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The proletarianization of tech workers
(doctorow.medium.com)
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this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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As long as their livelihood is dependent on labouring, they're working class. You should show some solidarity, rather than trying to divide the working class.
Even bourgeois class works. Even aristocrats... CEOs work.
Working is not what identifies proletariat.
I show solidarity, I have former colleagues working at google. They have all my solidarity, but they are not proletariat.
An average google engineer have more capital than most CEOs around the world.
They need to unionize, but they are not proletariat. My company is unionized, and we are not proletariat. There are unionized people owning multiple porsches. They are not proletariat. They simply find easier to live out of a good salary instead of the stress of having their own company
I didn't say they didn't work. I said that their livelihood isn't dependant on labouring.
I don't know what you gain out of gatekeeping the working class. The whole invention of the middle class has been a tool by the owning class to separate the working class.
I gain nothing other than I prefer politics to be well directed. Unions for tech jobs is clearly needed, and it is fine. As said I work for an unionized company.
Problem of putting together real working class and people like me, or Google engineers that are even in a better position, it's bad to orient policies that helps the real working class. I want everybody to enjoy the privileges of mine and google engineers. Putting as in the same bucket as deliveroo drivers is not good for society. As society, we need to really works on the struggle of real proletariat. As tech workers we are far from the priority. Tech workers need to unionize, yes, but they are not proletariat.
You keep saying that it's bad, but you haven't actually said why. Just this nebulous idea that standing together is somehow bad. Worker's rights benefit all workers. And the more people demanding them, the better. Even more so if the people demanding them have greater access to the resources needed to actually make a difference.
Never once has "divided we conquer" been true.
Tell me you know fuck all about unionization without telling me. Its all the same. We all, the working class, are advocating for the same fucking rights, boundaries, and protections. Deliveroo driver and tech employee both wanna go home at a reasonable time of night and sleep well knowing they can pay their bills.
It's absolutely necessary to improve society. You have way more in common with that Deliveroo driver than with the wealthy C-suites that "run" Google or the company that you work for. Those people could stop "working" tomorrow and would have enough capital to coast the rest of their lives, their children's lives, their grandchildren's lives, etc. You, that driver, and I all have to continue working, because if we don't, there's the imminent threat of poverty, homelessness, and ultimately death.
Working at Google is not what it used to be 20 years ago. Not only would an average CEO be better off but there are plenty of other tech companies better to work at as well. Google engineers are salary workers not much different than any other
Those I know drive tesla and porsche, spend their long holidays traveling the world in expensive places, and have higher entry salaries than management in banks, with larger bonuses.
But apparently you guys know different engineers that struggle to survive... Fine with that. I might know only the lucky ones.
Otherwise we are all proletariat. Which is a news for me. I can finally complain with my "real proletarian" friends that I am as well a proletarian sharing the struggle, although I am definitely not.
Anyway, I will stop arguing. Apparently labeling google engineers as proletariat is an important topic in Lemmy, that users do with extra passion
You are the one who came in and insisted on specific labels. People disagree with you. Don't pretend this was our passion, it was yours.
Title of this post is literally the label I commented on: proletariat