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The Brief Origins of May Day

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Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#61

Post by dauertewigkeit »

parpfish wrote: post #16

Why don’t labor issues resonate more with tech workers? I know that we’re not a monolith and are actually a heterogeneous mix of opinions, but there frequently talk about job dissatisfaction (career burnout, comically stingy equity grants, etc). But when organizing comes up, it’s usually treated with disdain because so many have bought into highly individualistic hustle-culture and the narrative that unions only exis…

What makes solidarity between workers possible is the homogeneity of their labour. This condition is not present for tech workers. Labour market conditions are completely different from those of say, a meat processing plant or a factory assembly line.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#62

Post by hereonout2 »

gymbeaux wrote: post #43
parpfish wrote: post #16

Why don’t labor issues resonate more with tech workers? I know that we’re not a monolith and are actually a heterogeneous mix of opinions, but there frequently talk about job dissatisfaction (career burnout, comically stingy equity grants, etc). But when organizing comes up, it’s usually treated with disdain because so many have bought into highly individualistic hustle-culture and the narrative that unions only exis…

In my experience everyone thinks “we’ve got a good thing here, let’s not ruin it.” Indeed the bar is so low that even with all the bullshit in the tech industry, we seem to have it better than most- on salary alone. Throw in “full remote” (although that’s disappearing) and it really can’t be beat, even when your boss yells obscenities at you every day.

I think I agree. Objectively we do have it better than most and tech is generally an extremely cushy job.

Even here in Europe salaries can match Doctors and Lawyers but the barrier to entry is much lower and in my experience employment is still based on merit more than anything.

Perhaps there's some element of "don't rock the boat" but maybe some guilt too. We really have lucked out.

Not sure how comfortable I'd feel taking union action over my job that requires me to leave the house once a week but pays 3x a teachers salary.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#63

Post by matkoniecz »

irrational wrote: post #50
pera wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have been conditioned to fear the idea of demanding a more fair distribution of wealth: My great grandfather for example was shot dead by a cop during a union strike. Nothing happened after that event, just silence, fear and a deeply traumatized family. It is very important to remember that many of the things we enjoy today as workers only exist because of the enormous courage of workers from the 19th and early 20…

And a reminder that the police have never been on the side of the people. They are they muscle of the state.

> police have never been on the side of the people

that is a remarkable generalization, that overstates things to the point of being misleading

> They are they muscle of the state.

still, there are better and worse states

if you go fully pacifist and disempower yourself and your state it will not result in peace - it will result in someone else, likely worse, taking over

Police in my country did some bad things (and far more bad things when we were a Russian puppet state) but last time I had an actual contact with police it was on railway station when they have cordoned off a group of aggressive football hooligans.

I assure you that I preferred policeman over group of drunk abusive hooligans. And some kind of "muscle of the state" is needed to keep such people in check.

(at the same time, police power should be kept on a leash)

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#65

Post by vuggamie »

dauertewigkeit wrote: post #61
parpfish wrote: post #16

Why don’t labor issues resonate more with tech workers? I know that we’re not a monolith and are actually a heterogeneous mix of opinions, but there frequently talk about job dissatisfaction (career burnout, comically stingy equity grants, etc). But when organizing comes up, it’s usually treated with disdain because so many have bought into highly individualistic hustle-culture and the narrative that unions only exis…

What makes solidarity between workers possible is the homogeneity of their labour. This condition is not present for tech workers. Labour market conditions are completely different from those of say, a meat processing plant or a factory assembly line.

There is more than enough homogeneity of labor in this industry. All workers should organize.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#67

Post by alabastervlog »

anovikov wrote: post #35
parpfish wrote: post #16

Why don’t labor issues resonate more with tech workers? I know that we’re not a monolith and are actually a heterogeneous mix of opinions, but there frequently talk about job dissatisfaction (career burnout, comically stingy equity grants, etc). But when organizing comes up, it’s usually treated with disdain because so many have bought into highly individualistic hustle-culture and the narrative that unions only exis…

Because tech jobs are one of the few career lines that create a realistic path to passive income => becoming an "evil of capitalism". In fact, life outcomes that fall between "failure and poverty in old age" and "generational passive income from capital", are infrequent in the tech industry, at least from the people i know.

... Unions would be a great way to fight for reductions in anti-moonlighting rules and over-broad IP claims, to protect and broaden that path.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#68

Post by constantcrying »

parpfish wrote: post #16

Why don’t labor issues resonate more with tech workers? I know that we’re not a monolith and are actually a heterogeneous mix of opinions, but there frequently talk about job dissatisfaction (career burnout, comically stingy equity grants, etc). But when organizing comes up, it’s usually treated with disdain because so many have bought into highly individualistic hustle-culture and the narrative that unions only exis…

[flagged]

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#70

Post by smallmancontrov »

naming_the_user wrote: post #46
parpfish wrote: post #16

Why don’t labor issues resonate more with tech workers? I know that we’re not a monolith and are actually a heterogeneous mix of opinions, but there frequently talk about job dissatisfaction (career burnout, comically stingy equity grants, etc). But when organizing comes up, it’s usually treated with disdain because so many have bought into highly individualistic hustle-culture and the narrative that unions only exis…

From a personal perspective - I don't care that much about "labour issues" because it seems like a logically flawed avenue to explore to begin with. To be financially successful under any market system I can think of requires you, in a mathematical sense, to be close enough to the top within a company that you get a greater proportion of the profit than simply 1/employees. In simple terms - I can't employ a maid unle…

No, it is not mathematically ordained that conditions must suck on the bottom of the pyramid in an absolute sense. In a relative sense, your argument isn't wrong, but in an absolute sense, the failure of our economy to bring modest levels of comfort on the bottom despite truly astonishing advances in fundamental capacity is a scathing indictment.
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