This doesn’t mention one of the big wins from the WGA strike: transparency from the streamers on what people are watching. It’s part of the residuals win, but transparency is huge on its own.
Unions work. That's why the corporations don't like them.
Submitted 1 year ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to workreform@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/079cef90-331e-4a58-b650-f211f8c1337f.jpeg
Comments
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
theUnlikely@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
As someone who doesn’t know much about that industry, why is transparency on what people are watching important?
numlok@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The more popular a show, the more money writers get (residuals). In the old days, viewership was measured independently and those numbers shared (Nielsen). In the steaming age, streaming services basically tell writers, “trust us”.
AppaYipYip@lemmy.world 1 year ago
From what I understand a lot of Hollywood contracts (for writers, actors, etc.) include residuals for tickets sold or views on streaming services. However, streaming services did not have to provide the actual numbers of streams so people couldn’t determine how much money in residuals they were owed.
Gestrid@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Streamers are generally just a kind black box when it comes to what they recommend and what each show’s ratings are. If I’m understanding this correctly, transparency will allow for things similar to Nielson ratings and keep streamers honest.
Wouldn’t you want to know if everyone is actually watching that one show Netflix keeps recommending or if they’re just trying to make it seem like everyone’s watching it to inflate its popularity?
bstix@feddit.dk 1 year ago
The funny thing is that when employees are unionised and getting paid fairly, they can spend their time working on serious stuff instead of constantly fighting against being exploited.
The professional and successful companies know this well enough. It’s all the personally owned shit stores that think the owner himself can outsmart everyone by stealing nickles from their own employees to finance the underbidding of other companies and thereby delivering a shit product. Grow the fuck up already.
Quality work is done by qualified people who takes enough pride in their work to join a union of people who does similar kind of work, instead of winging it like a poorly paid servant.
HurlingDurling@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Tech worker union should be next
heavyladder63@lemmy.world 1 year ago
There is a tech union :) Presence of unions or pro-union movements has been growing a lot in major tech companies in recent years and they have already had significant achievements in improving workers’ conditions. If you would like to join don’t hesitate to check out CODE-CWA but remember the most important thing is to start building support for unions among your coworkers!
HurlingDurling@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Fuck yeah
gsf@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
Coming up this weekend! labornotes.org/techcon2023
lightnegative@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You don’t work in tech do you. Tech is all about the gig economy and changing jobs frequently to get better pay.
Unions only benefit the low quality tech workers that couldn’t get a job anywhere else
samson@aussie.zone 1 year ago
You only need to change jobs frequently because there’s no union.
Jumi@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I don’t know about the first part but the second one is a load of crap. Every employee can benefit from a union.
neshura@bookwormstory.social 1 year ago
This right here is Stockholm at its finest lol.
JokeDeity@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Wow. Incredible.
greenskye@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I feel like part of this needs to address the common claim that the businesses in question will go bankrupt as a result of the increases in pay for labor.
It’s great that unions increase pay. But that hasn’t been the argument I’ve heard against unions. It’s that increasing the pay will tank the company and everyone would shortly be out of work. Which I don’t believe at all, but that’s the common argument against unions
lemming741@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If your business model is ruined by fair wages, your business plan sucks and deserves bankruptcy.
Venomnik0@lemm.ee 1 year ago
and then they pull out the “you’ll kill small businesses tho”
phillaholic@lemm.ee 1 year ago
We heard all these excuses back in 07 in the lead up to the minimum wage going up federally. None of it came true and it never has.
tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I can’t think of a quick indisputable rebuttal to that claim, like I could say the companies have paid higher wages in the past relative to the value of the dollar and stayed in business, but there are a lot of factors involved that would need examining. But like another comment said risk is inherent in any business, if your business can’t succeed with these wages another company will fill your place. If no company can succeed with pay rates and benefits that are bare minimum for living then there is a root aspect of this setup that needs to change.
One thing we could do is look at companies that have unionized or increased wages and benefits for workers and were successful as a business afterwards. I don’t know any specific companies off-hand that are good examples, but there are probably some that could be mentioned if people doubt the possibility.
frezik@midwest.social 1 year ago
There are consulting companies that specialize in preventing unions from forming. If the law allows it (most US states do), they’ll get everyone to watch anti-union “training” videos. That’s not even getting into the historical violence that companies have inflicted on striking workers.
Companies would not do these things if they thought unions were no big deal.
MargotRobbie@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I am asking once again for your support of unionization and strikes. While the WGA strike is over, the UAW, Kaiser employees (soon-ish) , and of course, SAG-AFTRA, still need your support.
Because this is only the beginning.
Transcriptionist@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Image Transcription:
White text on a blue background reading
“Here’s proof that his year’s organized labor uprising is working:”
The next few paragraphs are in yellow:
"340,000 UPS workers won $30 BILLION in raises, more time off. and more full-time jobs after threatening to strike.
"Writers beat the greedy Hollywood CEO’s replacing them with AI and won increased residuals, healthcare, and pension contributions.
"Half a million Fast Food Workers in CA won a $20 minimum wage and a seat at the table determining future wages, benefits and working conditions.
“Half a million California Health Care Workers won a $25 an hour minimum wage.”
The final paragraph is in white again:
“Unions work. You can bank on it.”
[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for ease of use. Thank you. 💜 We have a community! If you wish for us to transcribe something, want to help improve ease of use here on Lemmy, or just want to hang out with us, join us at !lemmy_scribes@lemmy.world!]
HawlSera@lemm.ee 1 year ago
So uhh how about contracted companies that do janitorial working. Asking for a friend… who works the same shift I do.
NotThatKindofDoctor@midwest.social 1 year ago
Look into the justice for janitors movement! There has been unionization successes for contracted janitors!
HawlSera@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I will, my only problem is that I am in a state with very weak human protections, both a right to work, and a at will hiring state.
So, would love some resources and how to avoid being the one who, volunteers to bell the cat so to speak
sebinspace@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Crothall?
Say Crothall.
smackjack@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Crothal took over the housekeeping department in the hospital that I work at. The difference in how clean the place was before and after they took over is night and day, and not in a good way.
HawlSera@lemm.ee 1 year ago
It’s not Crothall
JokeDeity@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Where I work now, Big Lots, is the greatest example of a company that needs a union I have ever seen. However in the less than 6 months I’ve been there the staff has almost entirely changed and we’ve gone from about 15 employees to about 8. It’s the worst job, the worst pay, the worst hours, the worst benefits, the worst recognition, and the worst job in general I’ve ever fucking had by a MASSIVE margin, so naturally it forces employees to watch the strongest anti union video I’ve ever bore witness to in my life. I would love to start a union here, but by the time I even talked to everyone half of them will have quit already.
Serdan@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I hope you’re looking something else. You shouldn’t subject yourself to that bullshit.
JokeDeity@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Bro I’m barely hanging on. I can’t pay my bills anymore, I can barely afford to eat, I have zero energy and I’m depressed constantly. I have easily put out hundreds of applications on Indeed in the past few months and had no luck finding anything close to decent at all, I get a few calls here and there but the jobs are always wild as fuck, like the Amazon company that called me yesterday that wanted me to only work Saturday and Sunday for 12 hours each day. I have honestly considered pan handling as I know I would legitimately make ten fold what I’m making for 1% of the effort, but primarily these days I just think about ending it all.
Mouette@jlai.lu 1 year ago
You got to fight for a fair share of the revenu you’re generating those greedy fuck would not even pay you if they could
soloner@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Dumb question but what if the entire labor market started forming unions. Could every job out there be part of some union?
Would this be better? Or do some jobs not make sense to unionize?
lwe@feddit.de 1 year ago
I think any job could benefit from workers union. No matter if restaurant workers or software engineers. We can see right now the issues that exist with US at-will work situations and green card holders being held hostage.
I am part of a union as a software engineer and I wouldn’t have it any other way anymore. I am based in the EU though.
okamiueru@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I live in a country where more than 50% of worker is are in some union or another. Not a single person or union would allow it’s members to go to work if it was even remotely close to the situation in the US. Not to mention that you’d have to change a whole bunch of laws that give rights beyond what unions fight for, which don’t exist in the US
Lorindol@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
Same thing in my country. The percentage of union members has been in steady decline for years, mostly due to years of right-wing paid propaganda that has had an alarmingly great effect on the younger generations.
Another reason is that since the unions did such great work in the years after WWII, the working conditions in most workplaces are pretty damn good. Therefore many assume that “union membership is useless for me, why should I pay anything for something I already have?”
The unions are slowly losing their power to defend the workers due to this idiocy. Many of the unions have been poorly managed and haven’t done their work defending the workers as efficiently as they should have, this cannot be denied.
Right now our right-wing government is planning new labour laws that would break the peace between the unions and employers that has lasted for decades. A peace that has brought us such prosperity our grandparents couldn’t even dream of.
But no, the rich just must have more and more.
tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I don’t know if you are in Europe, but I work somewhere with high safety standards relative to what I’ve seen. We had a team from EU working with us and they mentioned a few of the things we did regularly wouldn’t be allowed in their country haha.
heavyladder63@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s best to unionize everyone as much as possible, and indeed there are unions for essentially every job, so that everyone’s pay and working conditions can improve as much as possible. Everyone deserves a shorter working week.
I saw another comment where I think you said you work in tech, so I will paste this:
There is a tech union :) Unions and pro-union movements have been growing a lot in major tech companies in recent years and they have already had significant achievements in improving workers’ conditions. If you would like to join don’t hesitate to check out CODE-CWA and remember the most important thing is to start building support for unions among your coworkers!
NathanielThomas@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Wish my partner’s union worked. Her contract expired nearly two years ago and her wages resemble something from the 90s.
Saurok@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The workers are the union and the union only works if the workers participate. You should encourage your partner to get with her coworkers and put some pressure on whoever is in leadership to get contract negotiations started. It all starts with a conversation with her coworkers.
CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Which union?
NathanielThomas@lemmy.world 1 year ago
BCGEU, British Columbia public sector union
ForgetReddit@lemmy.world 1 year ago
All of the money gained by the unions will be passed on to consumers, further concentrating everyone except billionaires into a class between middle and poor. What unions are doing are unquestionably good but we NEED it to be in tandem with a wealth tax and actually holding billionaires accountable.
heavyladder63@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If you’d like to join a union: join-a-union.github.io
MindSkipperBro12@lemmy.world 1 year ago
“Nice argument Senator, mind backing that up with a source?”
Chev@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You can also look at other countries that have been through all of this already. For example Austria. Now in 2023 nobody would ever dare to say that a Union is a bad thing.
Schnarf@lemmy.world 1 year ago
How does 30 billion split on 340k drivers work? That’s $88235 per driver… in raises?
DrPop@lemmy.one 1 year ago
But hyperbole and my friend said.
protovack@lemmy.world 1 year ago
love the UPS and healthcare workers stuff…but…fast food? I’d like to see every fast food place go out of business. Celebrating a bit higher wages from mega-corp fast food places seems a bit…odd, considering fast food is a cancer on society. although i guess if paying the higher wages squeezes them more, i’m all for it. But seriously…who in their right mind even goes to fast food places these days? it’s basically setting fire to your own money and health.
Saurok@lemm.ee 1 year ago
You can want fast food to go out of business while also wishing the workers there a very happy pay raise until then.
zsnell02@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
The one time I worked at a place with a union they won $25/hr wages. 3 months later I didn’t have a job because the place went bankrupt and I was making $0/hr
JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Good. If they can’t afford to pay their workers fairly, they shouldn’t exist.
CustodialTeapot@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They could, they just didn’t have a CEO who wanted less pay.
Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 1 year ago
What company? When was this? Or are you just peddling bullshit?
zsnell02@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
A small grocery store in southern Delaware called Annie’s, about 5 years ago
NatakuNox@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Sad trumpet, as any company that can’t afford to play their works enough to have life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. They don’t deserve to exist
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
(☝◞‸◟)☞
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Legally going on strike isn’t an uprising
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Please give us the proper legal definition of an uprising.
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Potatisen@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Also, sure this works in pockets of America but most people are still voting for Trump, against healthcare, against education, etc.
Lead poisoning, hookworms and propaganda has done it’s job. USA is on the brink of extinction, parts of it will survive for sure (CA/NY/TX?) but it’s going down. It’s a damn shame, for many reasons. Too bad the people of the nation aren’t caring for it.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Most people are not voting for Trump. Do you believe his stolen election lies or something?
tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Most people didn’t vote for him even when he won! Though I agree otherwise
stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Spoken like a true non American who knows nothing about what’s going on in America.
I don’t need to remind anyone where the troll farms were located.
ByteWizard@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Unions work, until they don’t. They are always corrupt in the end.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Unlike those totally clean and uncorrupt corporations that only have the worker’s interests in mind?
AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They’re never as corrupt as the corporations they keep in check, and they exist from member dues and are therefore accountable to the members.
ByteWizard@lemm.ee 1 year ago
and are therefore accountable to the members.
hahahaha.
Hoffa and Taylor have chosen to deliberately ignore the wishes of UPS Teamsters and side with the company against their own members, despite significant portions of the UPS Teamsters who want to take the fight to the company. In June, 90 percent of UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters voted to authorize a strike, and now a majority of UPSers have voted down both Teamsters contracts. Hoffa and Taylor don’t care.
rglullis@communick.news 1 year ago
Are there any numbers of jobs that were eliminated because of fast-food restaurants automating their kiosks and/or going delivery only?
JiveTurkey@lemmy.world 1 year ago
In reality won’t these costs just be passed on to the consumer because there is absolutely no chance corps are going to stop worrying about shareholders and profits above all? I’m all for unions and people making more but it all seems like a waste of the cost of these changes just translates to more expensive everything.
Cryophilia@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You think corpos could sell you a burger for $8 but are only charging $6 out of the goodness of their hearts?
Companies always have charged and always will charge as much as consumers are willing to pay. If consumers won’t pay enough to keep them profitable, they go out of business.
The whole concept of “passing on costs to consumers” is just a psychological ploy tricking you into accepting higher prices. If we don’t accept higher prices, they won’t pay higher prices.
If enough people believe that higher wages = higher prices, then it will become so. In fact it likely already has become so.
But higher wages COULD = lower profits/exec salaries/stock buybacks etc. If we refuse to pay higher prices. Or if there’s nowhere else to make up the costs, they go out of business. Capitalism baby!
Not_Alec_Baldwin@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yep, it’s corporate propaganda to blame price hikes on workers to put shoppers against workers instead of having everyone hate corpos.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Is this supposed to be legible?
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
How is it not legible?
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Most acquired colorblindness is blue-yellow.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
For some reason it was miniscule and illegible on my laptop.
doublejay1999@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Praise Jesus
Nougat@kbin.social 1 year ago
When a company spends money to discourage collective bargaining, whether that's in production of "training" videos, or closing facilities, or punishing organizers (who are more likely to call foul on that illegal activity), it means that they think that will cost them less than bargaining with labor in good faith.
They know they're taking advantage of labor, and it costs them less to keep the bootheel on than it does to negotiate. Seize the means of production.
downpunxx@kbin.social 1 year ago
sure sure seize it, then who's gonna manage it afterwards, and how much will they get paid, more, less, the same, for what sort of responsibility, who determines that, do managers count as much as front line assembly staff, do they have to work more or less. sooner or later the pigs become the man and the man becomes the pigs. seize it, we'll all be back here in a hundred years telling people to seize it from you.
Nougat@kbin.social 1 year ago
Management of labor resources is labor. So is accounting, and marketing, and training. Ownership is not labor. Stifling collective bargaining serves the purposes of owners by ensuring that more of the compensation for work product is taken away from those who labor to and given those who own.
Seize the means of production.
ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Just so you know. This idea is literally the same idea the evil guys have in the book 1984. They convince the main character that revolutions never make anything better, they only change who is in charge, and so there is no reason for anyone to change the dystopian system they have created.
TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The people the workers choose to be managers?
They will be paid by what the workers and the individual agree is fair?
The workers…
I feel like all of that is hard to apply to every situation… the whole point is that labour will able to come to a consensus about all of these organizational theoreticals you’ve erected.
Lol, are you saying that certain people are inherently the management and owner class? And after a hundred years of a system with a completely different organizational hierarchy, they should somehow still inherently perceive themselves as a higher class?
Do you hold the same insane opinions about other political hierarchies. Do you think there are like a group of deposed Royals that people are just aching to put back on thrones?
frezik@midwest.social 1 year ago
Just asking questions that have been answered a million times already.
Cruxifux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Believe it or not, there’s actually a lot of books about all of those things, and even better, they aren’t fantasy books used by North American and other capitalist schools to make young kids think communism is bad and drive them to inaction.
Sunforged@lemmy.world 1 year ago
And the bosses have no vested interest selling this idea to you. Corporate media has no vested interest feeding this narrative to you. It worker owned co-ops are a thing, and seizure from a corporation can be successful.