Submitted 1 year ago by eee@lemm.ee to workreform@lemmy.world
https://i.imgur.com/X9Yq3iP.png
What the UAW is doing here is fighting for all workers. This sets precedents that ripple across all industries. What formed the UAW back in 1937 took some balls, and so does this.
It’s not communism to fight for dignity and a living wage. We’re practically fighting for some more table scraps, but the rich are acting like we’re threatening social fabric.
Go and get it Shawn, this is exactly what we all need right now. Support the UAW.
In the last 20 years, we’ve seen the most rapid rise in productivity since the industrial revolution, and just like in the wake of the industrial revolution, there was massive worker exploitation that led to reforms and eventually unionization that ushered in a golden age of labor in America where workers were fairly compensated for the work they provided, so much so that it was easy for a salaryman to support a nuclear family on his single paycheck.
Since then, the business owner class has been working hard to dismantle unions while refusing to pay their fair share of the massive profit windfalls to the bottom rung workers. We are long overdue for sweeping multi-industry unionization effort. Only then will we start seeing something more than just table scraps.
Fighting for dignity actually is literally communism. It’s capitalist propaganda that has you convinced otherwise.
Communism provides a theoretical framework to advocate for those things, but it is not the same as doing those things. I think the distinction is important because it allows you to have a plurality or support
I mean, I can see a utopian vision of Communism where dignity is forefront, but I’ve also seen where it’s dystopian. Correct me if I’m wrong but the basis is to each according to their need and from each based on their abilities. Dignity isn’t mentioned, but the happiness and contentment of all is the goal so I suppose it’s inferred but not specified.
Either way, it doesn’t have to be viewed with any kind of social opposition. If we keep following the slippery slope of late game capitalism, who’s to say companies don’t just purchase legislation that re-establishes full on slavery? We have a fucked up oligarch system, and moments like this where workers unite is a good thing in any system. Free market my ass, and this is a moment where arguing for semantics is a side-discussion, for now it’s us against the oligarchs.
You don’t seem to understand that your distinction between the theory of communism, and communism as practiced, are both equally valid and accepted uses of the word. One is a theory, one created reeducation camps and killed millions of their own people. It is not capitalism that convinced me of this.
Reminder that some unions have merch you can buy to help support their workers during strikes. This one doesn’t, unfortunately. But always check. I have some damn cool looking tshirts for other labor movements (Rail, Starbucks, Truck haulers, etc).
You can sign their petition here:
Even China knows this. Give the hard working people a better job than mom and dad had and they won’t rebel.
The people who are rolling in their next billion have forgotten what happens when you take that away.
China is about to find out as well, they have something like a 30% new-grad unemployment rate, and Pooh Bear is on a bootstraps kick saying that social protections encourage laziness.
They’re on even thinner ice than the US.
I mean we all know what “didn’t” happen last time students got together in protest. Whatever became of the Hong Kong protest btw?
They are in the economic industrial boom that already happened to western countries decades ago. The problem is that eventually all booms end
That is just buying into accepting the current model where the rich can have it all at the expense of the poor. The model is the problem not the amount we have to distribute.
Apparently these billionaires vote & elect the folks who want to arm all of these workers you speak of. Sound logic if you ask me
Well nothing has happened, what is being asked of them is less than what they’ve taken. Worse case scenario is they give back some of the stolen goods.
But this is the same as a fine for breaking the law, they made more than they lost as a result so this is all factored in.
Fuck yea, love to see militant labor fighting for what they need
The UAW has always been pushing for Americans as a whole. Hats off to them.
Yeah, but Fain is the first democratically elected UAW leader (prior leadership was chosen by delegations and was fraught with racketeering and embezzlement) and it shows.
Wasn’t it that same episode where Rom basically says word for word that he doesn’t support unions because one day he might own Quark’s bar and then he’ll be able to oppress people too? What a great show, some people dislike the ferengi episodes but they’re some of my favorites in the series.
🖖
That’s red hot commie stuff right there. I like it :)
There is nothing communist about that. He’s not advocating abolishing private ownership. Businesses and workers both operate in the free market, which allows workers to advocate for their position in the market.
The free market doesn’t exist in a communist economy. Communism uses a planned economy, so the government strongly regulates both businesses and workers. This eliminates workers’ right to advocate for themselves.
There is nothing communist about that.
Advocating for a new economy, based on the challenge that the current one serves the owning class, is the very essence of the communist movement.
He’s not advocating abolishing private ownership.
Billionaires are the private owner, and they are being challenged, as well as the system that serves them.
Businesses and workers both operate in the free market, which allows workers to advocate for their position in the market.
No, the market confers freedom only to those who enter it already having the more advantageous position.
The free market doesn’t exist in a communist economy.
You previously gave an accurate definition of communism. Markets are not specifically or fundamentally rejected by communism, even though many would wish to see their eventual abolition.
Communism uses a planned economy, so the government strongly regulates both businesses and workers.
Communism seeks direct control of the economy by workers.
This eliminates workers’ leverage over employers.
Workers have no leverage over employers, because employers already own everything. Workers have only the power to withhold their labor, though doing so carries great risk.
Image Transcription:
X/Twitter post by user Teddy Ostrow @TeddyOstrow reading ‘“In their economy, workers live paycheck to paycheck while the billionaires buy another yacht… So we’re gonna wreck their economy cuz it only works for the billionaire class,” says @UAW prez Shawn Fain in Detroit.’
Attached is an image of UAW president Shawn Fain speaking passionately at a targeted strike rally against the Detroit Big Three automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis).
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I’m happy to see this transcription “service” here on Lemmy. Thank YOU!
Thank you! Hopefully I will one day have most people doing it themselves so I have less to do.
You are my favorite person today.
Thank you!
Why not? Megacorps and billionaires wreck the economy all the time, and exploit it for their favor.
Why not let the poor and worker class wreck it for once.
Set the whole goddamn thing on fire, and throw the rich into it.
Never forget when people were smuggling eggs from Mexico. We used to make fun of the USSR for that shit.
In USSR smuggling of food was only between cities and not cities. Usually from Moscow and St. Petesburg Leningrad. And usually limited to sausages.
…Lemingrad))))
Maybe we can get the gd bailout for once? Call it payback on their overdue loans?
Half the Republicans lost their shit over COVID stimulus checks, so I doubt that will ever happen sadly.
The more I hear about this guy, the more I like him.
Workers of the world, unite!
I like this Shawn. I really do. He’s saying the words and doing the actions. Go Shawn! Go!
Fucking legend. Hats off to him and the UAW
hell yeah fuck the oligarchy
That is something I wonder about. Inflation makes the poorer but when asked, economists are like “trust us, inflation is good”.
A small amount is good. Deflation makes it so not spending money is more beneficial. The longer you wait to spend the more the money is worth. This causes fewer products and services to be purchased, which pays for wages. Inflation makes the opposite true. The longer you wait to spend your money the less it’s worth. It encourages spending, not saving. Inflation that outstrips increases to pay is obviously very bad though.
Note that a critical part of that equation is that wages are included in the inflationary trend.
But other than that explicit detail, that’s spot on. Ultimately money is a “trick” we use to influence our productive behavior. So a slightly creeping number works best to make the “money” move instead of sit still, and the whole point of the mathematical model is that the things need to move around.
Currency isn’t worth a shit cause it ain’t money. Money should be out of all stable saving of value. Gold is money, precious metals are money, diamonds are money. Currencies are worthless shit created to infinity by banks and hold together by enforcement of governments which are deep in debt to those bank so cannot do a fucking shit about that. All of our tax money goes straight to banks.
With all of the credit balances being carried, I question the whole “people will just wait instead of spending because it will be more financially advantageous”. I’m also not so sure we really need an economic system that encourages and depends on increased consumption. It would be nice if we had a system that could handle inflation, stagnation, and deflation without imploding on itself.
To me, the biggest factor is that it means debt burdens get lighter over time, assuming you are at least covering interest (if not then interest will outpace inflation, though even the growing debt will be cheaper over time vs what it would be without inflation). Oh, also assuming wages match inflation, which is the other big factor. Your employer can save money over time just by being stingy with raises.
What’s the payoff in sending billions to the state known as Ukraine aka the former world’s largest illicit arms trafficker since the fall of the ussr?
Does deflation decrease all spending or just luxury and investments?
Inflation reduces the value of money at the bank: the money saved as well as the money borrowed.
In an ideal world, wages are indexed on inflation (way of calculating inflation in this context can be discussed), and inflation is kept above present targets levels (central banks try to keep it at 2% these days).
That makes your debts easier to reimburse, and limits returns on savings. Have you ever noticed that people who keep talking about the “value of work” actually push for low wages and no or low taxes on capital gains, so actually wants the capital to make more money than work?
A low inflation allows big money to hoard more and more. Higher inflation means money that’s not actively contributing to the economy will lose its value over time, and that’s exactly what you, at the bottom of the ladder, want (and considering top of the ladder is hundreds of billions of $, ever 6 figures employees are bottom of the ladder).
Too high inflation leads to an uncontrolled spiral. Deflation is also very bad (no investment will ever happen if your money just appreciate by doing nothing). But the 2% target is not to protect you. It’s made for money to make more money.
But about the link between wages and inflation: what we have today is a situation where we let cost of life dramatically outpace wage growth. So where did the inflation come from? Profits! That needs to be rebalanced.
From 1945 to the early 80’s (before the €), France and some other countries minmum wages were indexed on inflation. If doing so would instantly crash an economy, we would have noticed…
Inflation makes debt worth less. Generally the working class buys homes and cars by borrowing money.
Of course banks will charge more interest to compensate for this so a high amount of inflation isn’t good. Deflation is bad because the banks are going to continue charging interest even while the value of the debt principle is increasing.
So ideally you want a small amount of inflation so there’s some wiggle room before dipping into deflation territory.
There’s too much inflation so central banks have to raise interest rates which makes people less likely to borrow money which shrinks the money supply. This is how inflation is controlled, but also not a good situation as it can lead to a recession. So it’s a delicate balancing act.
Economics is called the dismal science for a reason. Nothing is intrinsically “good” there’s a cost to everything. And no socialism isn’t some cheat code that allows people to escape the dismal realities of economics. Best you can ever do is balance things well enough that everyone can have a decent life.
You saying it isn’t? How isn’t bankrupting the working class not going to make the working class thrive? LOL!
Only problem with this is that this doesn’t even hurt the ultra rich - every catastrophe is just a new investment opportunity for them. E.g. after Brexit they just moved their money and businesses out of the UK, leaving the poor schlebs who live there to deal with it.
Okay, let’s do nothing then…
Let’s goooooo 🔨
At this point I am all for a plan that will fuck me over but takes them down with me. Let’s do this shit.
When you have no roof over your head and it rains, just make a tarp from the skin of a landlord.
Ill roll those dice.
What are the odds this fella doesn’t get CIA’d soon?
Burn everything down if that happens.
What’s that? Given a fat pay check quietly and the next day he calls everybody back to work and increases Union dues
Oh look a bootlicker!
No, that’s called a Biden, except for the last part.
Hell yeah
If conditions are unlivable for too many people, that’s bad and it calls for a re-negotiation of everything. It also bears reminding today’s leisure class/ultra-wealthy that part of the basis for their existence as such was always a trade-off between them paying their workers enough to live with dignity and the metaphorical torches and pitchforks and guillotines staying in mothballs
On my commute home yesterday I encountered a “wide load” convoy that was hauling a millionaire’s yacht down the highway. Not a mega-yacht, just a yacht. I don’t care that it was just a millionaire’s yacht, I felt compelled to roll down the window and give it the bird.
I used to work for a guy who inherited the family company. He used every single loop hole and dirty trick to pay his employees as little as possible, no benefits or insurance… Nothing.
He found out I was turning 40. His advice to me was “a man’s age should never be a higher number than the footage of his boat”.
He didn’t understand that I don’t own a boat, didn’t own a house, didn’t even own my car.
Hell, even if you can afford it, a boat is a bit of a PITA.
Any boat is a PITA, but the longer the boat, the worse it gets. But it doesn’t get more ‘fun’, perhaps even getting less fun. A 20 foot boat with a decent engine can move nice and quick and manuever. Big boat is basically just a less convenient hangout that happens to be on the water.
“For the fired auto workers Who were twisted, tricked and robbed To the peasant in Guatemala In a sweatshop got your job And she can’t feed her family On the pennies that she makes Meanwhile the crime rate’s rising Up and down the Great Lake states
Like vegetables left in the field The signatures smell rotten On the contracts and the deeds That push the race down to the bottom As they load the rubber bullets As they fire another round I’m heading into the tear gas Dig in man, hold your ground
For Joe Hill and Cesar Chavez Who fought in their own time For our brothers and our sisters Up and down that picket line For the unnamed and unnumbered Who struggle brave and long For the union men and women Standing up and standing strong”
Tom Morello/The Nightwatchman - Union Song
I think a perspective shift is necessary.
“Destroy the economy” is about sabotage.
“Work for each other and against wealthy investors” would result in a smaller economy, but the focus is on the positive thing built, instead of just sabotage.
“Smaller” if you’re a billionaire. When they say “the economy” just insert “rich people’s wealth”. It wouldn’t be a smaller economy in reality, because what drives a healthy economy is people spending money. Rich people don’t spend money, regular people do. Regular people getting paid more and having a larger piece of the pie, counterintuitively means there’s more pie.
Thank you.
The problem is wealth concentrating in too few hands. And those hands are greedily reaching for more and more wealth.
We simply need systems to redirect the wealth from the 0.1%.
would result in a smaller economy
Only to the extent that withheld labor during a strike affects it. Once the strike(s) are over, an economy that puts more spending money in more pockets will be a bigger one
It turns out that the size of the economy is related to how well-distributed the wealth in it is. If most of the money goes into wealthy pockets and everybody else lives in a sort of poverty-imposed austerity, that depresses a lot of that economy’s potential.
What the UAW are after is not a smaller economy, but a more-robust (likely larger) one that includes more people in it.
We’re destroying the world through overproduction and over consumption.
I see a future where people can work less, instead of an attempt to keep people working full time.
That would be smaller, with less waste at the top.
Is it a smart move? No. But it’s the only one that could work
If it’s the last move you have left, it’s the only smart move.
We’ve tried playing by their rules, and the game is rigged against us. So now we make a new game.
It’s smart only when you’re pushed right up against the wall. Which, given the cost of living and wages now, this is.
Hell yeah brother
Based
The Federal Reserve is a scam
Where do I sign up
That… is a very…VERY BAD IDEA.
Billionaires have enough money to survive an economic crash without batting an eyelid. Do you?
Chivera@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Billionaires the original welfare queens.