this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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Whoa whoa whoa let's not "both sides" this shit. There is one party doing this, and another party sometimes having to make concessions to them.
Guess which party is working on all of this right now (minus the higher taxes part)?
Hint: the answer is not "neither"
the US democrats are far right conservatives by most countries standards. You saw how they fiercly opposed the idea of a somewhat lefty candidacy and instead brought on Clinton, who is a neoliberal economist and war hawk and Biden who is also a neoliberal economist and has a strongly racist history.
Who gives a fuck, they're not regressive fascists. "Both sides" is bullshit propaganda.
I am not saying that "both sides" are equal and it doesnt matter what to vote. I am saying that the problems will not resolve as long as the democrats are not moving towards being an actual center/progressive party. So it needs the activism on the streets and in the companies, because there is no political solution available in the current US party system.
Why does it seem like you guys have never heard of primaries? Or democratic party elections?
I stood in line to vote for my local reps who go to the national Dem party who decide what the party platform is and what to spend money on and who to support. Did you even know that was a thing?
How does that relate to the US democrats mostly having conservative/right wing positions? Also how do the primaries help you, when the US elections are significantly influenced by who can muster the most money in return for representing the interests of their money givers? Your constitutional court even argued, that bribing politicans is a form of protected speech.
Ah I see, you're not American so you literally don't know.
General elections for us are binary. We vote for Democrats or Republicans or we throw away our vote. There's no 3rd party.
Primary elections are where we determine the candidates that will be put forward for each party. This goes for President but also every other executive branch office, at the federal and state levels.
Internal party elections are where we decide the party reps who decide funding, advertisement, official party endorsements, etc.
Bernie lost the primary election because his core supporters have no idea any of these other races exist. They show up, barely, every 4 years to vote for president.
More centrist progressives like me show up every single election. We are constantly pushing our agenda up the chain.
Flighty Leftist voters don't stand a chance until they consistently show up to push their agenda.
i know what the primaries are. The system to remove political options from the general elections and push them into party internal factually excludes people from political participation and making their voice heard. You know, the working class people that cannot get leave from work to participate on these elections.
Also the difference between a two party system and a one party regime is one party. So US democracy is rather fragile by design. That is why people need to take the struggle to the factories and streets. The system and also the democratic party in itself is structurally rigged against them.
The idea of some glorious revolution that will fix all the problems in our democracy is the equivalent of Christians believing that Sky Daddy will send them to heaven.
And that is why you are the economically best developed and militarily most well armed third world country.
The parts of us that consistently vote Democrat are nomal, rational places to live. Funny how that works.
your normality is not our normality. Of course it is possible that all the European countries are crqzy communists and have a skewed view on the world, but i find it more probable that the US is out of order. For instance having protected leave when expecting a baby is guaranteed by all but two countries in the world. One of them is the US and the other is some island state in south asia iirc. That is something i'd expect a centrist government to solve imnediately. Obama himself made the ACA so that still most people need to get private insurance argueing that its 3 million jobs in that system. Even Maggi Thatcher did not dare to fuck public health insurance in Britain.
Of course your reference frame is the US, but i can only emphasize how eye opening a look into Europe might be, to see how far right the entire political system of the US really is.
...is a conglomerate of 50 different countries.
Parental leave is a right in my state. Health care is nearly universal. Vote by mail is universal. My state guarantees sick leave and paid time off to vote, care for a sick family member, or other circumstances. My state has sane labor laws, rent control, anti-corruption measures, and progressive taxation.
You clearly have no idea what the US is like, so kindly stop talking about something you have no knowledge of.
The US is not a "conglomerate" nor is it different countries. You do not have a passport from your state and if your state would seceede there wont be many international recognition.
Also it is quite telling that you say that you have these rightsin your state, so workers who dont habe them shouldnt fight for them. Then again i think you just saw recently in the abortion decision of the supreme court, why it is dangerous to leave these things to the state level and not have them on the federal level or better yet constitutionally protected.
Waah waah technicalities. Stop distracting. My original and central point was that in Democratic strongholds, the US more closely resembles a European standard of living. Do you agree?
Stop making shit up and pretending I said it.
My point was that the workers need to fight, because they have no political means. You showed that they do have some political means, which i interpreted as an arguement against them fighting and trying the political way.
While i agree that there is different states with different levels of workers rifhts, i still think that the political route is not reliable, in particular in the states where republicans are dominatinf but also because of the reluctance of the federal level of the democratic party to grant and protect workers rights. These need to be governed by federal law and their principles should be in the constitution.