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JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

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Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#21

Post by 999900000999 »

I dislike RTO for one simple reason .

I'm not at work to make friends, I'm not at work to chit chat. I'm not at work so we can talk about who won the last football game .

I go to work in exchange for currency, which is required to acquire goods and services. All this other crap, all these holiday parties, all of this let's dance in diversity videos, no that's not what I'm here for .

Most of the time coming to the office actually adds a bunch of unnecessary crap that is completely unneeded. If you can't get your job done remotely, what's the stop you from also slacking off in the office. I have to go back to the office for a while last year times were hard and I didn't have another option .

We're just talking to each other, shooting the s**, and it was cool to meet some Junior Devs who were just starting their career. But none of that made me a more productive worker.

If I had to think, I imagine the entire point of RTO mandates is to keep cities sustainable.

If every single office job went remote, what's the point of a city like New York. Who's going to willingly pay $6,000 for an apartment, ride the trains for over an hour a day, if you can just sit at home in a much cheaper city .

However, to quote a famous philosopher, it's a big club and you ain't in it. The powers that be one as many people in office chairs as possible, so they're real estate holdings appreciate in value.

Billy Bob's bagels also benefits from this, although I'd imagine he's not able to have the same amount of pool as the real estate titans

Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#22

Post by bloomingkales »

TrackerFF wrote: post #4

I think RTO mandates will be the straw that broke the camel's back, for a lot of Americans. Workers in sectors that previously wouldn't even think about unionizing, are now having serious discussions. Going back to commutes, wasting time, for no obvious reason - yeah, that did wake up people. EDIT: I'm talking about rigid 5 days a week RTO policy. As other have pointed out, having a flexible WFH policy is often "good…

American society doesn't want to accept that a lot of our problems happen because the parents aren't home. Michael Moore had an interesting scene in Bowling for Columbine where he showed a 6 year old shooter's mother had to work hours away daily and wasn't home. Mine and most of my friends parents always had to be outside of the house during our formative years. We had very robust economy in the 90s/2000s that pretty much sacrificed family time to get it done.

This is truly a past way of being. A real past, we cannot go back.

We have a way of solving this for many workers and any company not in tune with this beautiful thing is unacceptable to my heart (and hopefully many others).

Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#23

Post by bickfordb »

0xcafefood wrote: post #12

Labor unions seem like the wrong model for organizing "knowledge workers." A professional association like the American Medical Association might be a better way to structure things. One difference is how they gain leverage. Labor unions seem to rely on the fact that they are the ones _right there_ who can work in a factory, clean a facility, etc. But capital sort of did an end run around some of that by literally pa…

FWIW medical workers often belong to unions

Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#24

Post by kjkjadksj »

EncomLab wrote: post #11

The key to me is the flexibility - I have the option of WFH 2 days per week, but most weeks I'm in the office 5 days (sometimes a half day on Saturday) because I am fortunate to have a "real office" with a door, a nice view, a stocked break area - and no home distractions. If I was still in a cube farm with a barely stocked vending machine (where I spent the vast majority of my career) I'd be using every WFH moment I…

It isn’t just the commute. Life is greatly simplified and improved when you can run the dishwasher or throw a load of laundry in during the day. God forbid you want to, you know, visit a business during business hours as well.

Of course management doesn’t like to hear this. They’d rather you stare at a wall when there is nothing in front of you I guess.

Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#26

Post by nickff »

999900000999 wrote: post #21

I dislike RTO for one simple reason . I'm not at work to make friends, I'm not at work to chit chat. I'm not at work so we can talk about who won the last football game . I go to work in exchange for currency, which is required to acquire goods and services. All this other crap, all these holiday parties, all of this let's dance in diversity videos, no that's not what I'm here for . Most of the time coming to the off…

Maybe JPMorgan doesn't want employees like you; maybe they want employees who chit-chat, and become attached to their company, for various (non-kLoC) reasons. Not every workplace is for everyone.

Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#27

Post by [deleted] »

EncomLab wrote: post #11

The key to me is the flexibility - I have the option of WFH 2 days per week, but most weeks I'm in the office 5 days (sometimes a half day on Saturday) because I am fortunate to have a "real office" with a door, a nice view, a stocked break area - and no home distractions. If I was still in a cube farm with a barely stocked vending machine (where I spent the vast majority of my career) I'd be using every WFH moment I…

[deleted]

Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#28

Post by [deleted] »

bickfordb wrote: post #23
0xcafefood wrote: post #12

Labor unions seem like the wrong model for organizing "knowledge workers." A professional association like the American Medical Association might be a better way to structure things. One difference is how they gain leverage. Labor unions seem to rely on the fact that they are the ones _right there_ who can work in a factory, clean a facility, etc. But capital sort of did an end run around some of that by literally pa…

FWIW medical workers often belong to unions

[deleted]

Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#29

Post by PittleyDunkin »

dylan604 wrote: post #17
PittleyDunkin wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Labor unions seem like the wrong model for organizing people in a lot of "knowledge workers." A professional association like the American Medical Association might be a better way to structure things. Please explain—knowledge workers are still workers and the same benefits that labor unions provide to other workers apply just as much here. Secondly, why would I ever care about a professional organization if I can'…

Knowledge workers do not need to be there in the office like the labor unions. This can be used both ways. The WFH crowd uses it say they can work from home. The GP is suggesting companies thinking that if we don't need in-office workers, why not just offshore it altogether?

> Knowledge workers do not need to be there in the office like the labor unions.

Nothing about a labor union implies this, either, just that labor is necessary to produce revenue. This is still true for service-based companies, even if it takes longer for underinvesting in labor to hurt.

> The GP is suggesting companies thinking that if we don't need in-office workers, why not just offshore it altogether?

This is true regardless of if you're in a union or not. I'm not going just to toss the baby out with the bathwater. There isn't a situation where I don't want a union outside of maybe self-employment.

Re: JPMorgan Workers Ponder Union in Wake of Return-to-Office Mandate

#30

Post by iugtmkbdfil834 »

HamsterDan wrote: post #25

Workers need to tread carefully here. If you there's no need to be in the office, what's to stop corporate from replacing you with an Indian that costs 1/3rd as much? Push back too hard on RTO and you may not have a job at all in five years.

Shrug. In our latest meeting our leaders had no problems hiring 'outside hires' for random unexpected project resulting from them trying to stiff US vendor ( don't get me started on how that makes sense ). Adding those contractors with the amount of time spent in meetings, we likely have already spent more than the money that would be paid to the vendor, but I digress.

Anyway, I am mentioning it, because the usual issues with quality of work that had to be QC'ed immediately came up. To be honest, there is nothing stopping corporate, but none of the jobs most of us do are so easily done that it can be just put in a simple step by step process ( and even then its hardly a way to guarantee accuracy ). I guess what I am really saying is: if they could, they would have already.

But they can't, because you get what you pay for.

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