Something that really bothers me about any discussion relating to agriculture is how the word farmer is thrown around as if it's clear who they're referring to. Like, the farmers, I believe are actually the owners, right? And the workers are the people who actually do the farming work?
Of course the owners are resisting extra safety measures. It costs money.
Since capitalist modernization of agriculture, the word "farmer" has lost all meaning. Some are genuinely trying to grow the best vegetables ever while others never touched dirt in their life and spend all day doing finance bro stuff
Just based on my own experience the workers are probably refusing it too. My wife works retail and practically begs her coworkers daily to wear something, anything. We give them our own supply and they say no. Americans of all stripes are genuinely unwell.
I can't get my co-worker to use the fucking hand guard when operating a meat slicer. There's also the constant using of milk crates instead of ladders. There is absolutely no reason to neglect safety to get the job done faster. You're hourly
Beyond propaganda, this is also the sad reality that a lot of PPE is uncomfortable as hell. I've never worn a comfortable pair of steel toes, face shields get fogged up in un-airconditioned warehouses, and let me tell you how nasty your hands will smell after a day of sweating into protective gloves. It fucking sucks, it's necessary but it fucking sucks.
Yeah, that's true. I had really comfortable steel toed Doc Martens though, for what it's worth. But they were for concerts, not labor. People kept stepping on my toes so I upgraded.
I have a feeling it's more ideology than discomfort though.
It’s also motivated by dogshit working conditions. The discomfort of wearing PPE can be managed by offering more breaks and planning for time lost to ensure proper safety. Now, how many places allow for any of that?
I am not very sympathetic to this perspective at least as it pertains specifically to respiratory PPE for two reasons:
I have an autoimmune disorder that means I don't really have a choice in the matter if I do it or not, regardless if it is the most uncomfortable thing in the world. If I can do it, any one else can, too.
My wife works on her feet for eight hours a day with a total commute of about three hours on public transportation round trip, never taking the N95 off at any time in this window aside from a half-hour isolated outdoor lunch break, and by her own admission it is not bad & she seems to manage just fine with all the discomfort people seem to hoot and hollar about. I just don't buy it.
Oh I wasn't referring to masks specifically. Those generally aren't that uncomfortable. Only time I've had an issue with a mask at work is when I got so sweaty the thing literally melted off my face. That was an edge case though.
I just re-read your response and I feel I ought to at least apologize for not realizing it sounds like you're in real rough manufacturing or engineering of some kind which I understand the discomfort more. I just have such a hair trigger anger response to hearing this same shit from teenage cashiers and middle-aged managers who sit in their back offices all day, saying shit like "it's so uncomfortable" for a couple of rubber straps on their heads. It's ridiculous.
I used to work in industrial brewing, which yeah is pretty hot and sweaty. And yeah masks can caffe a bit in this conditions. But even there I managed to deal.
Now I'm trying to get my masters degree. So don't worry about it.
The media will say “farmer” and Americans conjure up an image of the yeoman farmer - the rugged, self-sufficient hard-workin’ (white) man. But this isn’t 1824. At best, the typical farmer (really, “farm owner” is more appropriate) is pretty involved in the business aspect and may even be out there regularly in the crops and checking out things. But still, most of the work is done by poorly paid workers - the overwhelming majority are undocumented. And at worst, the farm owner just lives in a sprawling farmhouse and does nothing other than cut a check to a management company (who still just hires mainly undocumented workers).
I don’t actually want this happen because it hurts workers, but I almost would like to see racist chuds get their wish and have every undocumented worker deported. That would create an economic collapse that would make the 2009 financial crisis look like a balloon party. This country would starve as the ag industry would collapse overnight.
don’t actually want this happen because it hurts workers, but I almost would like to see racist chuds get their wish and have every undocumented worker deported. That would create an economic collapse that would make the 2009 financial crisis look like a balloon party. This country would starve as the ag industry would collapse overnight.
there have been state-level crackdowns that caused problems like this but the hogs can't look at that and stop being racist for ten minutes
american 'farmers' are latifundistas, not cultivators. they're slavedrivers of unfree precarious labor at the most 'personal' level or regular bourgeois rentiers that don't even see the harvest
Something that really bothers me about any discussion relating to agriculture is how the word farmer is thrown around as if it's clear who they're referring to. Like, the farmers, I believe are actually the owners, right? And the workers are the people who actually do the farming work?
Something that really bothers me about any discussion relating to agriculture is how the word farmer is thrown around as if it's clear who they're referring to. Like, the farmers, I believe are actually the owners, right? And the workers are the people who actually do the farming work?
Of course the owners are resisting extra safety measures. It costs money.
Since capitalist modernization of agriculture, the word "farmer" has lost all meaning. Some are genuinely trying to grow the best vegetables ever while others never touched dirt in their life and spend all day doing finance bro stuff
Just based on my own experience the workers are probably refusing it too. My wife works retail and practically begs her coworkers daily to wear something, anything. We give them our own supply and they say no. Americans of all stripes are genuinely unwell.
I can't get my co-worker to use the fucking hand guard when operating a meat slicer. There's also the constant using of milk crates instead of ladders. There is absolutely no reason to neglect safety to get the job done faster. You're hourly
Propaganda is a hell of a drug.
Beyond propaganda, this is also the sad reality that a lot of PPE is uncomfortable as hell. I've never worn a comfortable pair of steel toes, face shields get fogged up in un-airconditioned warehouses, and let me tell you how nasty your hands will smell after a day of sweating into protective gloves. It fucking sucks, it's necessary but it fucking sucks.
Yeah, that's true. I had really comfortable steel toed Doc Martens though, for what it's worth. But they were for concerts, not labor. People kept stepping on my toes so I upgraded.
I have a feeling it's more ideology than discomfort though.
It’s also motivated by dogshit working conditions. The discomfort of wearing PPE can be managed by offering more breaks and planning for time lost to ensure proper safety. Now, how many places allow for any of that?
I am not very sympathetic to this perspective at least as it pertains specifically to respiratory PPE for two reasons:
I have an autoimmune disorder that means I don't really have a choice in the matter if I do it or not, regardless if it is the most uncomfortable thing in the world. If I can do it, any one else can, too.
My wife works on her feet for eight hours a day with a total commute of about three hours on public transportation round trip, never taking the N95 off at any time in this window aside from a half-hour isolated outdoor lunch break, and by her own admission it is not bad & she seems to manage just fine with all the discomfort people seem to hoot and hollar about. I just don't buy it.
Oh I wasn't referring to masks specifically. Those generally aren't that uncomfortable. Only time I've had an issue with a mask at work is when I got so sweaty the thing literally melted off my face. That was an edge case though.
I just re-read your response and I feel I ought to at least apologize for not realizing it sounds like you're in real rough manufacturing or engineering of some kind which I understand the discomfort more. I just have such a hair trigger anger response to hearing this same shit from teenage cashiers and middle-aged managers who sit in their back offices all day, saying shit like "it's so uncomfortable" for a couple of rubber straps on their heads. It's ridiculous.
I used to work in industrial brewing, which yeah is pretty hot and sweaty. And yeah masks can caffe a bit in this conditions. But even there I managed to deal.
Now I'm trying to get my masters degree. So don't worry about it.
I wear a pair of steel toed Puma trainers at work. They’re very comfortable. Comfort costs money.
Do they wear a seatbelt when they drive?
Probably, but growing up I knew people in my family only one generation prior to me who never wore seatbelts as long as they could get away with it.
Same. Isn’t that the same thing though?
The media will say “farmer” and Americans conjure up an image of the yeoman farmer - the rugged, self-sufficient hard-workin’ (white) man. But this isn’t 1824. At best, the typical farmer (really, “farm owner” is more appropriate) is pretty involved in the business aspect and may even be out there regularly in the crops and checking out things. But still, most of the work is done by poorly paid workers - the overwhelming majority are undocumented. And at worst, the farm owner just lives in a sprawling farmhouse and does nothing other than cut a check to a management company (who still just hires mainly undocumented workers).
I don’t actually want this happen because it hurts workers, but I almost would like to see racist chuds get their wish and have every undocumented worker deported. That would create an economic collapse that would make the 2009 financial crisis look like a balloon party. This country would starve as the ag industry would collapse overnight.
there have been state-level crackdowns that caused problems like this but the hogs can't look at that and stop being racist for ten minutes
american 'farmers' are latifundistas, not cultivators. they're slavedrivers of unfree precarious labor at the most 'personal' level or regular bourgeois rentiers that don't even see the harvest
I've said it before, the idea of them being kindly old white men that just want to tend to their fields is pure propaganda.
What's funny is that they don't even need that. Most people in this country would rush to defend them since "gubmint can't tell US what to do!"