#organised labour

[nature-nerd-sarah]

Even if it’s not this direct and they’re just striking for a pay increase to keep up with inflation or for not scrapping benefits, it still ultimately benefits you. It sends a message to bosses everywhere they can’t get away with completely fucking over their workers, and makes them more likely to listen to workers’ demands for fear of a strike. That includes your and your loves ones’ bosses.

also just a general rule of thumb: when nationalized/public service industries are striking, they ARE striking for YOUR benefit, ultimately. bus drivers are the ones who fight against capitalist upper management trying to shut down bus routes that "don't generate enough profits" or trying to generally set up a worse (public!) service for the sake of """"efficiency""""" and """"""cost optimization""""""" (read: pay less people and overwork them to give YOU, the public, a much worse service or commodity).

it's like this in schools, hospitals, public transportation, literally everywhere. the striking workers care for the public' needs more than the bosses will ever do. sure they want better work conditions which is (should be) enough of a reason to support strikes in general, but by supporting striking workers, you ultimately support your own quality of life. it's all intertwined

[ghlagatindotcom]

Organised Labour calls off nationwide strike against galamsey

In a surprise move, Organised Labour has suspended its nationwide strike slated for October 10, 2024, following an emergency meeting held on October 9, 2024. The decision comes after the government assured Labour of its commitment to tackling illegal mining, also known as galamsey. During a media briefing, Trades Union Congress Secretary General Joshua Ansah explained that the suspension allows…

[dikoderbeatz]

NAPO Reaffirms NPP’s Commitment to Empowering Small-Scale Miners, Rejects Ban on Mining

Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, popularly known as NAPO, has reiterated that a future New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will not impose a ban on small-scale mining. Speaking at a campaign event in the Manso Adubia constituency in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday, Dr. Opoku Prempeh, who is the NPP’s Vice Presidential candidate, assured party supporters and community members of the party’s commitment to…

[memoryandwreckage]

So, when are we doing a general labour strike, in protest of how fucking shit everything is?

[nature-nerd-sarah]

She's also fully vaccinated herself, but specifically opposes vaccine mandates (source). Still not a position I fully agree with, but as has been said, you can't pick apart everyone in a labour union for ideological purity.

Fran drescher opposes vaccine mandates just fyi

[nicklloydnow]

“As Erik Loomis retells the story, mission commander Jerry Carr, science pilot Ed Gibson and pilot William Pogue were in the midst of what would become a record 84-day mission, the last before the spacecraft was to be decommissioned, when they rebelled against NASA’s remorseless work schedule.

They knew before going up that the pace would be punishing -- 84 days of 16 hours each without a break, filled with minute-by-minute scheduling for observations of the sun and Comet Kohoutek, medical tests, photographing of the Earth below, and four spacewalks.

Other astronauts on the ground team, including the commanders of the previous two Skylab missions, advised NASA that the plans were unreasonable. None of the three astronauts on the Skylab 4 mission had been in space before, but NASA hadn’t factored in any time for them to become acclimated to conditions aloft. They were plainly overscheduled. In fact, Pogue almost immediately came down with debilitating nausea.

(…)

Almost instantly the crew fell behind schedule, and with no give in the workload, couldn’t catch up. After a month, Gibson was grousing that the mission resembled “a 33-day fire drill.” Carr informed ground control, “We would never work 16 hours a day for 84 straight days on the ground, and we should not be expected to do it here in space.”

The crew gained the reputation of “complainers,” and their exchanges with Houston lost their civility. Finally, a couple of days after Christmas, Carr wired a manifesto earthward: “We need more time to rest. We need a schedule that is not so packed. We don’t want to exercise after a meal. We need to get things under control.”

Houston’s response was chilly: The crew had to meet its schedule. On Dec. 28, the crew staged its strike. (In some accounts, it’s called a “mutiny,” which is surely too harsh.) Carr turned off the radio link with the ground and crew members spent a full day relaxing, taking things at their own pace and pursuing projects of their own.

The ground crew, stuck at the far end of a dead radio hookup, had no choice but to fume impotently. When Skylab came back online, NASA was much more amenable to discussion. Houston agreed to afford the crew full rest and meal breaks, and replace its minute-by-minute schedules with a list of tasks to be completed, leaving it to the crew to manage its own time.

(…)

But the one-day strike did force a lasting reconsideration of crew management upon NASA, contends Samir Chopra of Brooklyn College. NASA treated the crew as expendable instruments of its schedule, but Skylab 4 showed that when push came to shove the astronauts had all the control in their own hands.

Once in space, they were no longer replaceable robots and had to be treated as responsible partners if the mission was to be completed successfully. “Highly trained military types and scientists fully convinced of the value of their work are likely to push back when placed in an artificially controlled, too-tightly-regulated environment,” Chopra observed. “The lessons here are not just for manned space flight, but for any workplace environment that approximates its conditions, whether in space or on Earth.”

Loomis concludes, however, that the lessons of Skylab 4 have limited application. It’s not common for employees to have the control over management that the crew could exercise merely by turning off their radio, threatening work valued a millions of dollars a day. There wasn’t much to be learned even by 1970s labor activists from the strike in space.

“It’s hard to make new demands of employers when those employers are just going to move the jobs to Mexico, as was happening throughout the 1970s,” Loomis writes. Union organizing was heading into a dark age then, the Skylab strike notwithstanding, thanks to “the rise of conservatism and the growth of the powerful corporate lobby with the open intent of crushing the American labor movement,” he adds. We’re still living with the consequences.”

[eclecticwordblender]

me on eid: religions and by extension religious festivities are inherently misogynistic and i refuse to partake in any religious celebration.

liberals: you feminazi islamophobic bitch bet you don’t say it about your hindu festivals.

me on christmas: religions and by extension religious festivities are inherently misogynistic and i refuse to partake in any religious celebration. + i went to a catholic school and all my worst experiences and memories are linked to that hell hole.

liberals: you casteist (most christians in india are dalits who converted) bitch bet you don’t say that about your brahmin festivals.

me on diwali: religions and by extension religious festivities are inherently misogynistic and i refuse to partake in any religious celebration.

liberals and conservatives together: you feminazi bitch bet you don’t say this about muslim and christian festivals.

[cor-lapis]

I thought I was the only one who still didn't understand what the Spina Di Rosula was 😭

You know, anon, I was debating with myself whether to put that joke in because I was thinking "Did I just have a poor reading comprehension moment?" However (compilation below):

[ghlagatindotcom]

Organised Labour announces nationwide strike effective 10th October over government’s failure to address galamsey

Organised Labour has announced a nationwide strike set to begin on October 10, 2024, citing the government’s failure to address the illegal mining (galamsey) crisis. The decision comes after an emergency meeting held by the group on October 1, 2024, where leaders expressed their dissatisfaction with the government’s inaction regarding their demands to curb the destructive practice of…

[somecunttookmyurl]

Sorry to just drop into this, but another thing to consider with handmade good and the ‘overpriced’ idea is that you also have to factor in how much stock might sell at any given time.

For example, if you make 100 pairs of earrings in a month but might only sell 30 (because you need to give people options etc.) then the profit from those 30 should reasonably cover the time you spent making all 100.

Also, it should pay for the time you spend at craft fairs, replying to any commissions/ purchase requests, packaging time and going to the post office, any online marketing you might do (tumblr posts etc).

Peolle don’t often factor these in when thinking about the value of crafts they buy, which is a bit unfair.

yes there are other overheads but the thing is. basically all of those to some extent also apply to fibre arts

but sure. to be thorough. i spend 10h a week at my market stall and an hour... let's say 2 be generous with it... updating the shop

if i made 50 pairs of earrings and sold 15, the "materials" cost of 1 pair, to cover their unsold breathren, goes from 42p to £1.40

earrings are far from the only thing though, and account for less than half of the sales. so. we can say that about 5h of stall/shop time is covered by those

(plus the hour it took to make them)

sale price - materials cost but split over 6 hours of labour instead of 1.5 is still £12 an hour

[divinekangaroo]

I’m reading the scripts for Yes Minister for attempted political inspiration and can’t stop imagining the culture shock of Tommy’s first few months in office.

[synelven]

tell me im a bad man kick me like a stray

(ceres when she was 16 and 32)

[fangedprinx]

Big hello to anyone looking at my blog on the strength of the Union Chilchuck comments I added to that one DunMeshi post

I mostly write weird erotica but I am down to talk about union organising

I highly recommend joining a union for your industry if you haven't already, do a bit of research and find out which ones operate in your industry, some unions are better than others but almost any is better than none. Failing that, the Industrial Workers of the World will accept any worker and freelancers and the unemployed as members, the dues are low (it's free for the unwaged) and they offer really valuable training on workplace organising especially if you can make it to an in-person training

Even if there's no formal union in your workplace, if you get a significant number (ideally a majority or supermajority) of coworkers on your side you can exert labour power and make changes at your workplace (this is part of the IWW training)

If you couldn't tell I am an IWW member lmao but I don't insist that's the only good union, do whatever works and remember that people literally died for your right to adequate breaks and time off so you should take the time and encourage your coworkers to do the same. And remember people are still dying for the right to organise and to decent working conditions in countries such as Myanmar where membership of a union isn't legally protected, and deserve our support.

All power to the workers! Solidarity Forever

[tuulikki]

Boycotting is not helpful unless the union asks us to boycott—it can even be harmful. It’s rude to presume random customers would know the business and bargaining better than the people who actually work there.

If someone has confirmation that they’ve specifically asked customers to boycott, please share the links. Otherwise, keep shopping and write HPB a letter.

Despite what various greenwashing marketers want you to think, voting with your dollar usually isn’t impactful unless there’s mass organisation behind it.

Half-Price Books, stop jerking your union around!

The booksellers at Half Price Books achieved union recognition in January 2022, but their employer still won't give them a contract.

That's a scummy way for a "family business" to treat hardworking booksellers, who are seeking a living wage - and are being offered a real-terms pay cut instead.

Booksellers can't live on love of literature - they need to pay rent, buy groceries and support their families. Half Price, give HPB Workers Unite the contract they deserve!

[pinbones]

So many leftists have this singular idea of jobs where you show up and do precisely 4 hours' worth of email work stretched over however many hours the boss arbitrary allocated

Most jobs require many hours of constant labour. Checkout lanes, hospitals and care, driving jobs, these all take so many hours to do a day's work due to the timing and volume of labour and it's not easy/beneficial to change staff frequently in some of them. How are you going to squeeze a full day's shift looking after a dementia community into 4 hours? Do you know how many errors are made when staff change-overs at hospitals increase in frequency? There are always going to be 8 and 10 and 12 and 14 hour shifts, and you know what? I like doing 12 hour shifts a hell of a lot more than I like working three seperate 4 hour shifts.

It's like that discourse about shops that open late done entirely by early risers who want to stop work at 2pm. I like shopping late and sometimes need to, I don't like waking up before 10am, and I like to work 12 hours and then get two days off. I'd certainly appreciate longer than a 30-min paid and a 30-min unpaid break, tho, and I hate getting up so damn early at my current job.

People like doing things. People are diverse. The important things are pay, conditions, and having choices

[enbycrip]

Stuff I am finding difficult about the nurse’s strike:

There is a huge outpouring of stuff about “our NHS” and “our nurses” which is both brilliant, and unfortunately also currently being used to really beat and dogpile with abuse anyone who speaks up about shitty treatment, including medical disableism, they’ve received from nurses and other NHS staff.

Medical disableism is *incredibly* prevalent and leads to serious issues for a huge number of (I’d say likely most) disabled people. This partially reflects the disableism rife in the UK public - nurses and other healthcare workers are not immune to the barrage of right wing political messaging - and partially some serious structural issues in medical education.

I 100% support the nurse’s strike - because they are workers, and people, who deserve decent pay and conditions in their working life. It is a very difficult job, not only due to the emotional labour required in a caring role, but because they are dealing with an enormous amount of politically-motivated chaos as the Tories systematically underfund the NHS in an attempt to destroy it. I 100% support and approve their action to fight that bullshit and improve their situation.

However; this does not make nurses either “angels” or above reproach. It makes them humans suffering difficult conditions who deserve support to better those conditions - like other workers facing capitalist bullshit and exploitation.

It does not change that nurses, like other healthcare workers, and other carers, are in a power relationship with their patients which puts them in a position uniquely capable of abusing those patients. Particularly when those patients are already physically and/or emotionally vulnerable due to illness and/or injury, and/or they belong to already marginalised groups such as BIPOC, queer folk, and/or disabled folk.

It takes a lot of care and awareness not to abuse those power relations, and plenty of nurses, other healthcare workers, and other carers, don’t. They often perpetuate the systemic abuses marginalised people face, and sometimes they abuse vulnerable people on an individual basis too.

All these facts exist *together*. *All* of these things are true.

I’ve seen a *lot* of people raising abuses and disableism they’ve suffer be hit with “what, you want us to be the US?” This is such a fallacy in so many ways - notably 1) the issue of medical disableism is systemic, and fucking *hell* it exists in the US 2) disabled people tend to live in poverty and thus are in an even worse position in the US.

But most of all, it’s a fallacy because *exposing abuses within and criticising a system does not mean wanting to destroy it*. It’s about *wanting to improve it*.

It’s an example of the same issue that constantly arises with climate change protestors being screamed at if they ever use a car. It is entirely possible, indeed, essential to live within a system and yet *desperately* attempt to improve it.

I’m asking everyone who sees this to:

1) support the nurse’s strike, because it’s *essential* to support a large group of low-paid workers fighting to improve their working conditions

2) speak about the fact that it is possible to do this *and* want to improve how nurses treat patients, especially marginalised ones

3) actively go in to support any marginalised folks you see being dogpiled and abused for speaking up about medical disableism and medical and caregiver abuse.

Part of how systemic disableism operates on a social level is to treat anyone caring for disabled folks as “angels”, above reproach. Whether they’re paid to do so or not.

What this perpetuates is

1) disabled people being conditioned to accept any abuse they receive. The message is “be grateful you’re not just being left for dead”. Which is ridiculous. Disabled people are people. We deserve decent lives free from abuse like every other person.

2) people in those professions being conditioned to accept low pay and shitty working conditions. Because they’re “vocations” you do because “you’re an angel” who doesn’t think about money. Which is also ridiculous. Workers in every profession deserve decent pay and conditions for the work they do, and carers, systemically, don’t. Carers, systemically, are abused - they work long hours, for crap pay, and often in shitty conditions.

As a disabled person, I *want* carers to be paid and treated well. Because I’m a decent human being who wants other humans to live decent lives, AND because I think carers who are paid and treated well do their jobs of caring for vulnerable and marginalised people better.

Also: FFS, if you have any ability to do so, put pressure on Labour to actively support the strikes or change their bloody name.