Notices by Tim W (admin (and human)) (tim@union.place)

@jonah
Also, I'm now glad I chose Fastmail. I'm sure their executives are just as awful but their work force is in a #union.

@Tonydunc @nicholasr @bicmay yeah, it's slave labor by another name. Nothing "voluntary" is truly voluntary when you're incarcerated.

Do they have better outcomes? Sure. But which is the cause and which is the effect? We need to end the prison-industrial system.

Woohoo, contract win for my #CWA siblings striking in Vail for better contract conditions. Together, we can win!

https://cwa-union.org/news/cwa-ski-patrollers-win-contract-end-strike-park-city-mountain?link_id

#Union #Solidarity #Strike #UnionStrong

@lattera Google Voice: too big to cancel, too boring to actually put any effort behind. A fate arguably worse than winding up in the true product graveyard.

(Personal opinion only, I do not work on GV nor know anything about its actual priorities or future plans. I probably would have said Google Domains was too big to cancel right up until we did, sigh.)

@gsuberland the marketing geniuses behind that disaster...

Oh hey the streaks don't end at midnight EST! I have reprieve!

But also am not in bed...

LAST THING
i love Max Miller’s work. he says he’s not a historian, but i call bullshit. he not only flexes with his use of primary sources; he is amazing in using food history to make powerful political commentary by letting the facts speak for themselves.

watch this episode on school pizza. wait for when he drops the backstory about the Black Panthers school breakfast program and how Hoover went as far as poisoning their food to stop their #mutualAid program:

https://youtu.be/40MvjFaTVzE

this is a lovely sentiment i find coming from many Europeans and liberal EuroAmericans,
https://infosec.exchange/@tinker/113766774842784296

but it’s why am so weary of white liberals.

y’all really have not have The Real America™ burn down your little garden patch, throw out your groceries in a dumpster or literally barge into your church’s breakfast room all because you were Native, Black or Latino.

am not saying don’t do mutual aid.

am only saying your definition of healing scarcity doesn’t deal with racism.

I should go to bed.

Also, unrelatedly, I broke all of my streaks today in the Apple News+ puzzles. Oh well.

@strypey if you're looking for outside feedback: your overall replies there seem somewhat reply-guy-like, and definitely seem to me like something that would tweak folks who think people aren't taking COVID seriously enough.

If you're not looking for feedback, sorry, carry on.

@mike @kev I thought what I said about friends vs random strangers was pretty clear on that point, but sure.

Soooo, is #H1B worker the low-cost indentured servant that has no rights? All system is bound to be exploited, but on the book here are some of the fact(ish):
1. You cannot pay H1B workers lower wage than their peers, at least not on the book
2. H1B status is tied to the employer; but it can get transferred to another employer as long as they hire you under the same job title (7/12)

@kev

We shouldn't browbeat random strangers about it, that's just being a dick yourself, but I absolutely will tell anyone I actually know who owns a Tesla what I think it says if they ever purchase another one.

@kev responding specifically to your clarification: I disagree completely.

Collective action is essential to effecting change. We absolutely **must** say "you shouldn't buy a Tesla because Musk is a dick" and broadcast that to our social circles if we want to actually effect change in Musk's behavior (impossible as that might seem).

1/2

@arnoldboer I love the ambition, but I think you're going to find that "IT users" is just too large of a class to actually activate en masse. Especially since the "uninformed masses" are a large majority of the users of the big tech in question, and real alternatives are hard to come by.

I'd start a little smaller - think about how you can make a better alternative to one of those pieces of big tech, get together some folks to make it happen, and drive change one piece at a time.

#solidarity

@jimv thanks, it's much appreciated!

@Joe_Hill thanks, it's much appreciated!

@PythonLinks @ProcessParsnip I guess I'm not entirely sure what you're looking to create here with this list. Can you say more about what you're thinking when you're talking about "target markets"? Are you talking about labor organizing itself, or something else? I can't quite tell at this point.

Labor organizing can be both broad and deep, there can be big union-wide issues and there can be much more isolated issues specific to an area. Both are valuable organizing tools.

@otfrom @PythonLinks agreed, I interpreted that more as "reduce use/abuse of H1B", even that has proven quite controversial though so it's probably not an ideal main tentpole.

@ProcessParsnip @PythonLinks a blatantly obvious answer entirely missed by this white man. My apologies and thanks!