this post was submitted on 18 Jun 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 textbook? I'm just some guy on the Internet.
In what way has quality of life dropped? We wouldn't be having this conversation 10 years ago. I enjoy being able to experience an open source platform such as Lemmy, from my smartphone while getting drunk and lounging about at home. I couldn't have done that without advancements in technology. I feel like that improves my quality of life at no cost. An example of how my life is improved, regardless of wages.
I'm paying devils advocate. I'm all for wages increasing for the average person. I just want people the feel happy for all the amazing things we have in our modern world.
Something has definitely gone screwy and we've definitely not gotten the balance right - but equally I'd tend to agree that QoL has substantially improved since the 70s. Air quality, many medical advances, many more people in less labour intensive jobs, safety and quality of products has also improved substantially. General societal attitudes towards women and minority groups is better as well as all the tech and toys.
Housing is messed up and there's seemingly been a shift towards the rich, the taxes imposed on the wealthiest in society has been reduced and income inequality has increased. We may or may not be more stressed (I tend to think we are) and capitalism in general has shifted from worker first to shareholder first.
The stats above definitely don't tell the whole story either, doubling productivity while reducing price, for instance, may increase access to a product to consumers with no net gain to the company and while this is almost certainly not the case in every scenario, it just shows we can't just cherry pick stats blame all of society's ills on them.