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:

Our Goals

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
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Thanks for subscribing to /c/[email protected] ! Now that we've grown (and are growing) so quickly, I've had some calls to discuss what this community is for!

What we stand for

As the sidebar says, Work Reform aims to increase the share of rewards reaped by the workers (as opposed to capitalists - be it shareholders or owners), and make work more equitable. We do NOT aim to abolish labor altogether - I personally don’t think that’s a viable societal system. There is no known system in human history where majority of the population can subsist without doing anything in return.

What we need to do

I see a few things necessary to reform the current economic system - let’s call it Awareness, Advocacy and Action:

  • Awareness means getting people to realise that the corporate propaganda they’re hearing isn’t the whole truth.
  • Advocacy means going out and telling people to join the cause, form a local union, etc.
  • Action means taking organized action - writing to politicians, organising dialogues and strikes, etc.

What this space can be used for

In short, all of the above!

  • To raise Awareness, you can post anything that talks about the issue of wage disparity. That means venting about scummy practices, that means posting news that counters corporate propaganda, and that means posting memes and screenshots of relevant tweets.
  • To engage in Advocacy, you can post news about organised action taking place elsewhere that we can celebrate or contribute to.
  • To take Action, you can start a local chapter of your union, organize/engage in online campaigns, etc. This space can be used to help gather people for that purpose.

I personally think the most important thing now is to get more people to rally behind the cause (which means Action and Advocacy). But some of you have really good ideas on taking Action. So feel free to use this space for that purpose.

As it grows, we can discuss how best to use this community as well, so the rules may evolve over time.

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cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/29825277

By popular demand, one last map to examine the absurdity of the American economy.

If you saw my map from yesterday that was up most of the day, please see the corrected version below. I done goofed hard on copying a column of state names. The original post has been corrected, but I will also post my previous two maps on this post for easy comparison.

Edit: the red map, for anyone unaware, is based on current individual state minimum wages and not the current federal minimum wage

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JPMorgan Chase employees believe their work-life balance and health and well-being declined following the bank’s decision to return to office full-time in March, Barron’s reports. Based on an internal survey released this week of 90% of the workforce, the aforementioned areas scored lowest, alongside opportunities for internal mobility.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/45142518

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Don't get me wrong I really do like working remotely. However, being able to walk to a person's desk when they have been ignoring your emails is power move I miss having access to. I have been emailing this guy for two weeks and getting nothing. I have been including his manager on the emails, still getting nothing. The next person up is the CFO and I have already been told no I can't include them on the email thread.

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I’ve been a freelance journalist for 10 years, usually writing for magazines and websites about cinema. I presented a morning show on Radio Kraków twice a week for about two years. It was only one part of my work, but I really enjoyed it. It was about culture and cinema, and featured a range of people, from artists to activists. I remember interviewing Ukrainians about the Russian invasion for the first programme I presented, back in 2022.

I was let go in August 2024, alongside a dozen co-workers who were also part-time. We were told the radio station was having financial problems. I was relatively OK with it, as I had other income streams. But a few months later I heard that Radio Kraków was launching programmes hosted by three AI characters. Each had AI-generated photographs, a biography and a specific personality. They called it an “experiment” aimed at younger audiences.

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Brazilian prosecutors are suing Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD and two of its contractors, saying they were responsible for human trafficking and conditions "analogous to slavery" at a factory construction site in the country.

BYD did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC but has previously said it has "zero tolerance for violations of human rights and labour laws."

Authorities halted construction of the plant late last year after workers were found living in cramped accommodation with "minimum comfort and hygiene conditions", the MPT said.

Some workers slept on beds without mattresses and one toilet was shared by 31 people, it said in a statement.

The MPT also alleged that construction site staff had their passports confiscated and were working under "employment contracts with illegal clauses, exhausting work hours and no weekly rest."

Prosecutors said the workers had up to 70% of their salaries withheld and faced high costs to terminate their contracts.

"Slavery-like conditions", as defined by Brazilian law, include debt bondage and work that violates human dignity.

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Stephen Hemsley who turns 73 in June, will get a base salary of $1 million a year—big money but actually below the usual salary for CEOs of such large companies. More important, he would get a one-time $60 million grant of stock options, with a twist: He would get the payoff only if he remains CEO for three years. He would get no other stock-based awards in that period.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30734977

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A former employee of Wikipedia’s parent company has filed a federal lawsuit alleging she was fired after reporting her direct supervisor for gender discrimination and harassment.

The woman, Kayla Mae, was hired by the Wikimedia Foundation in November 2022, where she worked as a software engineer for nearly two years.

Her role allowed her to work remotely from Texas, and she was assigned to work on a team managed by Dennis Mburugu, a Wikimedia employee based in Kenya.

Within the first few months of her employment, she encountered problems with Mburugu, according to her complaint. Among other things, Mburugu asked her inappropriate questions about her sexual identity — she is a transgender female — and inquired about her medical history, Mae wrote in the complaint.

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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/64411674

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Last Thursday, May 16, a veteran worker at the sprawling Ford Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan, collapsed and died on the shop floor after his shift at the body shop somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. The deceased worker was identified as Darius Williams. Co-workers on the afternoon shift told the World Socialist Web Site that Williams was one of the highest seniority workers in the plant with 33 years at Ford.

His team leader reported that Williams had said good night before walking toward the exit with no sign of pain or discomfort. Workers nearby saw Darius crumpling to the floor unresponsive just before reaching the exit door.

An emergency response team attempted to revive Williams with a defibrillator but their efforts failed. As of this writing, there has been no report of a medical diagnosis to explain the sudden death of Darius Williams.

Over the last few years there have been scores of deaths at the Rouge complex. The company is systematically intensifying the rate of exploitation, laying off entire shifts and doubling and tripling the number of jobs an individual operator must perform. Many report that older workers are especially targeted for the grueling treatment in a deliberate effort to force them into early retirement, disability or death.

Workers at a recent factory meeting called by management reported that a co-worker defied intimidation to denounce this deliberate policy. He said:

They just double up jobs for the people who have high seniority—make them do two jobs and wait for them to drop dead. The speed-up is pervasive and many workers do not speak out, because the union has done nothing to defend their co-workers who have.

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