this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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What is going on with the comments here? Tipping is great for the worker. It allows me to sell my labor directly to consumers without the ownership class taking a cut as middleman.
Frankly, I have to reemphasize what the author said: Not tipping changes nothing for the owner; it only exploits the laborer.
Tips shouldn’t be the main source of income. It should be a bonus for good work. Tipping culture in the us is getting crazy compared to Europe. The base salary should be enough to be able to live on.
Sounds like you're operating off how you think tipping should work, and not the organic system that's actually in place.
Being paid by the consumer rather than the restaurant means my loyalty is to the consumer, not the restaurant. And that's a good thing.
If your place of work has chosen to pay you so poorly that it's now my fault that I've failed to supply you an adequate wage for your work in an industry where service is not a big component (the bakery employee bagging up some cookies for me is not getting a tip no matter how awkward their PoS system tries to make it - delivery drivers and waiters obviously are a different story) then I'm simply not supporting your employer and I genuinely hope others follow they go out of business, well aware that that fact is the reason they stopped getting customers.
You're screwed one way or the other unfortunately, but I'd rather we send a clear message to the people actually responsible for this awful situation you're stuck in where you have to rely on the generosity of customers to make a decent living, than continuing to subsidize their terrible business practices and allow this cycle of abuse to continue not only unabated, but actively financially supported. This can't be the norm everywhere. Arguably it shouldn't be the norm even in aforementioned businesses where it's long been accepted as the norm already. You and I both know your idea of this being "selling labor directly without the ownership class taking a cut" is a falsehood, because their cut is coming from your base wages, while enabling customers to effectively 'not pay' for your labor, with nothing you can do to prevent that because you're not in control of what you earn.
I would be 1000% in favor of people having that power to sell their labor directly and name their prices. But it's this duplicitous system that doesn't allow the laborer any control, while stealing from them, raising prices without the ability to be up-front and honest about what something is going to cost. The only reason you're mad at customers and not your employer, is you feel you have the power to change one, and not the other.
Right, and this is a place to talk about work reform.
Yeah, but "reform" has the connotation of "making things better" and also "working within the current system". Scrapping a working system for the sake of ideological purity ain't it.
And in the article, the barista mentioned not making more than $30,000 a year. If minimum wage were higher, around $15-$20 then the barista would make more than $30,000 a year with no awkward tipping moments. Sounds reform within the current system with no tipping and “scraping the whole system”. No please don’t complain that my latte cost more, that’s been a straw man since the beginning of minimum wage.