#workers rights are human rights

[stealth-liberal]

Watch "Tom Morello (feat. grandson) - Hold the Line: Union Strong Edit" on YouTube

[sentientsky]

just a friendly reminder that, just because slavery was formally "abolished" in the so-called united states* in 1865, enslavement itself is still ongoing in the form of incarceration, which disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous people

(*i say "so-called" because the US is a settler-colonial construction founded on greed, extraction, and white supremacy) recommended readings/resources:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

"How the 13th Amendment Kept Slavery Alive: Perspectives From the Prison Where Slavery Never Ended" by Daniele Selby

"So You're Thinking About Becoming an Abolitionist" by Mariame Kaba

"The Case for Prison Abolition: Ruth Wilson Gilmore on COVID-19, Racial Capitalism & Decarceration" from Democracy Now! [VIDEO]

[sayruq]

The Malawi government has finally spoken out on the arrest of Malawian farm workers in Israel, clarifying that 12 out of 40 individuals detained are from the country. According to Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu, the 40 individuals, representing 13 nationalities, were arrested for leaving their designated work stations and seeking employment in town without proper authorization. Kunkuyu revealed that the group, including the 12 Malawians, had abandoned their farm work to seek jobs at a bakery in Bnei Brak, violating Israel’s labor laws and regulations.

Malawi and Israel signed a labor export deal in 2022, allowing Malawi to send unskilled laborers to Israel to work in various sectors, including agriculture and construction. The deal aimed to generate more foreign exchange revenue for Malawi and provide employment opportunities for its citizens. Under the deal, Malawian workers are expected to work in Israel for a maximum of 5 years, with a minimum salary of $1,500 per month. The deal also includes provisions for workers’ safety, health insurance, and protection from exploitation. However, the deal has faced criticism and controversy, with some opposition politicians and human rights organizations expressing concerns about the secrecy surrounding the deal and the potential risks to workers’ safety.

The arrest of the Malawian workers has raised concerns about the treatment of foreign workers in Israel and the effectiveness of the labor deal in protecting their rights. Human rights organizations have called on the Malawian government to take action to ensure the safe return of the detained workers and to review the labor deal to prevent similar incidents in the future. The incident has also sparked debate about the benefits and risks of labor export deals and the need for greater transparency and accountability in such agreements.

The mistreatment of foreign workers in Israel is well documented and would explain why the 45 workers escaped the farm to look for work elsewhere

[colourmeastonished]

The above response about Brasil is so interesting to me because I think the reluctance of people to accept that tipping as a subsidiary to people's livelihood is inherently flawed is based on how we (service industry workers) would be so fucked if people just Stopped tipping one day. Which is the exact problem being pointed out in the first place!

In Scotland it's the same as the Brazilian system described here, with a legal minimum wage plus most businesses including optional service charge on tables, but like Aye points out, if minimum wage isn't enough to live on, relying on your tips to subsidise that IS a lottery system you are forced into. Your livelihood depends on the number of customers you get in a day, on the way your tips are split between staff, on people's generosity/understanding of how tipping affects your financial situation, on whether or not a customer is petty enough to deny you a tip because they don't ideologically believe you deserve them for 'just doing your job'.

It's forcing service workers to work on a fucked up kind of commission that relies on the whims of the customer.

I'm a bar manager with 12 years of hospitality experience, who is objectively highly qualified and skilled in my job, who still gets paid barely over minimum wage because the industry is poorly regulated and treated as "unskilled labour". I rely on my tips to pay my bills because I'm disabled (thanks to lack of sick pay in this industry and the way my dependency on my job was weaponised against me during the height of COVID) and I can only work part time. Even on full time wages, the tips make a HUGE difference in quality of life, or in many cases, even managing to pay your bills on time.

And getting rid of the tipping system ISN'T SAYING that service workers don't deserve that extra income, it's saying that we don't deserve to have that extra income tied to an unreliable merit system that often forces us to tolerate harassment and outright verbal abuse in order to increase our chances of being "rewarded" with a little extra income.

Women straight up sexualise themselves strategically in the hopes of attracting the extra income they need, not to mention feeling like they can't call out inappropriate behaviour because it might risk the extra income of everybody on shift with them. Men ALSO tolerate grabbing and touching and sexual harassment from hen parties and older women to not lose out on tips. I watch teenagers and young adults go from being horrified by how they are treated, to waving it off because at least they're getting tips out of it CONSTANTLY (and the waving it off doesn't mean it doesn't affect them anymore, it just pushes it down into complexes and trauma and alienation from their own bodies and sexuality, and it's horrifying to watch time and time again).

We should get that extra money WITHOUT those caveats. We shouldn't have to perform and pander to absurd and dangerous levels on top of being skilled and pleasant and efficient in our jobs just to increase our income above the barest minimum our employers can get away with paying us. We should be supported by our profession so that we can have successful careers in it, rather than treated as a tool to discard when we become too sick, mentally or physically, to keep up with the stresses of living this way.

Tipping being the system we rely upon to give us the extra income we deserve in service jobs allows our employers to devalue us more, and to offer promises of 'decent tips' as a "perk" of the job, rather than bonuses or pay rises, or the dignity of being supported by our employers because we are doing the job we have been employed to do, rather than being encouraged to fish for charity from customers if we're unsatisfied with our financial situation.

If you think service workers deserve their tips, PLEASE translate that energy into pushing for base pay and worker protections for people in this industry to be improved.

TL;DR: I understand why people find the concept of getting rid of tips unappealing. We think that service workers deserve the extra income. This is TRUE, but we deserve it All The Time because our jobs are hard and skilled and physical, not just because we perform elaborate begging rituals to get that extra income.

One of the biggest scams in the world is tipping culture. Business should be forced to pay folk a decent wage.

Service workers shouldn’t be relying on their customers to pay more just so they can eat and pay rent. It becomes a lottery every week with how much they earn.

[keferon]

Two Peas in a Pod: part 2/?

*slips another piece into your mailbox*

_____________________

Jazz was still feeling a little woozy from his donation in the dark hours of the morning. Blaster had breakfast changed from the usual to something that felt more like a treat, probably a reward for his good behaviour, and to help his body recover. Fish heavy in proteins, fat, all that healthy stuff. Something that normally he would have tried to savour, but he wolfed it down from excitement. Too many questions ran through his head, and most he couldn't bring himself to voice.

The mer, the mer would pull through. Blaster told him about how he had saved their life with his blood. Praised him high and low. Because Blaster knew how Jazz felt about seeing blood, about how hard blood tests were for him, and that was only a tiny vial. Not three big bags of it. Jazz hadn't seen how much they had taken – because he had kept his eye closed until they left in a hurry –, and hearing about it made him dizzy for other reasons, but he honestly felt real proud of himself.

It was a new feeling, different from other moments of pride – like when he figured out the lock codes. Yeah, this gave him butterflies and the drive to help more.

Blaster laughed when Jazz offered that the vets could take more if the other mer needed it. His handler didn't think it would be, but he would pass it on to the vet team.

Jazz's morning checks were a little off, expected with having a little less fluids and feeling off-balance, but it was kept short and quick. Blaster told him that if he learned anything more, he'd tell him next time he came by and then hurried back down to the staff area. Blaster was needed elsewhere, understandably as there weren't many mer experts here, though he did leave Jazz his waterproof stereo if he wanted to play some of his favourites.

But, the orca mer was far too busy causing a whirlpool from the laps he was swimming. He was too excited to sit still, and embarrassment be damned he started practising old vocals. He didn't remember much of his mother tongue, and he was pretty sure that his pronunciation was off, that or had one hell of an accent. Echo-speech was even more rusty. And once he had gone over and over what he could recall, Jazz began to really worry. A few sentences and handful or so of words was all he had? Gods, I hope I can at least make a decent first impression. Blaster said they were just like me, so hopefully, that will give me some starting points.

More than he cared to count, Jazz would swim into the shallow waters of the medical bay and hope to see something through that window. But no one ever came close enough for him to hear any news of the mer. He couldn't even see anything on his radar, wherever they had done treatment, it wasn't in the hospital ward. It almost felt like he was being purposely kept in the dark.

And just when Jazz was starting to worry that things had taken a bad turn, a group of staff turned up around four pm. He wasn't able to ask any questions, or rather they refused to answer. Shooing him away as they got to work. Starting with closing the gate to the bay to 'keep him out'. Jazz could easily climb those walls, but that wasn't the point. Even if the gate window was closed, he could pick up that they were setting up the water hammock. But it wasn't until he heard the cautionary beeping of the hoist lift approaching that it dawned on him – the mer was coming. Now.

"Jazz," Blaster called, "… Jazz," he blew the training whistle and finally got his mer's attention. "Stop pacing and get over here."

"But–" Jazz looked back longingly up the wall.

"Jazz," his tone dropped to a firm one, and Jazz begrudgingly swam over to the pier. The human crouched and made sure that they held eye contact before he spoke. "I need you to promise me that you will stay in your enclosure."

He sunk a little, trying to play into his cuteness, but being far too anxious to really pull it off. "What do you mean?"

"Jazz," now warning him. Blaster knew full well that he was more than capable of getting into or out of places he shouldn't, bloody Houdini mermaid, "this is serious. Things are going well, we want to keep it that way. Which means keeping things calm and feeling safe. You're excited, I get it, we all are. But in about an hour, they'll be waking up and – from past experience seen with wild Mers – they will likely freak out. And the last thing we need is you hauling your tail over that wall and making things worse. Understand?"

The beeping was louder how and the hiss of hydraulics caused Jazz to look up. The arm of the lift was visible over the wall. They're here!

"Jazz," Blaster hopelessly called for his attention once more.

Within moments, a massive bundle was carefully raised, the staff calling out and coordinating. Jazz's gaze was fixed on the black and white fluke poking out, it was the only part of them he could see, and his heart began to race. Once they became hidden by the wall again, Jazz moved back to pacing by the gate without even thinking. Listening to people hopping into the water to unstrap the mer and call back n' forth. "Careful, careful! – Watch the head! – Someone give me a hand over here! – We're clear on this side! – Keep the head up!"

Really starting to sound like a broken record, Blaster chirped the whistle and called out to him again. The expression he wore must have been pretty pitiful because the look on Blaster's face dropped. "If I open the view port… will you promise me that you will wait, that you will stay in your enclosure?"

"I promise," he answered hastily, placing his hands on the gate, over the panel that would slide open.

"And that you will wait until everything is in the clear, till the staff come to oversee the integration. There will be no rushing things and no asking staff when we will open the gate."

"I promise," he repeated, trying not to beg.

Satisfied, Blaster pulled out his radio, "Blaster to Control; when the team is out of the Mer enclosure's medical bay, open the view port. Jazz's stress is mounting without a visual."

"Can do," came a quick reply.

Though, opening the panel was not. Several minutes went by, the hoist had cleared out, and much of the staff had returned to their other duties. Only two remained double-checking the mer's breathing and pulse. The moment that the last of them left, Jazz heard the lock disengage, and he retracted his hands as the panel shifted and began to slide open. The window was too small to get more than his hand – maybe up to his elbow if he wanted to push it – through, and sat just at water level– any movement sending water hopping to either side. But it gave him a clear view of the surface area inside.

Oh.

Oh. Jazz stopped breathing. While the mer's body was mostly supported by the fabric of the hammock, cradling them on their side, effectively hiding most of them from Jazz's angle. Propped up on a soft floating platform was the mer's head, face towards the gate. Sharp features and elegantly shaped finials, with flattering lines of their markings complimenting the peaceful expression as they slept. The butterflies from earlier came back stronger than ever, his heart thundering as words fumbled from Jazz's lips, "he's beautiful…"

_____________________

-GLC

Orca Prowl really is just-- too fucking pretty, omg, I'm living through Jazz in this moment like when I first saw your designs of him.

I'm more than happy to continue writing for you, you bring me so much joy. I screamed when I saw how much you liked it. If you have any requests you would like me to add to the story, leave it in the tags or comments ♡ I now plan to continue until the tsunami and a bit afterwards, maybe more, we'll see~

Upd: There is a next part!

Previous

Oh. MY GOD. OKAY ALRIGHT OKAY ALRIGHT OKA

I'M ABOUT TO START PACING IN CIRCLES JUST LIKE JAZZ OVER HERE KDLCNFJFLFB PL E A S E THIS IS SO GOOD. The tension?? You can fucking TASTE it IT'S SO GREAT GLC I LOVE YOU

The way it all starts at night and then you (as a reader) have all this additional time to boil in your anticipation?? So fucking great. Like you can really feel how little power Jazz has over the wholse situation. The plot is moving but he doesn't have any saying in it. Well. Yet heheh

Anyway haha. Im normal and I made some art>:D

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #32

August 30-September 6 2024.

President Biden announced $7.3 billion in clean energy investment for rural communities. This marks the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal. The money will go to 16 rural electric cooperatives across 23 states Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Together they will be able to generate 10 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power 5 million households about 20% of America's rural population. This clean energy will reduce greenhouse emissions by 43.7 million tons a year, equivalent to removing more than 10 million cars off the road every year.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced a historic 10th offshore wind project. The latest project approved for the Atlantic coast of Maryland will generate 2,200 megawatts of clean, reliable renewable energy to power 770,000 homes. All together the 10 offshore wind projects approved by the Biden-Harris Administration will generation 15 gigawatts, enough to power 5.25 million homes. This is half way to the Administration's goal of 30 gigawatts of clean offshore wind power by 2030.

President Biden signed an Executive Order aimed at supporting and expanding unions. Called the "Good Jobs EO" the order will direct all federal agencies to take steps to recognize unions, to not interfere with the formation of unions and reach labor agreements on federally supported projects. It also directs agencies to prioritize equal pay and pay transparency, support projects that offer workers benefits like child care, health insurance, paid leave, and retirement benefits. It will also push workforce development and workplace safety.

The Department of Transportation announced $1 billion to make local roads safer. The money will go to 354 local communities across America to improve roadway safety and prevent deaths and serious injuries. This is part of the National Roadway Safety Strategy launched in 2022, since then traffic fatalities have decreased for 9 straight quarters. Since 2022 the program has supported projects in 1,400 communities effecting 75% of all Americans.

The Department of Energy announced $430 million to support America's aging hydropower. Hydropower currently accounts for nearly 27% of renewable electricity generation in the United States. However many of our dams were built during the New Deal for a national average of 79 years old. The money will go to 293 projects across 33 states. These updates will improve energy generation, workplace safety, and have a positive environmental impact on local fish and wildlife.

The EPA announced $300 million to help support tribal nations, and US territories cut climate pollution and boost green energy. The money will support projects by 33 tribes, and the Island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. EPA Administer Michael S. Regan announced the funds along side Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in Arizona to highlight one of the projects. A project that will bring electricity for the first time to 900 homes on the Hopi Reservation.

The Biden-Harris Administration is investing $179 million in literacy. This investment in the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant is the largest in history. Studies have shown that the 3rd grade is a key moment in a students literacy development, the CLSD is designed to help support states research, develop, and implement evidence-based literacy interventions to help students achieve key literacy milestones.

The US government secured the release of 135 political prisoners from Nicaragua. Nicaragua's dictator President Daniel Ortega has jailed large numbers of citizens since protests against his rule broke out in 2018. In February 2023 the US secured the release of over 200 political prisoners. Human rights orgs have documented torture and sexual abuse in Ortega's prisons.

The Justice Department announced the disruption of a major effort by Russia to interfere with the 2024 US Elections. Russian propaganda network, RT, deployed $10 million to Tenet Media to help spread Russian propaganda and help sway the election in favor of Trump and the Republicans as well as disrupting American society. Tenet Media employs many well known conservative on-line personalities such as Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, Dave Rubin, Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen.

Vice-President Harris outlined her plan for Small Businesses at a campaign stop in New Hampshire. Harris wants to expand from $5,000 to $50,000 tax incentives for startup expenses. This would help start 25 million new small business over four years.

[lesboytism]

[troythecatfish]

[alwaysbewoke]

wow. "chiquita" and "death squads" are not things i expected to see in the same sentence.

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

HELP DR. ABD ALRAHMAN AND HIS FAMILY EVACUATE GAZA:

This is a confirmed legitimate GoFundMe - a fellow organizer is friends with a friend of Dr. Alrahman.

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - December 8-14

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles for 50% off this month!

1. Rooftop Solar Keeps Getting More Accessible Across Incomes

“The long-term trend is that the median income for a household with rooftop solar is getting closer almost every year to that of the median income for owner-occupied households.”

2. Endangered seabirds return to Pacific island after century-long absence

“"No native species were harmed during the removal of invasive rats from Kamaka Island,” Esposito said. […] The team also collected and planted native sedges and grasses while removing invasive trees to enhance nesting conditions.”

3. First-of-its-kind crew welfare measure adopted at Pacific fisheries summit

“The new measure establishes minimum standards on board, including access to clean food and water, medical care, and sleeping quarters. It stipulates that workers have “unfettered access” to their identity documents […] and “unmonitored access to communication devices to seek assistance.””

4. Greyhound racing is increasingly rare worldwide. New Zealand now plans to outlaw the practice

“New Zealand’s government rushed through a law to prevent dogs from being killed while the industry winds down, unless a veterinarian deems it unavoidable. This will prevent owners from euthanizing dogs for economic reasons, Peters said.”

5. Possible Win-Win for Wildlife Management and Food Security

“Wild-harvested meat donation programs can help improve food insecurity while also helping manage overabundance of wildlife species like white-tailed deer[…. In one program,] hunters donated 600,000 meals. But that’s only 5.7% of the amount of venison that food donation facilities could use, according to the Food Bank Council of Michigan. The researchers say this suggests there’s room for scaling up these programs.”

6. Poll of American Farmers Shows Strong, Widespread Support for Increased Farm Bill Conservation Funding

“The polling, which surveyed over 500 farmers and ranchers across the country, found broad support for continuing and increasing funding for climate-smart agriculture conservation programs.”

7. Long-distance friendships enhance trust in conservation efforts

“Relative to a person with no long-distance friends, having even just one friend in another village led to a 15% increase in conservation activities such as beach cleanups, reporting illegal fishing practices and educating others about sustainable resource management.”

8. Two major Sunshine State airports make switch to 100 pct renewables

“Power for operations ranging from lighting and air conditioning to escalators and charging stations will be provided from renewable energy projects [...] at the beginning of 2025, ensuring clean energy operations for the more than 8 million passenger journeys averaged each year.”

9. Expansion of federally subsidized public housing may offer a path out of LA's homelessness crisis

“[… A] half-cent sales tax [was] recently approved by L.A. County voters expected to generate $1 billion per year to address homelessness. […] “Metros with higher concentrations of federally financed public housing tend to have lower rates of unsheltered homelessness," Schachner said.”

10. $20 Million Available to Advance Habitat Restoration Priorities of Tribes and Underserved Communities

“Through this funding, NOAA will help support community-driven habitat restoration and build the capacity of tribes and underserved communities to more fully participate in restoration activities.”

December 1-7 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[fraugremlin]

Hello, with everything going on right now, I wanted to make a thread and ask Americans for resources that can be shared around for;

-Aiding Immigrants and families of immigrants, families who had their visa appointments cancelled and stuck at the border.

-LGBTQ+ resources to help people needing relocation or other situational things.

-As commented, Resources and Aid for people w/Disabilities both visible and invisible.

- General resources to give aid to impoverished or struggling communities.

-Political movements, protests, community projects and other forms of resistance.

Really, I want to make a collection of possible sources for people both in America and out to offer assistance to people who are struggling rn with the current events in US Politics and EU Musk Interference.

There is a lot of fear right now, so let's do the things we can. Even if you can't financially or physically participate, we must share any and all resources. We have to make sure the push back is louder than the fear right now. We need to make sure people can see there is still a fight and goodness in us. No sitting back in fear. We have to do something for everyone.

[wonderr-skyy]

Israel supporters: "Just go to Gaza"

Palestine Supporters: "With pleasure"

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

There is nothing in the record of the past two years when both Houses of Congress have been controlled by the Republican Party which can lead any person to believe that those promises will be fulfilled in the future. They follow the Hitler line – no matter how big the lie, repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth. If anything stands out in the history of the Grand Old Party during the past two years it is that its majority in Congress has waged perpetual, unending war on all fronts against the rights and the aspirations of American workers. I was there... I speak from what I have seen. The Republican members of Congress have been vicious in the passage of laws which restrict and deny fundamental rights to all those in America who have to work for a living. But meantime profits for the bosses have steadily increased. The bosses, I might add, are the members of the National Association of Manufacturers and other selfish employers who provide the treasure chest by which the candidates of the Grand Old Party seek to have you vote for them.

—John F Kennedy, Remarks before the Fitton Council of the Knights of Columbus, East Boston, May 18, 1947

[Robert B. Hubbell]

[im-not-just-physical]

me listening to Mother Mother Hayloft because IM F*CKING PISSED OFF

TW VENT AND SWEARING. it has nothing to do with alterhumanity, but with human society in general and I wanted to share.

My grandfather is such an asshole

he said literally; "educated people are smart that's why they deserve bigger wages and to live longer and better. Those who work physically are stupid and they just die. Everyone can do their work. they deserve only enough money to eat and nothing more. We who are educated and have higher positions in jobs deserve better treatment"

Bitch do you think that the fact you have diploma because your teacher from English did let you pass on the final exam because she secretly told you to never say you gave her money for letting you pass means you ate all knowledge of the world?

shut the fuck up bitch.

you're one of those who deserve guillotine.

GUILLOTINE!!!!

EAT THE RICH AND EAT THE EGOISTIC NARCISSISTIC FUCKS LIKE YOU!! FUCK YOU YOU SENILE ASSHOLE!!

I HATE HUMAN EGO