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Something something far-left
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this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
1240 points (99.4% liked)
Work Reform
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105 users here now
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
Sure but we must ask how much should you be able to afford in this position?
I'm sick of talking about a "living wage". I want a thriving wage.
— Rose Schneiderman, 1912.
Wow, such a powerful quote.
It touches on something I'm worried about in our time: How we've started to monetize hobbies as "hustles" and watch other people enjoy them in our place because we're too busy to do them ourselves.
It feels like enjoying "the sun and music and art" is now the job of an entertainer, who the audience lives vicariously through, between their shifts. Whether it's all these shows about celebrities who get to travel, or so simple as streamers getting to sit down and play games...
As the screenshot said, enough to pay for rent, bills and groceries. That's is, enough to not be homeless, starving or unable to afford healthcare.
I know a lot of people around here aren't a fan of cars, but minimum wage workers need to be able to afford one. And even used cars have gotten crazy expensive. Even if you can find a cheap used shit box it'll need expensive repairs quickly.
I know there are places where this isn't true, but where I live, if you don't have a car, you can't get to work, the grocery store, or anywhere really. If you try to ride a bike, you will die. If you try to ride an escooter you'll get ticketed for riding it in the driving lane, and even if it were legal it wouldn't be an option in the winter when they don't even clear the whole road of snow and ice. People go homeless before they give up having a car.
Needing cars is caused by the same capitalist system that produces jobs below livable wage, so I totally get it. But if we were able to push for better salaries and working conditions, surely we'd also be able to push for better urban planning and public transport.
It's already been built wrong, and redoing those places will take decades and will cost trillions. They have been adding little token projects here or there, but our zoning still doesn't even require sidewalks or bike lanes for new construction. So honestly we're generations from it at the pace we're moving. We could pay living wages now though.
Renting what though? How many bedrooms?
Uh. One? Then if two people had basic jobs...Maybe two?
Maybe someone is able to claw their way above minimum wage and the other can quit entirely, whatever.
Nobody's demanding McMansions for McDoubles. They just want the concept of a job to be more than an endless void that arbitrarily takes exponentially more than it gives.
Working two jobs and being one major illness or injury away from losing it all is a sick insult to humanity, for all it has achieved up to this point.