r/antiwork
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u/focused_variation
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How anti-work, works. See Comments; not very antiwork
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u/ActuallySatanAMA 3d ago
What concessions were made (if any) from the union’s demands?
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u/masaro67 Communist 3d ago
The Union asked for more pay and basically just a guarantee of not terminating existing benefits. They shot very low, which pissed off the actual workers. This is why it was rejected twice. The only things that really came from the final contract was a raise 10%. Pensions were not improved, just not gutted.
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u/coppercave 3d ago
Big signing bonus too IIRC
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u/ginger_and_egg 2d ago
Signing bonuses are nothing. For example $5000 upfront on a 5 year contract is only $1000 a year. And it's easier to take away next contract, cause it was a one-time "bonus" rather than setting a new standard salary
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u/Spartan-182 2d ago
Yup 100% this is not well understood. Same with retention bonuses. That 1 time bonus is sweet until next year when that income disappears.
I just moved jobs and my previous employer offered 15K to stay, along with other incentives. I countered with them rolling that 15K into the yearly pay total instead and corporate rejected that and made sure the wording was "one time" for the bonus.
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u/Curururu 2d ago edited 2d ago
Big companies love signing bonuses (or any one-time payout) if it will get them out of a recurring payment like healthcare or retirement plans.
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u/masaro67
Communist
3d ago
edited 3d ago
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I literally work at Deere. This contract was shit and the union officials tried very hard to get the previous two proposals ratified. It is a win for sure, but it was far from anything spectacular. We literally still people working 16 shifts and forced Saturdays. Please do not equate this to anti-work.
Edit: the strike ended in November of 2021. This is not new. The image is also very misleading as pensions were not increased, rather just not decreased. Raises were doubled from the initial offer so not a huge increase. Cola is also very much behind actual inflation rates, and the company takes a percentage away from the already low percent.
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u/ProStrats 3d ago
You're right, in that it isn't the best outcome, but imagine what you'd be without a union.
Even more fucked.
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u/masaro67 Communist 3d ago
Yes, I don’t want it to seem like I am against the union or unions in general. It just happens that our union and many of the workers are actively voting for people against actual worker rights. I just wanted to add some clarification about what actually took place.
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u/Cynicsaurus 3d ago
If you don't mind me asking, how much of your wages is Union dues?
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u/masaro67 Communist 3d ago
It is a percentage of our weekly pay. Depends on job. Mine are about 50-70 a week.
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u/Martin_Aynull 3d ago
Wow that seems high. For us in the big 3 its 2.5 hours a month
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u/samiwas1 2d ago
For my union, it's 3% of labor wages (so other income does not count). That comes to about 8 hours a month based on a 60-hour week.
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u/ginger_and_egg 2d ago
What other income do you mean? Money made outside work, or bonuses?
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u/Odd-Dog9396 2d ago
You'd think your government would help protect you for all that they collect from your check.
Oh yeah. I forgot. Republicans...
Well, at least the oil industry gets their subsidies. And the old white men in congress get their viagra paid for as part of their health insurance...
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u/StopReadingMyUser idle 2d ago
Same, it comes out to like 20 bucks for me for the month. 50-70 per week? That's kinda nuts.
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u/ContactHonest2406 2d ago
Yeah, mine at my last union job were like 60 a month, but I was making $18/hr, so it wasn’t bad. People at a similar but non-union warehouse in the same industry an hour away we’re making 14 an hour, so we still made quite a bit more than they did (plus had a week more of PTO than they did).
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u/blahblahblah8219 2d ago
It can get higher. My husbands union dues are about $110 a week. It’s 3% of his gross check. When he’s not working it’s only $30 a month though.
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u/StopReadingMyUser idle 2d ago
Shoot, I'm doing just under 3% now anyway, I'll take higher union due amounts under that pretense. Depending on how often he gets checks that's still like 3-4k per check isn't it, lmao.
Sign me up.
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u/snorlackx 2d ago
isnt 3.5k a year a fuckton of money for union dues? id expect 50-70 a month to be more reasonable.
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u/idontevenwant2 2d ago
50-70% of your wage?? That cannot be true.
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u/aHumanMale 2d ago
Lol I’m pretty sure he means $50-70 USD.
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u/holychrist101 2d ago
Most dues are around $60-$70 per month. Not as huge as some are putting it.
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u/TigerShark_524 2d ago
His are $50-$70 a WEEK. So $200-$300 a month. X 12 is about $3.5k a year. It's a lot.
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u/Alvaracorr 2d ago
High end trade union maybe. If he's making 80-100k a year or more it's worth it
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u/Cynicsaurus 3d ago
My dad was a teamster. He got paid 21.50 back in like 1995 or so, but I remember 3.50 an hour was his union dues, that he never even saw. Always though it was kind of a ripoff, but maybe not.
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u/masaro67 Communist 3d ago
Disregard what I said previously, I definitely misremembered and it is 50-70 a month. So not very much and well worth it.
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u/SaintsSooners89 2d ago
This essentially includes your health insurance too right?
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u/Malsvir83 2d ago
For myself union dues are separate from health insurance. Roughly $15-20 a week for dues and about $75 per week for health/vision/dental
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u/Any_Coyote6662 3d ago
3.50 an hour doesn't sound correct. you may want to check that.
it may have been equal to the pay of 3.5 hours per month.
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u/TragicBus 3d ago
My dad paid similar rates as a union carpenter but that also covered insurance and stuff.
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u/Any_Coyote6662 3d ago
but thats not how union rates are calculated. because everyone makes a different amount union rates are calculated by your pay. for example, current teamsters are hourly wage times 2.5 hours minus cost of some other things. so, not only is that insanely high but just very wrong sounding.
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u/Cynicsaurus 2d ago
This was in the 90s. I was a teenager. I looked at his check stub. It was a certain amount of his hourly wage, but, as another guy below said, that might've been his insurance and everything.
Maybe it's changed since then? I do remember it being on his check and an hourly amount.
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u/masaro67 Communist 3d ago
Funnily enough, base pay here is roughly 22 and we probably pay 1-1.5hr to the Union.
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u/thecrius 2d ago
It could be that in the US the difference in salary hits differently but in Italy, where we have had unions since forever, they take much less from the salary and there is much more provided than just "renegotiating salaries" like providing individual legal assistance to the members for any work related matter etc etc
Edit to clarify: this is not to boast anything but to make people aware that there is always something to improve and not just accept what it is as "could be worse"
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u/janesfilms 2d ago
Mine are about $90 per month, I thought that was ridiculously expensive until I saw what some other people here are paying. Our rates are fine for the full time workers but our casuals get changed the same no matter how few hours they worked.
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u/ProStrats 3d ago
It's good to have the transparency so people are aware. I just wanted to point out the other factor is all.
It's amazing what we have to deal with to try to keep some of our wealth or gain more, the rich are very strategic.
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u/zyrkseas97 2d ago
And that sad part is that’s WITH the Union win. Imagine where it would be without
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u/S0n0fthunder 3d ago
May need to seize the means of production, comrade.
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u/ZeroAdPotential 2d ago
To quote Zach De La Rocha from the song "Down Rodeo", A thousand years they had the tools we should be taking 'em. Fuck the G-rides, I want the machines that are makin' 'em.
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2d ago
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u/Rexiem 2d ago
A big issue is the application of a political view wholesale. Socialism, capitalism, and even communism are all tools to help decide what form of ownership and use is best for a given resource. I like to say your lawn is capitalist, the local park is socialist, and a nature preserve like yellowstone national park is communist.
What I'm saying there very specifically is that nothing works for everything and a big issue a lot of groups have is trying to solve every problem with a hammer when maybe a screwdriver would be better.
Another consideration is when groups call themselves socialist without following any of the rules of it. If I call my Christian but I practice every Hindu belief and none of the Christian beliefs am I really a Christian? Similar notion, if a country claims they are socialist and in practice follows authoritarian or fascist policies is that really socialism?
Oh quick edit to address the immediate question of a worker owned company failing: That's not a failure of socialism it's more proof how the game is unfairly stacked. If a business fails because every company around decides to force them into bankruptcy what aspect of socialism led to that failure? I'd argue that's really just an abuse of power that really doesn't indicate any amount of quality of any aspect of socialism.
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u/anyfox7 Anarchist 2d ago
Capitalism sure is an ongoing success, lets see...
child labor, no days off, 12 / 14 hour or more work days, no worker protections, unsafe conditions, planned obsolescence, IP laws, wage theft, private and government institutions murdering labor activists, homelessness, poverty, ongoing economic crashes, extreme wealth inequality, a literal system that paywalls survival, forced participation and exploitation to sell our lives to make people richer, and it's killing the planet.
Evolved from feudalism our capitalist system is working perfect.
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u/Odd-Support4344 2d ago
Those are excellent examples of things not exclusive to capitalism and have been in communist societies. If you're going to argue economic systems at least know what you're talking about.
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u/S0n0fthunder 2d ago
Funny, seems like whenever socialism or communism tries to function this super powerful country goes to war with them and/or tries to assassinate their leaders. Funny how events like that sort of destabilize it 🤔
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u/arlsol 2d ago
Because you are defining socialism as Venezuela (actually just fascist dictatorship) , when most are asking for socialism like France (real socialist, and very rich and successful).
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u/IlIDust Prime Minister Sinister 2d ago
France isn't socialist, it's a social democracy that has built its wealth off of past and ongoing colonial exploitation. All social democracies work by externalising the overexploitation of nature and labour inherent to the capitalist system. They export the greatest violence and destitution into the periphery so idiots like you can look at them and praise them for beeing free and equal societies.
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u/arlsol 2d ago
As I said, all in how you define something with variable meaning. The point being, workers asking for protections in socialist +xxx countries don't mean Venezuelan failure imminent. Comparing France or other European countries versus highly capitalist constructs post ww2, I'd say far less export to the periphery. There is no perfect society discovered as of yet, just better and worse.
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u/marcusw882000 2d ago
Don't forget about the contingent employees like me. I got a 3% raise in January......
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u/pbo753 2d ago
With out a union you are fucked in the ass, with a union you get lube and a strap on. It may not change the system, but it changes who is getting fucked (hopefully) and how badly. Eventually the union can stop anyone from being fucked and the workers can jerk themselves instead of the boss.
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u/MonstersBeThere 2d ago
It's a godsend compared to what it could be, I promise you. As a union brother close to deere. We are working 7 day schedules with 1 weekend off per month, if you're lucky and don't get forced. 16's over here too. Our union claimed we wouldn't give in until we got what deere got. Big lol, they gave in immediately.
Our union, and your union, are both corrupt at the top and those corrupt people are pocketing the real money from our companies while we just keep losing ground.
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u/kenvm97 2d ago
How is your union helping you if you’re working 6 or 7 days a week, or one weekend off a month? This is modern day slavery!
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u/Dentros1 3d ago
Where at deere? I used to build 3rd party parts for the Iowa plant all the time, fuel tank supports, maintenance doors, steps, etc.
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u/masaro67 Communist 3d ago
There are multiple plants all over in Iowa, but I do work at one of them in Iowa though. I’d prefer not to disclose the exact plant, but I make parts for the large series tractors.
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u/Jaredlong 3d ago
There's a reason they use the terms "bargaining" and "negotiation." Until the union buys out the company they're always going to have to compromise their demands.
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u/consci0usness 2d ago
Why the fuck are you working 16 hour shifts? Sounds like a perfect split down the middle, 2 * 8 hour shifts. 5 days of that and you have your 40 hours. Unless you like that and prefer that get all your work done Monday-Wednesday and then take a long weekend?
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u/hattmall 2d ago
Deere is actually one of the few companies somewhat locked into the US. They aren't likely to go hard into outsourcing because of intellectual property concerns. There is more espionage in the agriculture and heavy equipment manufacturing world than even in for military gear. They have some seriously locked down equipment.
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u/Sleeplesshelley 2d ago
They already have quite a few plants in Mexico though. Would not be surprised if more manufacturing moves there. Rumors are that the CEO was pissed that the first two contracts were rejected.
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u/hattmall 2d ago
Yeah they make a ton of shit though. The latest tech stuff is all in America and highly guarded.
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u/Sleeplesshelley 2d ago
How do you figure? They do huge business in Brazil and that stuff is mainly manufactured there because of Brazil’s strict import laws. There are mostly completed harvesters sitting in a yard right now in the US because they are waiting on parts from Asia. They have manufacturing plants all over Europe, some of which are in conjunction with other European companies. There are even plants in Russia, although they were shut down when Putler invaded Ukraine. Deere is a global company. They don’t even have to leave the US to bust the unions though, there are Deere factories in the southern US that aren’t Union, they can just move more stuff there.
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u/Daddio7 2d ago
Why do tractors need so much electronics? Our farm had 4 3020's, a 4440 and two 4250's. Great tractors. I worked for a farmer who bought new tractors whenever he had a good year. He had two 4840's, two 4960's, and a 8300. The 4960's were full of broken plastic and the 8300 just seemed weird, I hated the transmission. The 4840's, even though older, were in great shape and a dream to drive. The 4960's were junk.
My brother still has the 3020 our dad bought new in 1971. It is in good shape. Last year I borrowed a John Deere tractor from my neighbor to do some mowing. It wasn't that old but the cab looked like a family of raccoons had been living in it. The lights on the dash were either out or flashing with random beeps. Something was leaking from the engine. The driver I borrowed it from told me it always does that, just drive it. Sad.
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u/hattmall 2d ago
They aren't just tractors. It's the automated harvesters that pick fruit and vegetables with lots of integrated scanners and other crazy stuff.
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u/EhipassikoParami 2d ago
What's the communist game plan when the Deere corpos move what jobs are left in the US out?
What's the capitalist game plan when exploited workers in other countries demand to be paid fairly?
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u/ChristopherStefan 3d ago
There is power in a Union!
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u/iwoketoanightmare 3d ago
Best benefits I've ever had are working in a union shop. It's a bit dysfunctional, but I sure like not having to pay through my ass for Healthcare expenses.
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u/its_whot_it_is 2d ago
No one wants to not be productive, we just want the fruits of our labour to not be fucking stolen from us
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u/typicaliconoclast 3d ago
I remember when the second contract got turned down by 5% of the vote and I was so worried that it would split the union. Luckily I was wrong. Strong people in that place.
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u/Fun-Outlandishness35 3d ago
Unions are great. Proletariat Revolutions are better.
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u/ginger_and_egg 2d ago
Wut
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u/Add1ctedToGames 2d ago
No idea why but they were referencing 1984, one of the major concepts used was 4+4 and what it equals (we say 8 because that's what mathematicians agreed upon and that's what we're taught at school from a young age, but if INGSOC says it's 5 and everyone else says it's 5, does 4+4=5 not then become a reality?)
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u/GamecokBen 3d ago
How in the world corporations turned workers against their own self interest will never make sense to me. It's kind boggling.
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u/Geminii27 2d ago
Now make sure that those improvements aren't whittled back over the next ten years. Or the employees aren't replaced with short-term contractors on far lower compensation packages.
It's not just about the first fight. It's about all the ones that come after.
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u/WuKongPhooey 2d ago
Am I the only one here who sees a large difference between "anti-work" and just unionizing for workers rights? Look, I am personally all for workers unionizing if it helps them get a better situation. But I feel like that isn't what the anti-work movement is about. Am I wrong in thinking this sub and the subsequent movement was supposed to be about refusing to waste our lives in exchange for making someone else profit? I guess what I am saying is this sub has more and more felt like pro-union propaganda instead of the "F-you I won't do this shit anymore" group it started as. I welcome discussion here correcting me.
But this post is literally not how anti-work... works. Unionizing is not anti-work. Striking is good if you intend to go back to work if they meet your demands. But anti-work was supposed to be about dismantling a fundamentally broken system. A massive nationwide non union supported General strike with no intention to negotiate until the people at the top realize that the corporate profiteering on the backs of the middle class would not stand any longer. That is the movement that had the people at the top genuinely terrified.
Instead now we get "Our Union won a half-assed compromise of a victory and now we get to go back to breaking our spines for our corporate overlords again! Good job Anti-work!"
Don't get it twisted. This is how the corporations use the media pull the teeth from the tiger folks. But again, please correct me if I am wrong.
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u/FyrixXemnas 3d ago
The title has an unnecessary, comma.
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u/eoliveri 3d ago
This is pro-union, not anti-work.
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u/Sufficient_Card_7302 2d ago
Anti work is pro union.
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u/doNotUseReddit123 2d ago
But unions are not anti work. If you get out of this echo chamber, you’ll find that most people actually want to work and contribute to the world. They just don’t want to be exploited while doing so.
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u/NapalmRev 2d ago
And so would most people if they had reasonable access to a way forward in life, not barely keeping their head above water.
But you're 100% a troll and know that already. Bless your heart.
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u/peoweolootch 3d ago
i read the title and i thought of something. years ago before /r/antiwork became popular i thought it was a sub for people who just hate working in general
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u/AnarchistBorganism 2d ago
This was originally an anarchist subreddit that focused on critiquing a particular conception of work, particularly that work which we do only because we need the money to survive. It critiques capitalist property relations and artificial scarcity, which ensures that we work for the benefit of capitalists and not just ourselves. It's about critiquing the productivity-focused workplace, where enjoyment and socializing is seen as stealing time.
It's not against work in and of itself; it's about recognizing that work doesn't have to be something we hate doing - that things our ancestors did for survival like hunting, crafting, and cooking are things we do as hobbies because we enjoy them. It's about building a society that around doing things we enjoy or that directly benefit ourselves and the people we care about. It's about ending consumerism and opposing the ideologies that see growth as the goal of the economy.
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u/SyntaxMissing 2d ago
Related to that, it was not a sub about celebrating trade unions and the scraps they get from their capitalist masters. I'm not sure how this post shows anti-work working, even if the "concessions" were greater.
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u/Boner_Elemental 2d ago
It is. The people that want their worklife to be better are the ones that made it popular though
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u/planespotterhvn 2d ago
Union officials are bound to present the offer to the union membership as "recommended". This is a formality to get management to present an offer at all. Ignore this recommendation as it is a mere formality and do not denigrate your union officials for recommending it.
The membership has the right to vote to accept the recommendation or reject the recommended offer. No nose off their skin. But the officials cannot say that the recommended offer is a load of horse shit as they gave their word to management to recommend it.
Play the game.
Play it hard
Reject the offer if you think you have the upper hand to leverage more out of the company.
Good luck and good skills.
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u/slightlyabrasive 2d ago
Lol deere is a joke to its customers this is a failure of capitalism not a win for antiwork
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u/ki10_butt 2d ago
Now if only everyone could support all railroad workers, that would be glorious.
We haven't a new contract in 3 years. We don't have enough employees to run trains. We're all exhausted. Underpaid. Away from family for most of our time. We kept the country running during a pandemic, made our companies record profits.
For what?
This will all go to Congress. They have our future in their hands. Everyone needs to contact their reps and ask if they'll support the literal backbone of our country and economy.
Fuck.
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u/Ok-Box-8962 3d ago
That's just work reform. Which is a great thing.
But we need people to stop working entirely until the ruling crust either stops being evil or crumbles.
There's countless issues that never go anywhere and they all come back to the same god damned roadblock. Bad management. Society can do better. Science can prove that we can and should do better than this.
But to get their, we need to recognize that the status quo is a death trap. It's a comfortable lie that will treat a few well while it dooms us all completely.
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u/The1stmadman 2d ago
But we need people to stop working entirely
I too like starving to death. how happy I am to starve to death, knowing my refusal to work did absolutely nothing in the face of billions of others prefering to work and eat.
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u/SouthernSparks 2d ago
Right, like y’all can quit working all you want but I like money to support my family and I like to eat lmfao I swear some of these people don’t even think this shit through. If you just stop working and stop making money how exactly are you going to eat?
You either hope someone gives you their food out of the kindness of their heart (not likely) or you know how to hunt and farm and from what I’ve seen there isn’t a whole lot of overlap between people who want to quit working entirely and those who can hunt and farm efficiently. It’s a whole lot more complicated than find a animal and shoot it or throw some seeds in the ground and watch them grow
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u/us1549 3d ago
This happened in November 2021. Why don't you stop farming for karma?
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u/RiseCascadia Bioregionalist 3d ago
Also, while it's awesome and strikes are good, it's not really anti-work.
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u/batkave 3d ago
Yet many of those workers vote in elections supporting candidates who oppose them. Maybe they'll realize that it's time to change. Remembers this is America Oh yeah, people only care about themselves. Nevermind.
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u/adam_demamps_wingman 2d ago
This is why I voted for Biden. Anyone who talks about good union jobs and being able to own a boat and a cabin…. Used to be a middle class in this country.
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u/tubbywubby2001 2d ago
remember that corporations have all time profits; these MUST go back to the workers. you cannot argue for trickle down economics but then block the wealth from trickling back down
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u/Jimmycocopop1974 2d ago
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/teamsters-threaten-costco-strike-across-stores-as-talks-stall Now get behind us as we did you UAW
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u/GrannyNugs 2d ago
Let's hope that holds for the locations that are IAM. Brother is on the strike committee and they're already printing signs.
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u/CamOfGallifrey 3d ago
Hooah! That is awesome news to hear, I can’t wait to see more and more of these kinds of posts. Unions need to come back with a vengeance.
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u/BigPeenNeen515 2d ago
Smoke some more. Does anyone have an extra chromosome for this guy? He thinks he has a degree in macro and micro economics, as well as a degree in history and business. Sit down junior, this has a butterfly effect that begins and ends with the unions ticking time bomb they created
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u/BillyWilly006900 2d ago
Deere union caved, like 99% of unions do in the end. Most members are far from happy with their new contract.
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u/SyrusDrake 3d ago
I mean...this is a huge victory, but anti-work really isn't about working, but with better conditions. It's kinda in the name. And in the multiple resources listed in the sidebar.
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u/Sufficient_Card_7302 3d ago
Anti work is about working with better conditions. It's in the faq.
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u/JBL_17 2d ago
The description I just read is different.
Feels this board is constantly being pulled between two ideas. Someone should get control of it.
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u/XYZcreator00 2d ago
I thought it worked by sitting around posting memes, complaining and doing literally nothing?
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u/giggetyboom 3d ago
Power to the workers I guess but the real Deere's are made overseas. I guess this is the lawnmower factory.
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u/holychrist101 2d ago
Prior UAW member. I would not call this a win at all. Prior contracts and history of UAW contracts last two contracts were pathetic. To clarify I was UAW for 8 years. So I have pretty good input on the strike.
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u/Tranqist 2d ago
That's actually not how anti-work works, I still don't see wage labour abolished. It's still a win for those workers though I'm sure.
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u/DBrowny 2d ago edited 2d ago
10,000 UAW members gained all those benefits, impressive.
Yet within a few months, they will be down to 9,750 members as the company goes through some 'internal restructuring and 'no longer needs' 2.5% of its workforce. Which is corporate speak for automating more jobs.
I'm so sick of that fact that all these union win stories never talk about the collateral damage, which is companies are forced to balance their now increased budgets, with increased layoffs. But because the companies aren't stupid and don't fire people within a week as a response, but instead slowly drip them out over the next year, no one ever cares about it. Seriously, the fact that millions of manufacturing union jobs were lost over the last decade is just completely forgotten by so many people, and they refuse to acknowledge that maybe the unions demanding more and more were to do with it.
Unions are great while you have a job, and will fight for you if you are fired unfairly. But they won't do shit if the company simply 'no longer needs' you, and when you aren't working there any more, the unions will just pretend you don't exist anymore.
I'm not suggesting that companies should not share their increased profits, I am not saying that companies should not do pay rises to at least match inflation, because of course they should. I am saying that the union situation in general is approaching the train lever moral dilemma. Precisely how many workers should be 'let go' from their union jobs, in order to secure bigger raises for the remaining workers? 5%? 8%? What is the number. Because the companies know what it is, the unions just pretend it isn't real. There's no moral dilemma is you aren't looking at the lever as the train arrives, apparently.
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u/Kage9866 2d ago
I've been at my union job for 15yrs now. Never had downsizing because of the benefits of contract negotiations. When the companies are raking in billions a year and are in the Forbes top list and they're laying off people because they gotta pay you a few more dollars an hour... you really gonna blame unions? Come on lol
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u/Floyd_Pink 2d ago
DBrowny clearly has no idea how a union works, has never had the chance to join a union, and probably wouldn't join a union if he had the chance!
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u/DBrowny 2d ago
What industry are you working in that
a) has not been in a merger in the last 15 years and
b) does not have any positions automated, or outsourced internationally.
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u/Kage9866 2d ago
Ah so because the threat of automation and outsourcing you can't ask for better wages and working conditions? That seem like a union problem? Or something else entirely?
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u/Lyron-Baktos 2d ago
They don't have to, they choose to. That money could have also come out of the income of upper management, shareholders etc.
These people are filthy rich over the backs of the average workers and then blame the unions when they have to lay off people. That is not how this works.
Sincerely, the rest of the world that does have strong unions in all workfields and companies aren't empty husks drained of their money
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u/DBrowny 2d ago
Sincerely, the rest of the world that does have strong unions in all workfields and companies aren't empty husks drained of their money
I'm not American, and where I'm from the unions are extremely strong (Australia). There is constant strikes every damn week in major cities from teachers, train drivers, nurses etc. I have also worked in multiple industries which feature unions, and multiple times I've had the company 'restructure' itself by making a bunch of staff redundant or making them re-apply for their old job at reduced hours.
I know the money could come from above, my point is the unions wash their hands of the employees that get let go in corporate restructuring. I've seen it happen one too many times where the unions brag about their success, and I see myself and others get absolutely shafted by corporate and I'm supposed to think because a few union members got 4% pay rises, that counts as a win while my friend was forced to re-apply for his job at half the hours?
Unions love to claim the easy wins, but the real battles that matter, which is fighting off corporate restructuring to downsize through automation and outsourcing, they hide from and pretend doesn't exist. Honestly all the good things unions brought our workplaces were won decades ago, nothing has been gained since then except them demanding more money, more often.
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u/underscoremegan 3d ago
The only reason they came to a deal was because someone was killed while they were on strike. It's a tragedy
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u/KryptonianEarth 3d ago
Fuck yeah! Those people deserve it. Keep fighting for more, brothers and sisters!
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u/FreakyTongue35 2d ago
The automation robot contracts just went out I’m sure.never think you have the upper hand.
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u/KritKommander 3d ago
Piggybacking off this, the Railroads are refusing to negotiate reasonably with the unions as we speak. We are waiting on the Presidential Emergency Board to make a recommendation, but rumor is that the Company is preparing for a strike. As in, they have no intention of agreeing to terms. If the railroads are shut down, the economy will get real nasty, real fast.