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Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

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Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#101

Post by xwolfi »

romantomjak wrote: post #5

I'm consistently impressed by French solidarity to just go on a strike until they get their government (or a company in this case) to start treating them fairly. I wish that could work in the UK, but alas, we don't do that here.

I was so impressed that I left France forever and Im never coming back. Couch activists like you have no idea the misery those constant distracting productivity-killing micro-movements do to the country in aggregate.

I wish you could enjoy them in your country and we wouldnt have to. But well, as long as we can leave France when we dont like it I guess it's fine.

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#102

Post by gambiting »

Raed667 wrote: post #78

Around 2020, I interviewed with them for a full-stack role in Montpellier France. They genuinely seemed perplexed when I laughed at their €38k offer, which translates to ~€2200/month after taxes. Full support to the strikers!

I used to work at Ubisoft until recently and our recruitment was genuinely surprised why we can't find any candidates for senior C++ programmer roles offering the equivalent of about €50-60k/year.

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#103

Post by buro9 »

romantomjak wrote: post #5

I'm consistently impressed by French solidarity to just go on a strike until they get their government (or a company in this case) to start treating them fairly. I wish that could work in the UK, but alas, we don't do that here.

it could work in the UK, the union you want is this one: https://utaw.tech/about/ UTAW United Tech & Allied Workers although others are options too (UTAW is part of the CWU Communications Workers Union).

want better rights and working conditions: join a union, get everyone that you can to join the union, strikes do work.

want better salaries: decline jobs solely and purely on the basis of the salary not meeting expectations, the signal that they cannot hire because no-one accepts the salary forces an employer to pay more. leave jobs that are not paying well, and give that single reason in the exit interview.

both require the same thing... solidarity amongst the workers.

it doesn't work in the UK because of a lack of that, everyone is very much in it for themselves, and so there is no solidarity. but better salaries and conditions are achievable everywhere that there is solidarity. the starting point can be to join a union, but needs to include everyone talking about their rights and conditions and discussing unions.

Signal is a great tool btw... DO NOT discuss unions on work owned channels, take the conversation elsewhere. where I work embraces a healthy relationship between the employer and employee, but I've been at places before where merely talking about a union would get you fired some entirely unrelated thing.

oh, and be very prepared to fight for people in a weaker position than you. the basis of a union is that when you act in solidarity to protect the weakest, you protect everyone else too. the poem First They Came by Pastor Martin Niemöller, this works in the context of workers rights too... protect your trans, black, women, disabled colleagues, and if they have equality and fair treatment, then you almost certainly all do.

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#104

Post by DoreenMichele »

tomnipotent wrote: post #98
DoreenMichele wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not at all what I talked about wondering about: I have looked for data on just how many Americans get some portion of their medical care covered as military dependents for some portion of their life

A quick search shows that TRICARE has 9.5 million beneficiaries, so ~2.8% of population based on 2020 census. I imagine the number you're looking for isn't far off from that.

Okay, I know HN is full of pedants who think a quick google can readily prove I'm stupid, but that's not what I was asking.

My sons are not currently TRICARE beneficiaries but were for much of their lives.

I have a serious medical condition. One of my sons has a serious medical condition. We got many thousands of dollars in value out of being military dependents for a lot of years. But, no, they are not currently beneficiaries.

I wouldn't begin to know how to figure out an answer to a question like "Of all Americans currently alive, what percentage of them has spent some portion of their life in military service or as a military dependent?" much less a question like "If you could place a civilian medical cost equivalent on the medical care they received, often for flashing their ID with zero bill, what would the total be or what percentage of their lifetime medical costs does that represent?"

And that doesn't begin to get into questions like "And can you even begin to measure the impact on health of having secure housing, of one parent participating routinely in exercise as part of the job, etc?"

I don't know how to answer such a complex question at all. You can google all the live long day and you won't be able to tell me the answer. Sorry.

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#105

Post by omnimus »

saiya-jin wrote: post #80
romantomjak wrote: post #5

I'm consistently impressed by French solidarity to just go on a strike until they get their government (or a company in this case) to start treating them fairly. I wish that could work in the UK, but alas, we don't do that here.

Solidarity? You must live far from actual France and have some romantic young rosy view on events far away. Almost everybody who isn't protesting is pissed off at folks protesting, since they block you from doing basic things in life like going to work, shopping groceries, driving anywhere or flying, taking train, going to gas station, going to hospital (I kid you not, you can be unlucky and literally die to negligen…

Yeah you shouldnt strike because you could disturb those who like how the system works!! (because it works for them)

Solidarity doesnt mean being nice to others. Its awarnes of shared interests and acepting/enduring some pains for others. This includes understanding that you might not be striking today but you might in future.

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#106

Post by adamlarsson78 »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #55
lastdong wrote: post #32

This is remarkable. It's terrible to see how in some creative industries the workforce is managed, with hiring and firing practices. However, it would be great if the industry could adopt a more sustainable approach that benefits both the employees and the company's growth in the long run.

I don't want to be crude, but the sustainable approach is accepting that a company won't grow every year for forever. When did the behavior of the stock market become so fixated on this? Was it always this way? In this case it's even simpler: Ubisoft literally didn't want to pay a CoL adjustment raise this year. Nor last year. Despite reporting better than average earnings. But because this is the EU section they can…

> I don't want to be crude, but the sustainable approach is accepting that a company won't grow every year for forever

No necessarily. An economy can be sustainable even if all companies grow all the time. You just need to allow that companies fold now and then and close down. Then the market place opens space for remaining or new companies to grow. This is not just fantasy, it's how you keep cleaning up. (It does not imply that the economy as a whole keeps growing. That's a different matter altogether.)

Nature works like this too, by the way. Go to tour nearest forest, all plants keep growing as long as they are alive. But they have a limited lifetime and are broken down once they die. Which allows new ones to flurish (and grow).

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#107

Post by adamlarsson78 »

olavgg wrote: post #79
Irishsteve wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then move to France or Scandinavia. I'd suggest Norway since they have a huge oil reserve so the country can sustain its current population.

But if you build a successful startup, you have to give up your ownership as having wealth/assets gets heavily taxed. If your startup have a bad financial year, its really frustrating to be forced to take a 2% dividend of your networth, tax 40% of that amount as dividend tax and then pay the remaining 1.1% as wealth tax. That is why everyone with some wealth is now moving to Switzerland.

It may be frustrating, but that's the flipside of wealth inequality being much lower in Scandinavia and thereby society being more equal. Which makes it much more pleasant to live in, even for relatively rich people.

(Disclosure: I'm one of those relatively rich people in Scandinavia and I pay lots of taxes but I also enjoy that wealth inequality isn't so extreme over here.)

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#108

Post by DoreenMichele »

usea wrote: post #99
DoreenMichele wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not at all what I talked about wondering about: I have looked for data on just how many Americans get some portion of their medical care covered as military dependents for some portion of their life

> That's not at all what I talked about wondering about: You did talk about wondering about it: > I sometimes wonder how many American children get born while one of their parents is in service.

The part where I said I was unable to turn up stats was not the part you rebutted with stats. It's the part I quoted. It's a disingenuous argument to smear me like I am stupid and can't find birth stats when I didn't say that's what I looked for and failed to find.

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#109

Post by adamlarsson78 »

madsbuch wrote: post #84
silisili wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are social protections for say, losing a job, health emergencies, and retirement? 90% of my drive for more and more money is the fear of long term unemployment and knowing there's nobody to come save me. If that fear didn't exist, I'd probably work for half the price to be honest.

As in most other European countries social security, health and retirement is provided on a subsistence level. I think this is what differs from EU to the US. EU is great for subsistence seekers while the US is much better for aspirational people. The issue is just that you need both to have a good country. An aspirational person also need to be able to shop, eat, etc. And subsistence people also want access to the n…

> EU is great for subsistence seekers

The fraction of people in EU countries who just want to exist on social welfare and have no aspirations is miniscule. That's just propaganda and a narrative spun by the rich to avoid paying taxes as much as possible. Not backed by any data.

Re: Ubisoft Employees In France have gone on a Strike

#110

Post by southerntofu »

bionsystem wrote: post #58
romantomjak wrote: post #5

I'm consistently impressed by French solidarity to just go on a strike until they get their government (or a company in this case) to start treating them fairly. I wish that could work in the UK, but alas, we don't do that here.

In France striking is a fundamental right just like marching (assuming you make the demand to the authorities and it gets accepted). However what I dislike about the situation is that everybody strikes and manifests for his own core interest separately. I think we should really get into a more coordinated effort. Most of those strikes have failed.

This is not entirely wrong, but is misleading. Yes, striking is supposed to be a protected worker right, but there are entire regulations to follow for that ("préavis" / "droit de retrait" etc). However, it was not always the case and for most of french history striking was illegal and heavily repressed. It's important to note, because in the past decade or so there's been massive retaliation against some organized workers in certain corporations and even in public services like La Poste. Striking is only protected as long as the balance of power shifts in our direction, and it's fair to say that the bourgeoisie has been gaining momentum while we have lost significant rights since Sarkozy, and our protests have been heavily repressed including maiming and murders by cops.

As for demonstrations, what you said is incorrect. There is no obligation for the prefecture to approve your request before you go on a demo. There is indeed an obligation to declare it but unless it's explicitly forbidden you are go. It used to be, not so long ago that undeclared demos were legal and i believe it was only under nazi occupation that they weren't. Sarkozy changed that to repress young people hanging out in public spaces by making 3 people or more hanging out together illegal.

It's important to understand that outlawing demonstrations in France (along with other obvious signs of growing fascism) are a rather recent phenomenon. Except for workers/ecologist or pro-Gaza demonstrations repressed in the past decade, the last forbidden demonstrations in France date from the 60s (in support of Algerian independence).

Still, they'll never stop our "manif sauvage" :)

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