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The Brief Origins of May Day

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Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#171

Post by 9rx »

johngossman wrote: post #159
9rx wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why don’t labor issues resonate more with tech workers? They do! What doesn't resonate with many tech workers is working together with other people. Tech workers are largely used to working alone, and many even struggle in social situations more-so than in other industries, so when a labor issue arises they believe it is a problem they must solve on their own.

The many people working in big tech are certainly used to working together and solving problems together. I think others on this thread are closer: generally high economic status and greater perceived career autonomy than in other industries

They are used to working together to the extent that is necessary to further their own self-interest (i.e. get promoted). That competitive environment is not conducive to working together in a 'brotherhood' sense that a union requires, through.

Industries with significantly higher economic status and autonomy are all over unions (sports, entertainment, politics, medicine, etc.), so that doesn't really explain it.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#174

Post by matkoniecz »

cruzcampo wrote: post #170
matkoniecz wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The threat of violence is the only way social progress has ever been made. This is a lie. Poland and many areas occupied by Russia managed to end Russian control without this.

I wouldn't call the fall of the only socialist superpower at the time social progress.

I would call kicking out corrupt occupier oppressing workers and pretending to be socialist superpower as a great success.

Doing it with no bloodshed typically accompanying such events was even better.

Russia was not friend to workers, it was oppressive evil state and kicking it out (what started steps toward collapse of USSR) was one of greatest successes in the history of Poland.

It was no accident that largest strikes in the history of country taken place during PRL and capitalism is so well regarded in Poland.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#175

Post by bee_rider »

dragonwriter wrote: post #124
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…

> Why don’t labor issues resonate more with tech workers? Because many tech workers don't see themselves as workers, with some justification, many having substantial capital investments alongside labor income, making them, in class terms, petit bourgeois or at least close enough to it to perceive their own interests in more bourgeois than proletarian terms. And even the tech workers that are clearly part of the prole…

I’ve always thought of it in these terms:

Working class: you are sustained by your current labor.

Upper class: you can sustain yourself based on the returns from your investments more-or-less indefinitely.

Middle class, between the two: you can sustain yourself off your investments for so long that you can’t practically be threatened by unemployment.

It is a labor relations issue explicitly, you need a union if you are in the first of the three classes, because otherwise you can be threatened by unemployment to do something dangerous or dehumanizing.

In the middle class definition, practically there’s some element of the fact that our skills are in high demand, so you can become unthreatened by unemployment by having just, like, a 1 year buffer. But I do think we can overstate how in-demand our skills to satisfy our egos…

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#176

Post by SirFatty »

gymbeaux wrote: post #44
SirFatty wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of "comfortable middle class suburban" folks I know are in the trades. Hardly anti-union with that group.

But they entered their field with the union already established. Humans won’t fight for a damn thing.

Ok? That has nothing to do with my comment pointing out that "comfortable middle class suburban" != anti-union and anti-labor.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#178

Post by bee_rider »

throw0101a wrote: post #93
dauertewigkeit wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> What makes solidarity between workers possible is the homogeneity of their labour. Ethan Hunt play by Tom Cruise and Waitress #2 played by Jane Doe aren't very homogeneous with regards to pay and fame, but they're both part of SAG.

Doesn’t the “G” in SAG stand for “Guild?” A guild is different from a union, right? It is more like a bunch of independent contractors making connections or something like that.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#179

Post by bee_rider »

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…

We’re convinced we’re be court wizards, not peasants, in a fantasy setting. Wizards join guilds, not unions.

Re: The Brief Origins of May Day

#180

Post by micromacrofoot »

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 generally tech workers are well compensated relative to other workers, the areas where this isn't true have had some movement in labor initiatives like the The United Videogame Workers
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