If you're one of these folks, consider unionizing. The best time to become an organizer is when you have one foot out the door. If you win, you get a union job. If you're illegally fired, you get a nice payout and a new job. I'm an experienced union organizer with lots of connections, I'm willing to help folks find resources.
Sure thing! The NLRB is a fantastic source, but only covers national labor rights. You'll want to look up your state's department of labor for local labor laws. CODE-CWA is the group I organized with, they specialize in the tech industry and offer free training each weekend; I know several of the top organizers in CODE, you'll be in good hands. Dr Richard Wolff's program Democracy@Work is a great general news source with a heavy emphasis on worker power and the broader economy. If there's anything more specific you'd like, I can definitely provide those too!
I'd love to see some of your thoughts against the hopelessness. One of the things I hear about a lot is how companies are good at union-busting. What're some of the suggestions you have in general on overcoming that?
It's understandable that people are afraid of union busting. Having been there myself, it feels like you're David going up against Goliath when you start out, and that's ok! You have to remember that they want you afraid, because if you're afraid then you can be manipulated by the company. The type of union busting people are most afraid of, namely workplace closure and firing organizers, is rare and illegal. Illegal union busting is also not very successful once challenged with the NLRB, they see through most of the lies.
Companies are good at union busting because every single thing the company will do in opposing your union is going to be framed as being "neutral" while every single sentence is going to be about why unions are "scary". You have to prepare yourself and your coworkers for the boss' campaign with inoculation, and that's where CWA's union busting playbook will be helpful.
I live in Minnesota so I never had the chance to shut down a captive audience meeting (they're illegal here), but the best way to shut it down is to get confrontational. Here's some of my favorite questions for union busters
Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr once said that union organizers are doing the Lord's work. Are you saying that he's wrong?
So what you're saying is that you, a contracted management consultant, were hired as an outsider to tell us that unions are a 3rd party?
How much is the company paying you for reading this script to us?
Wouldn't the company be better served raising our wages and benefits rather than wasting money to tell us their opinions?
The labor market in general is still massively in favor of workers on the whole. Yes, unionize in place where that makes sense. Jump ship, make more money, and make companies nervous as well.
And a new job at a desired position will get you 3x the raise than promotion within to that position.
HMW did a video on this, which informs why everyone quiet quits that is, doesn't work beyond their official duties in order to get management to take notice. So instead of putting your heart into your work, you half-ass your work and put your heart into seeking your next job (résumé, calling headhunters, etc.) and hope to to get upward mobility via job changes.
The companies screwed themselves over, by being too stingy with benefits and promotions, and by seeking to hire experienced workers from without, rather than training them themselves (and saving on onboarding).
You've got it wrong! Boomers are actually the number one generation currently ENTERING the workforce. I suspect that it's people who never prepared for retirement taking minimum wage jobs.
This is a really, really good news for the employer class. I remember some economists pushing FOR unemployment rate. It lowers the value of your labour.
GM just replaced 1000 software engineers with AI. You can argue that it's not AI all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that it's costing people jobs, and will impact 80% of the jobs on the planet in the next 10 years.
Fake news over last few months were tryingto explain to people they are making most money they ever made and their income increased higher then inflation (for like 1 or 2 quarters).
The people did not accept this shite as they can do basic math on money they got left after they pay rent and food. This aint rocket science and no amount of propaganda can fix this basic mathematical issue.
"We now have more jobs than we did before the pandemic. And workers aren’t just finding more jobs, they’re finding better jobs, higher pay, higher job satisfaction. And unemployment is down and so is inflation."
If they're saying there are more jobs, people are finding more jobs & better jobs, higher pay, higher job satisfaction... and inflation is down. But then people go buy gas, or go to the store, and still struggle substantially, or they want to buy a house for a family but the prices are out of control, or they keep getting rent increase notices... they aren't going to feel what the Democrats are selling, cause it isn't their reality. Poll after poll, the economy is the biggest reason people would not vote for Biden (and now Harris). They are trying to gaslight a majority of voters about reality.
Now, regardless you're still better off voting Democrat. I would not recommend voting for Trump cause he did worse & will do worse. But Democrats need to stop trying to gaslight Americans. Kamala has changed her tune a bit to try to recognize that people are actually struggling, but it doesn't help when they act like the economy is the best its ever been despite that not being a reality for a lot of people.