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   Dare Obasanjo (carnage4life@mas.to)'s status on Sunday, 17-Sep-2023 01:58:42 JST Dare Obasanjo

   I can’t get over the rapid shift in power dynamics where various blue collar workers are going on strike snd earning 20% to 40% wage increases while tech workers are being laid off by email and threatened with losing their jobs if they don’t take their Zoom calls from the office.

   • novatorine 🏴🏳️‍⚧️ and AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     Sasha Akhavi (sakhavi@qoto.org)'s status on Sunday, 17-Sep-2023 01:58:41 JST Sasha Akhavi

     in reply to

     @carnage4life It’s almost like tech workers should unionize or something

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     Astro Jonny (astrojonny@mstdn.plus)'s status on Sunday, 17-Sep-2023 01:59:47 JST Astro Jonny

     in reply to

     @carnage4life most average people have no idea what tech people actually do(tech influencers just make it worse) or actually make. I wear 4 hats myself. Look at sales force ceo trying to hire back the majority of the people he sacked. I won’t be surprised the unions try getting t ch professionals to unionize again.

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     B (betsyvr@union.place)'s status on Sunday, 17-Sep-2023 02:00:04 JST B

     in reply to

     @carnage4life we’re trying! 😅The thing is working class unions are already very established while tech worker unions are starting from scratch. Many of us are fighting an uphill battle where tech companies have all the resources in the world to throw at union busting attorneys.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Sunday, 17-Sep-2023 09:24:08 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     @carnage4life I'm guessing a lot of those blue collar jobs aren't going to people on temporary work visas.

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     Passenger (passenger@kolektiva.social)'s status on Tuesday, 19-Sep-2023 01:56:56 JST Passenger

     in reply to

     • B
     • morgan

     @betsyvr @mw @carnage4life

     Jumping in here as a union organiser who's also been trying to organise tech workers.

     You and I are working class, because we survive by selling our lives an hour at a time, and if we don't we'll starve.

     Our work generates value. We are then paid a part of that value back as a salary, which is basically the same as a wage. The rest goes to owners, to help them survive without selling their lives an hour at a time. The reason we let owners do this is because they have the keys to the systems and without them we can't work.

     We do this work with computers rather than welding torches, but we're really no different from any skilled worker like a plumber or an electrician. By and large our pay tends to be close to theirs, too. An experienced data scientist and an experienced plumber make about the same.

     The division between the two, and the "pink collar" service workers, is something we have to learn to erase. Once we do, I think we'll find it easier to unionise - most of the tech workers I've tried to organise have stumbled not just for fear of bosses, but because they don't see themselves as "that sort of worker."

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     B (betsyvr@union.place)'s status on Tuesday, 19-Sep-2023 01:56:57 JST B

     in reply to

     • morgan

     @mw @carnage4life sorry, no. I meant to allude to blue-collar workers who often don’t get paid salaries like “white collar” folks do. Should I change it? Edit: I changed it for clarity. There are a lot of issues with how people define “workers” but I believe in solidarity with all workers.

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     morgan (mw@toot.community)'s status on Tuesday, 19-Sep-2023 01:57:02 JST morgan

     in reply to

     • B

     @betsyvr @carnage4life i get what you mean, but it's funny you say "working class" to mean like already-unionized. I'm guessing one of your problems is people not seeing computer workers as "working class"!