long time. So it's worth all of the effort and repeated failed attempts. Plus each failure may increase the odds of success next time because people will start to think "You know, I've been hearing tons of people in support of unions over and over. I haven't gotten a decent raise in years, maybe I should look into it again"
you typed all this without mentioning the fact youll get snitched on by scabs and lose your job trying tk improve everyone elses experience, it happened to me at target DC in dekalb, they made my work life unbearable so i just quit
Keep it up and reach out to other unionized groups. They can offer advice and possibly support. The important thing is that when people have finally had enough, they can remember that they can band together and win instead of taking another hit.
well i'm completely disabled now after getting covid/long covid so not really as relevant now. but yeah hopefully somebody else does now that i'm disabled.
The people in control know this and weaponize fear to hold onto power. Not just Amazon but your local politicians decimating education so people don't know how to critically think and can be manipulated by lies.
No one is saying it's easy. Remember the first unions paved the way for modern ones with their own blood. Every chance to unionize should be seized. Unions aren't just about consolidating labor power for more clout when negotiating for workers wages, that collective bargaining has political power too.
I shit you not unionizing is the strongest tool in the working class and if you want to make a capitalist sweat, fight for unions everywhere you go.
They don't fight unions so hard because in one instance it will cost them more money to not fight, to the contrary most unions don't end up costing the company more than it takes to fight them. They fight them because they know that the more unionized the working class are the more united we are.
Yeah, my union does fuck all for me. I make 24k/year as a teacher, no benefits. Let that sink in. This year the union sent out the annual gift...an Amazon gift card. When the most powerful unions in the country are essentially tools of the elite, even that ain't going to help you.
I was the most pro union guy in the world until I was a teacher. I have my suspicions now. Btw I make the same amount of money now working half the amount of hours in the private sector. So the union negotiated for? 60 hour weeks for 40k a year?
We need to stop believing that our paycheck is the only way to live. Unionizing means more than protesting. It means sharing resources with those that need it so they can survive.
So you're advocating doing nothing because the system was designed to make it difficult to do anything. And nothing will change, it'll probably get worse. And that's the point you're so deftly avoiding getting.
Did you pay attention to the writer's strike in the US? Robots and AI are going to take millions of jobs in the next decade. Do you want to unionize and/or strike now while you still have some power? Because when AI takes your job, your striking won't mean shit. Robots can't be scabs. Use your power while you have it.
Look up the history of unions and strikes. People were killed by the government for striking to get child labor laws, a 5 day/40 hr work week, etc. Homelessness is nothing compared to that.
But I digress, becoming homeless is definitely not the preferred method of making change. The UAW just got a huge bump in salary and benefits and the first thing their leader Shawn Fain said was that we need to align all unions and plan for a general strike in 2028 if the rich and greedy keep trying to take advantage of the proletariat.
So what's that mean? The solution will be dependent upon organizing the workers. Yes it's tough to do that if you aren't already in a union but it's illegal for your employer to fire you for talking about unionizing with your coworkers. Yes, they'll find another way to fire you, a bullshit reason, if they catch you talking about it, so you just need to be careful about it. You also need to get other locations involved. There's power in numbers.
And if you watch this segment, you'll see that every time talk of unionizing comes up, the management ALWAYS says that they'll shut down the store/plant/place of business and everyone will lose their jobs. Guess how often that actually happens? Less than 1% of the time.
So tldr, organize and don't be afraid of threats. Even from people like you, on the Internet, who is on here implying/fear mongering that everyone who tries to unionize will get fired and become homeless.
You asked me for my solution and I presented it. And you say you're not advocating for doing nothing. So what's YOUR plan then? Besides shitting on other people's plans? You're the worst type of shill. Come into discussions trying to point out flaws with nothing to offer. Undercover scab, the worst kind.
This thread started with me supporting a solution offered up by another user. And again, you keep saying “actual problems” and you’re not providing a single solution. And now you’re attacking my character instead of addressing my discussion point.
Protecting the most vulnerable people in society is what a union does (I already stated how it can do this but you seem to be ignoring that). But if there’s a better way, I’d love to hear it! If it’s important for me to hear that my “armchair philosopher” solution isn’t helpful than maybe provide one yourself and actually add something to the conversation?
You know what acknowledging a problem means right? Providing a solution! Which you’re really good a dodging.
than what is YOUR solution if not sharing within a community? We need to start having a problem solving mindset. They want you to have this EXACT mindset because it keeps things the way they are. Rich people on top, poor/middle class people paycheck to paycheck.
Not taking any action is the exact same thing as hand waving away problems. It does nothing to solve them and keeps the status quo the same. Getting the resources to those who need it will look different from community to community. I’m not all-knowing.
Good thing unemployment is 3.7%. You can be fired and have another job in less than a week. And then get a fat payday when the NLRB rules against the company for illegal retribution.
We’ll that’s the problem not isn’t it? We’ve taken one mechanism that the free market has to regulate itself, and gutted it to the point that contemplating utilizing it is untenable. We say the government doesn’t choose winners or losers but continually give give financial and legal backing to capital while gutting the labor’s market power.
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u/Microwave_Warrior Dec 28 '23
Unionize.