this post was submitted on 06 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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Yeah, the fact is there are just some jobs that need to exist but don't have a great sense of purpose. Very few peoples "purpose in life" is garbage disposal, but we'd be screwed if everyone gave up sanitation to seek out art or stem fields. If it pays the bills and the workplace culture is good, I'm fine with sacrificing "purpose" in my job so I can bettwr achieve purpose outside of it.
Frankly the crappy jobs nobody wants to do should be the ones that pay the best and offer the most benefits.
Construction, farming, salon workers, landscaping, garbage collection, cleaning, hospice care, meat packing, the people that cleaning port-a-potty’s and airport bathrooms. The crappy menial jobs where companies hire immigrants who speak little to no English and are paid $14.50 an hour.
My family stayed at a hotel during a house cleanup for a month. The hotel cleaning people spoke no English and immediately pulled out the phone to translate. I felt absolutely awful that I could not communicate with them. I felt bad that they had to cleanup after us. We ended hand the person who took our towels and changed the bed at least $10 a day as tip.
When I go to a nail salon to get a pedicure I give at least a 30% tip, closer to 50% as they have to deal with my disgusting feet.
When landscapers come I give them cold water.
My grandmother (lives in Toronto) had a care worker come to her house daily for over a year when she needed help putting on her blood pressure socks. The care giver was an immigrant from Jamaica. She was paid $19 per hour. Her rent skyrocketed during covid and she and her 4 roommates couldn’t afford to live. My grandmother grew up in a small town in Canada where all the money made was used to bring over any family that survived the holocaust. She said she knew what it was like to not to have so my grandmother gave her a few thousand dollars.
My dad is also an immigrant who grew up broke. He said to one of his buddies he tipped extra because an extra $5 would mean a lot more to someone else than him. I don’t know how he is today though (he’s a male Karen/ demands everything and usually it works out/ immigrat poverty mindset). What I do know is he had a business trip to Aparth South Africa once and the clients were pissed off that he had the audacity to pour his on Diet Coke instead of the “servant”.