:soviet-hmm: Really makes you think.
I just posted a link for anyone that wants to sign up for an online meeting with labor organizers in c/labour.
There is basically a general strike underway and it's being framed as a labor shortage and desperately trying to be swept under the rug, if you're engaged in any sort of organizing attempts, if you've had walkouts at work, sign up for the meeting next Tuesday. There has never been a moment in my nearly 40 years where US workers have had the leverage that we do right now.
But wasn't actually a capital strike? Like companies whining about not having workers when it's actually not that bad?
Also a general strike going on everywhere in the world but nobody noticed any of us? Like, an invitation or a dm at least
There certainly is a retaliatory capital strike underway as well. The reason it's not being portrayed as such is because it isn't really an organized affair, its a combination of people taking expanded UI benefits and a massive surge in job openings letting potential applicants be more discerning and having broader employment choices.
Nah you're good just go there and agitate. Just you choosing not to show up is way less than going in, getting payed, and convincing more people to walkout in solidarity.
Wouldn’t a general strike basically amount to several major cities shutting down for weeks on end?
No it just means a widespread work stoppage. What do you think is causing all these restaurants and retail shops to post all these desperate signs begging for applicants or apologizing for long wait times or early closing?
Even at the height of the labor battles of the early 20th centuries there were rarely city wide shutdowns, sometimes a company town would all strike but that was usually put down by force.
Just because people aren't out picketing doesn't mean the same dynamic isn't at play.
i also work retail (for a few more weeks) and they've incentivized us with a $2/hr raise and literally begging me not to quit. We need to turn online orders off every weekend because we simply don't have the staff to keep up with demand.
No I work in retail and am engaged in organizing and connected with a lot of labor orgs. There's a huge shortage not because people aren't seeking work but because the service industry and retail aren't offering competitive wages and there's a huge amount of job openings across the board.
The jobs on offer are not good though.
It’s like “up to $15/hr” “must be available 24/7” “only get 20 hours/week” etc etc all the jobs are such bullshit that it’s not worth it to work there.
Why have the openings increased so much even faster than the quits? Are there new jobs being created on top of the old ones that can't get filled?
One person who knows what they are doing quits and they have to hire more people.
When I left my last job , they split my work between four of my colleagues and also had to replace me with a new employee. I left because I was doing the jobs of too many people and had like a dozen bosses.
so its sorta like the more productive laborers moved on and they have to now pay for the surplus value they were previously exploiting.
This may be it. Before covid, my gf was noticing more and more people quit, and their job duties just got parceled up and distributed to people who still worked there; lots of hemorrhaging without replacement.
But now that those people have quit, turns out people are demanding at least 75% of a living wage to do 3 peoples’ jobs, so they’re not filling these overworked and poorly paid positions.
At least, that’s plausible, given how I’d been viewing (office, petty size firm) labor before the pandemic.
It's been a slow burn of this for years, but the Covid fiasco has given a lot of near-retirees reason to call it good and move on all at once. Not to mention that the capitalist economic system specifically disincentivizes workers from staying and building experience at a job in its current form, so you have people (professionals, but others too) constantly bouncing around all over the place cause it's the only way to get a substantial raise, which is obviously very efficient at scale.
I read an article the other day saying that automated resume readers are probably fucking over most applicants because they'll exclude the resume for some reason.
