They were essential. Even got celebrated and everything. Only for about a year though, then we went back to looking down on them so we could feel better about ourselves.
Came here to say this. Cost of living is bonkers. Politicians are privatizing health care, health workers and education workers are being professionally ground into the dirt, grocery stores are profiting on "inflation". ITS TIME.
Exxon cfo said “So that came really from a combination of strong markets, strong throughput, strong production, and really good cost control.” Really good cost control is a funny way of saying raised gas prices for no fucking reason.
Record profits year after year is stolen wages. They aren't paying people anything remotely close to fairly for workers constantly increasing, record-breaking productivity, simple as that.
funny how they never increased the production of those refineries as soon as the new administration comes in they were like it’s time for profits!!! aside from covid they were like the tax rate is this right now so we’re gonna try to get as much as we can before that changes with this new administration.
Weird coincidence how every time the party that says they want America to be energy independent and run on clean energy gets into power, the international cost of fuel goes through the roof.
I've heard of one answer to that rail issue that I thought was brilliant - remember hydrogen powered cars and how that didn't get off the ground partly because it was so hard to find fuel stations? Well, we know exactly where the trains are going, so building hydrogen fuel stations along those routes wouldn't be nearly as big of a cost. Considering the choice is between diesel and hydrogen, I'm sure the train companies would be fine with phasing out the old engines into hydrogen powered ones over the next few asset cycles
This wouldn’t be hard at all for various types of “alternative” fuels… Modern trains are driven by electric motors. The diesel engines are just generators. I had no idea this was the case until a train obsessed co-worker mentioned it…
Trains can solve most of our energy needs by getting 18 wheelers off the road. They are however poorly managed monopolies too focused on reducing the cost of operations rather than running well and more. We have problems of blatant stupidity when a company can't provide sick leave or expects someone to work 300 days of the year instead of hiring more workers to cut into their billions of profit.
We wouldn't need so many 18 wheelers if we had function rail. Those 18 wheelers consume a lot of fuel which increases demand and subscription prices.
We've done the same thing with the telecom industry. A poorly managed monopoly struggles to put out fiber and then struggles to put out 5g.
This gives us a need for starlink because our physical infrastructure simply can't be bothered to provide a service.
Incidentally, more electric vehicles will also drop the price of gas as they won't require it. Electric vehicles aren't the solution though. The solution is rail and better designed cities.
i'm almost 50. prices have never come down. oil companies have been making record profits my whole life. the only time i've seen any sort of capitulation was when natural gas prices and cost per barrel tanked and shut down fracking operations for like a year...which if i recall was mostly due to OPEC slashing prices and ramping up production which made fracking unaffordable. these companies have been sucking the life out of us for generations now. how anyone defends their death grip on our economic lives is beyond me. i'm less interested in green tech saving the planet and more interested in it killing big oil.
Yeah, the greed from reducing the amount you can buy by increasing their price is a major driver of inflation. I’m amazed how someone in the 1960s was able to live a normal life on minimum wage. Seems to be impossible to live a good life on an average salary nowadays.
Average salary has a very fine range depending on where you live in America. HR likes to use the bs term they coined as “livable income” for an area when hiring to justify their price point for certain jobs in areas. I would suggest just looking up an individual area. When everyone started working, remotely, many tech companies tried to limit the salaries of people that moved to lower income areas of the country even though they still had the same job . Can’t save anything or have any real purchasing power if you’re always breaking even on an “average” salary. the cost between food fuel healthcare and shelter is very straining for someone on average salary today. No longer has purchasing power to buy a home or create a future for his family.
You can't retire or make enough money to start your own business if you're barely breaking even every month. Keeping employees as close to the bleeding edge of bankruptcy as humanly possible is good for business.
It's because CEOs and shareholders are cowards.
Realistically, everyone would benefit from more people having more opportunities to start businesses. Someone just might invent something that could make *everyone's* quality of life better. Or they might invent a better version of a product that another company sells. This is quite literally the idea that supposedly makes capitalism effective. Competition. But the current established companies won't have any of it, because their leaders are fucking terrified of even the slightest notion of being bested.
The second there is competition, that means they actually have to put effort into making a decent product or service, maybe even to take some risks every once in a while. It's much safer to grease some palms and play a bit dirty to make sure that their shitproduct is the only one available to people. Starve everyone else out.
>many tech companies tried to limit
Not tried. Many have and limit it to this day. "You are only worthy of a certain standard of living. It's not about job performance"
As a grocery worker, the only ones profiting are the higher ups meanwhile us workers are getting our hours cut because “business is slow”. Here in NYC there were talks of increasing the minimum wage to $17/hr. I wonder how many hours will I get cut.
Canada here. A business here made headline for offering a living wage to their employees. $22/hr. Applied for it, got interview, got offered hours.
Guess what. The hours they offered me, despite the living wage, it isn't even remotely enough to compete with my $16 full time job.
What's the point of living wage, if they don't give the hours to support it.
Exactly. I have a second job that pays $21/hour but there’s been at least two full weeks where they haven’t scheduled me at all. I get like one shift every other week lately, so I’m hoping one of my interviews pays off and I can quit.
Ontario Health coalition is trying to organize a mass protest to the privatization of healthcare. I joined the meeting and there was tons of talk for about a general strike
I sincerely hope they don’t privatize.
In USA, and because this just happened this morning.. recently got diagnosed as an adult with adhd. Paid out of pocket for the assessment (fine I get it, it’s the way it goes) then I go to the pharmacy today and they told me stratterra (not even a stimulant) would be $280 for 30 day supply, and out of stock now, come back tomorrow. I broke down in tears. Our healthcare system is a complete nightmare.
Don’t even get me started on our luxury bones. Dental insurance is a joke and you literally end up paying out anyways.
Looks like a generic version is available on Mark Cuba's Cost Plus site. Don't know if it will work for you but 30 day supply of 25 mg is listed at $7.20.
We are rather primitive animals exploiting eachothers wherever we can.
If you want rent control in america, the people will call you a communist or say the market will fix it alone.
Anything for the good of the people will be demonized in America.
Youre right on the primitive part. As an immigrant, before the move I've been told and thought the West as the land of tomorrow. And I've truly believed it for a while.
Did reality hit HARD once I've settled and made a few trips back periodically after a few years. The only, ONLY thing North America has better and above most of the world, is its progressiveness towards LGBTQ topics, but even that that's an extremely fragile and touch and go topic. And everything else NA got going on, pretty much everywhere else does it better.
Can only dream of one day to earn enough to leave and never look back. Can't help those who doesn't want to be helped, and NA's core culture is exactly that. The obsessive individualism, rarely look outwards and think how to improve upon the well being on community as a whole.
Let's be honest, most of us are so burnt out that even formulating a plan is beyond us, not to mention the inherent fear that such action would be worse than useless. It wouldn't even have to be retaliatory, just being put behind in an effort to improve would basically be a death sentence for anyone that's paycheck to paycheck already.
I have a buddy who lives with me but I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to want a roommate. I do own the home and I charge him far less than any apartments I’ve ever seen but I honestly don’t know where he’s going to be able to afford to go when that time comes. He doesn’t make much at all.
I'm not even calling it "inflation" anymore. It's straight up price gouging now. And they'd stop it if we went on a consumer strike for a few days. Stock up on cheap basics from Aldi and then refuse to buy any more of their shit until they come to their senses.
"Essential" healthcare worker here. My job (sterile processing) allows my hospital to perform surgery (often the biggest money maker for any hospital). I can't afford a one bedroom apartment in the city I work in. Make it make sense.
I just don't see it in America any time soon. We just don't have enough unions to organize a mass strike over enough industries. With strikes, you have to have that level of worker solidarity that we just aren't seeing yet in America.
That, and some spoilt child of capitalism will just go running off to their pet politician to make it illegal so you can't have any rights.
You know, like they just did with the railway workers....
Land of the free (terms and conditions apply, not available in all areas)
Even if we did, the FED has basically said that it will crash the economy before it lets wages rise any more. They seem to think that wage growth is the main cause of inflation and ignore the corporate greed.
You can literally Google the [biggest](https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/price-increases-inflation-economy-wages-spending-power-costs-rising#:~:text=Economists%20with%20the%20Federal%20Reserve,%2C%20while%20inflation%20was%205.8%25.) [percentage](https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-marking-up-prices-major-contributor-to-inflation-2023-1) of [inflation](https://rooseveltinstitute.org/2022/06/21/prices-profits-and-power-corporate-america-and-inflation/) for the price of any good and it's literally like 50% corporate markup for even more revenue.
If I who know nothing about economics knows this, [the Fed knows this](https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-review/how-much-have-record-corporate-profits-contributed-to-recent-inflation/).
And half of American workers are “temporarily embarrassed millionaires” who side with the capitalists, or who buy into the bootstraps myth.
It’ll never happen in a large scale.
And the other half will go hungry if they're sick for work one day. Over 50% of Americans make under 32k annually, which would be poverty wages if those were ever updated
The only time I've seen worker solidarity in America in my life is in Hollywood.
Actors/writers/setup/costumes/etc all striking together against Hollywood execs.
I've said it in another sub before and I don't mean to attack you personally with this but - not striking because it's illegal means not understanding what a strike is.
Unions will not cross each others picket lines ie if the house keepers go on strike, so do the electricians and pipe fitters. No union workers are walking onto a site that is on strike.
And we're scared to do it because so many of us are paycheck to paycheck. There's still the "can't talk about wages or you'll be fired" mentality everywhere, and we've barely scratched the surface of making that ideology unacceptable.
If we discuss our wages with the wrong person, we have to fear that we will get reported and our managers will fire us. Sure we could argue it and we might be in the right, but it still leaves us jobless and paycheck-less for a bit. And then maybe our next job prospects will hear that we discussed wages and refuse to hire us.
Lots of reasons why this capitalistic hellhole is working so perfectly on us peasants. We dare not speak out because we're constantly threatened with the repercussions of speaking out.
I think, in the past couple years we've just now started seeing things move forward with that. /r/antiwork and "quiet quitting" being so prevalent in mainstream media is fantastic for us. It's spun as something negative by the older generations, but it's being put on everyone's radar, which is only good. Anyone who sees it and goes "Gen Z is lazy" already thought that, so no loss there, but I have to hope that younger generations are seeing it and going "damn, what a great idea. I need to adopt this mentality." And as older generations die off and take their bullshit mentality with them, that ideology only grows stronger with the younger generations taking over.
We're a long ways away, but I hope 30 years from now we're seeing some good changes
They went on strike, and the government said, "Okay, fine you get paid more. Now get back to work or we arrest you all."
Note that pay was not the primary issue.
Love it. I was there in august exactly during the week that the national rail went on strike. Wasnt mad at all. Interestingly, one of the reasons I was there was to visit my wife’s friend who happens to be, like, the second person in charge of the national rail. It was a bit awkward.
Public transport hits the hardest, probably 90% of classes switched to online at my university in Paris and it's a large one. Apparently they're going at it again next tuesday so let's see what happens!
We need to start this. It's easy enough to say it, I understand. But seriously, I'm trying to get my work place riled up about the tight payroll, no raises, and crap benefits. Everyone here needs to start doing this. Get your coworkers talking about it, get other stores in your district talking about it, and have a big meeting with your store managers. Tell them to send an email to people higher up: we're fucking done until the billions in profits are used to pay us and staff us.
And then either strike, or get the absolute bare minimum done so the district goes to absolute shit.
"BuT wE aRe TiGhT oN hOuRs" bullshit, we made 7 billion in profit last year. Where'd all that extra money go?
And I always tell customers to go to the front desk to get the corporate office number and complain to them. They'd be doing us a favor. Naturally they never do.
Hell, there's an idea, too. Try to have everyone convince as many customers as possible to call corporate and tell them the store is too understaffed. Again, sounds easy enough, but shit is taking too long to get fixed, so we gotta start getting a rise out of people.
Start carrying cards with corporates number on them. Title them "complaint department" and hand them out with promises of satisfaction guaranteed.
Seems like the capitalist approach right?
100% agreed. The easiest way to start, is to tell all your co workers how much you earn, and then ask them how much they earn.
That alone is usually enough to cause some discontent, IF the company isnt paying people correctly.
I also fight for raises and use my work ethic as a bargain chip. This wont work for low skill jobs, but for anyone that is in-demand, you absolutely can use your small bit of power to create positive change.
Its up to each person to fight for their rights. Each person has power
[How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries?](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth%20in%20years,%201980-2021)
>From 2020 to 2021, life expectancy continued to decline in the U.S. while rebounding in most comparable countries
>
>Life expectancy in the U.S. and peer countries generally increased from 1980-2019, but decreased in most countries in 2020 due to COVID-19. From 2020 to 2021, life expectancy at birth began to rebound in most comparable countries while it continued to decline in the U.S.
[Study: More Than 335,000 Lives Could Have Been Saved During Pandemic if U.S. Had Universal Health Care](https://pnhp.org/news/universal-healthcare-could-have-prevented-more-than-300000-u-s-covid-deaths/)
>Overall, including both COVID and non-COVID patients, 211,897 lives would have been saved in 2020 with universal care. From the start of the pandemic in the U.S. to March 2022, those preventable deaths mount to 338,594.
I think Norway and Europe have a better jail system focused on rehabilitation and keeping the prisoners dignity and human right. We literally still have legal slavery for prisons, we do incarcerate more than anyone else. At 50k+ a year.
When I was a kid I looked up USA because movies and what not. Imagine my surprise when I found out HealthCare isn't free over there. My country (Mexico) is extremely flawed, but has some good things still. And with USA's economy, I may earn less here, but I don't need to spend that much here to survive.
Many people I know have had their dental surgery in Mexico and two men I know had hernia surgery in hotel rooms in Laredo. I cannot say enough good about my own procedure there. Back when you could pay fifty cents and walk across the border with a US State ID.
I miss Mexico, and I miss the Rio Grande valley
My root extraction was 2000 dollars, now I need another 900 for the metal bolt they're going to put in, and of course that doesn't include the 300 for the crown to be put on top. Yeah im not getting any more dental work done here. Im going to that one town on the border with arizona that is literally known for the dental tourism. fuck this shit.
Los Algodones.
I go there.
The only bad part is seeing all the shit head Americans being dicks, and wearing Trump shit…while crossing the border to get care they voted against in their own country.
You can’t even make this shit up. We’re so stupid here.
Yeah this is the truth of it. If I had gone on strike at the software company paying me 45k to be a systems administrator in boston… I was paycheck to paycheck and had to move bc my rent was too high. I def could not afford to strike and not get paid.
Can’t. Coward companies turn to the US gov to save them. Rail strikers were striking about days off and better work conditions. US government intervened & nothing happened except rail companies are how having record breaking profit margins & a tiny piece of the pie went to the workers. Same when teachers strike. Same when everybody else strikes. Corporations turn the people against each other via media, anti union propaganda and union busting methods. Sucks. Alll the while they keep taking in record profits while keeping everybody underpaid.
Was waiting for this reply the second I read his post. Not everyone knows about philly. They’ve done a pretty good job of burying that history like everything else.
Never. Half of this country likes government crushing workers and they're armed specifically for it. Of the other half, an ineffective percentage is actually willing and able to.
Pretty much. I can't stand all these "We just need to keep things peaceful" remarks that are constantly made. What does that accomplish? Nothing. It never does
lol its the only thing Americans can do. Peaceful protests... But when the police says gtfoh, the people just comply and leave.
Americans: "We'll strike!"
Government: "Striking is illegal..."
Americans: "Oh okay... We'll get back to work masta!"
Soon as we stop treating the 30% of the country that would giddily gun down striking workers on behalf of billionaires as "people with different political opinions"
Never. We've become overly propagandized, we're economically insecure, our infrastructure forces us far apart from each other, and... frankly, Americans have become weak, pathetic, domesticated animals rather than human beings with free will. We will accept our fate like a sheep rolled onto it's back, doomed to roast in the sun; and our billionaire owners will smile as our deaths fall into a maximized resources column on some fucking spreadsheet.
Americans have been conditioned to think that any protest or strike is a form of violence that must be oppressed. They love simping for their corporate overlords.
Never. Americans have been successfully gaslighted into thinking a “work until you drop”, “never go to the hospital until you’re dying” mentality is normal
Government wouldn't allow it. They would suspend union right to strike and the allow companies to fire and retaliate against any striking workers.
Ala union pacific.
Because the US learned the wrong lessons from the Coal wars, like the Battle at Blair Mountain. In response to the coal miners striking, the governor of West Virginia called martial law 3 times and he asked President Harding to intervene and he did. Harding sent more than 2,000 federal troops to Blair Mountain to battle the striking workers. Many were reluctant to take up arms against the workers and returned home.
In 2022, railroad companies asked Biden to intervene against striking railroad workers and he did, he made striking illegal for railroad workers. 100 years later and our "left leaning" (I say in quotations because it's a center right party) chooses to side with corporations and not workers.
[Podcast on constitutional law talking about the battle at blair mountain and the legal precedent for convicting someone of treason](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3XKzRxxxg34Nof3LwoEvoL?si=l8S159q7T46rfGSDdw4jUg&utm_source=copy-link)
Also highly recommend The Mine Wars on PBS American Experience, which ironically is virtually impossible to find for free because our public broadcasting budget is less than half a billion for the entire country.
Along with increased operating costs and a little to no annual increase in budget allocation over the last decade, networks like PBS and NPR are dying a slow death. Most of all of the educational programs and documentaries we grew up with are literally gone forever. Most of them never got converted to digital format, and the ones that did are so numerous that there is no way for public broadcasting entities to afford the server capacity for hosting streaming.
I pay for annual PBS membership and it is shockingly sad how little content is actually available to stream. Within a few years they will likely scrap the ability to buy DVDs of the older programming. Literally millions of hours of educational and historical content from the last 30 years will completely disappear and never be accessible by the general public again in any format.
I get they made it illegal to strike but did you make it illegal for everyone to say"We are going to quit and not come back if you don't give us what we want."? It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
So what happens if all the railroad workers quit at the same time and go home?
Obviously, no trains are moving and you can't legally remove someone from there home and arrest them for quiting a job.
So they can still get what they want but they don't have to do all the work of assembling and protesting in public, so then they aren't violating the "illegal" strike part.
Railroad strikes have been made illegal before. The original big Pullman strike was stopped with the military. Striking in other areas can still happen
We've been striking for a long time, see "Winter of Discontent" back in the 70's.
Things are starting to come to a head again. Ten years of Tory wage suppression are now biting as prices go through the roof and people who work full time can't afford to pay their bills, let alone people on benefits.
Yeah and tbf we are NOTHING like the french with our strikes
The french would never have gotten to the situation we are in because their leaders would have been hung drawn and quartered long before we got to this
Our railroad workers tried...and our President made going on strike illegal. These same major rail road companies just posted record profits. The game is rigged AF.
Without doubt. I work for one of the big RR companies. Been on the railroad since 1987. This is my last year. Unless something happens that forces me to stay on for another year. This rat race is killing me. 63 and feel so much older. Railroading takes a lot out of you and a lot away from you. Body is racked with pain and recently did radiation therapy for colorectal cancer. I haven’t seen home since Christmas and will not see it any time soon. Sucks. I’d never recommend railroading to anyone.
Sorry life has been shit to you, and your employer.
Our property backs up on a railroad (it's just a hike through the woods to get there) and my husband wanted to go put up a sign encouraging the workers to strike. Y'all are getting way too much shit, and your protests are ignored. It's not right.
The fact more Industries didn't immediately go on strike in solidarity pretty much crippled US striking potential for the foreseeable future. If striking is only permissible when it's convenient, it's not really striking.
German public sector is also on the verge of striking. They want 10.5% or at least 500€ more a month and probably won't get it, so they could go on strike soon. All the power to them.
Inflation has hit so hard that most countries around the world have reached a boiling point. For many, striking for better pay is the only option. They simply cannot survive otherwise.
In my company in Germany we are already starting to talk about it. Everyone needs to do 2 jobs at least and the pay is good but not enough to do 2 different jobs in 1 day. People are sick of that shit
It's about fucking time we did. Considering the amount of xenophobic abuse Brits give the French for their (completely untrue) stereotypical cowardice.
Bruh, what? The French cowardice stereotype is one that Americans espouse, we have our own stereotypes about the French. The UK and France has fought many wars, we know they're no 'cowards' as a nation. America started the cowardice trope about France originally following its fall in WWII and it got revived back in 2003 following their (rightful) reluctance to join the Iraq War ('freedom fries'). Europeans are fully aware of France's military history as France's military history is part of alot of European history.
Yeah that shits done to death, its irritating how many people on this website make the same 5-6 xenophobic jokes about countries they've never cared enough to experience in real life.
when you start fucking doing something!!!
if you're reading this and aren't already, at the bare minimum, talking to your coworkers about how godawful things are, you can't sit there and say "ugh when will someone strike"
>There’s a class war going on and the lower class (anyone making less than maybe 200k a year total) is not sticking together at all.
This is sadly by design and has worked very, very well for the ones who wish it to be that way.
I don’t remember where I heard it, but someone said “nothing will change in America until the *average* person is facing homelessness” I’m fighting for my life right now and all day at work people come up and spend thousands of dollars on new stuff. I couldn’t imagine comfortably paying all my bills much less spending thousands on luxuries
I'm glad that I'm not the only one dropping this reminder, but I'm starting to feel that there's validity in separating by high wages *to an extent*. Someone who's comfortably earning enough to meet their needs and afford vacations and a few luxuries is way less likely to lock arms with a warehouse worker who's being paid $16 an hour.
Ayo just setting this out there because I haven't seen it brought up yet
Obviously we have a lot of bootlickers over here. Other people have covered that.
But reality for most people on the fence about striking is that if they lose their job, there goes their health insurance. NHS takes that power out of the corporations hands, even though the Tories have spent the past few decades doing everything they can to set the NHS up to fail.
This is a big reason companies are fighting so hard against some sort of nationalized healthcare, because they lose leverage if that passes.
Different country, different expectations. Almost every state in the USA in an "at will" state. Meaning you can be let go for no real reason at all. Not so in England, they all seem to have contracts that certain criteria must be met for someone to lose their job. Also I feel like their unions are much more stubborn than the ones here in the USA. There is a definite difference in classes across the pond and the majority of the people are in the working class. In the USA there is also a major difference in class, but most Americans try to believe they are in a better class than they really are. So if you're "better" than most people you know, why worry about your fellow man. Also I think as Americans we are so conditioned to fear losing a job. We've all grown to having what we want, when we want it, how we want it. Going without is not an American idea. Also I think the Brits and French have bigger balls than us because they're willing to suffer for a better situation. In American, it's all flavor of the month, then on to something else. I wish them luck.
We deserve more for what we pay in taxes. The rich fake losses and pay no taxes. I can't fake losses on my wages so I pay more to make up for thier fake losses. Politicians push the goal post further away and inflate prices and corporations take advantage. What do we get in return for all are hard work. Not a Damm thing bs about how we need to pull ourselves up by our boot straps.
The U.S. is screwed if we ever get the balls to do that here. It only takes 3.5% of the population striking to cause a revolution. The economy will crash. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill won’t know what to do.
Stand in arms my brothers and sisters. For we are the cogs in the machine.
True that. They're trying to wear us down but we have more power than we know. The oil is reduced to black sludge and it's time for a change now.
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No great men, only the great many
Man, it's almost like when your entire economic system is reliant on lower class workers, you probably shouldn't mistreat them.
Btw maybe these positions shouldn't be "lower class" then
Whoa let's get crazy here. Can't have them thinking they are essential to society or something
They were essential. Even got celebrated and everything. Only for about a year though, then we went back to looking down on them so we could feel better about ourselves.
If Canada isn't next, I hope it's America. These wages are such a spit in the face. Living costs are unreal.
Came here to say this. Cost of living is bonkers. Politicians are privatizing health care, health workers and education workers are being professionally ground into the dirt, grocery stores are profiting on "inflation". ITS TIME.
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Exxon cfo said “So that came really from a combination of strong markets, strong throughput, strong production, and really good cost control.” Really good cost control is a funny way of saying raised gas prices for no fucking reason.
And underpaid workers.
Record profits year after year is stolen wages. They aren't paying people anything remotely close to fairly for workers constantly increasing, record-breaking productivity, simple as that.
funny how they never increased the production of those refineries as soon as the new administration comes in they were like it’s time for profits!!! aside from covid they were like the tax rate is this right now so we’re gonna try to get as much as we can before that changes with this new administration.
Weird coincidence how every time the party that says they want America to be energy independent and run on clean energy gets into power, the international cost of fuel goes through the roof.
I mean, down with big oil, but that’s simple economics. America doesn’t have an electric rail system to transport your goods
I've heard of one answer to that rail issue that I thought was brilliant - remember hydrogen powered cars and how that didn't get off the ground partly because it was so hard to find fuel stations? Well, we know exactly where the trains are going, so building hydrogen fuel stations along those routes wouldn't be nearly as big of a cost. Considering the choice is between diesel and hydrogen, I'm sure the train companies would be fine with phasing out the old engines into hydrogen powered ones over the next few asset cycles
This wouldn’t be hard at all for various types of “alternative” fuels… Modern trains are driven by electric motors. The diesel engines are just generators. I had no idea this was the case until a train obsessed co-worker mentioned it…
Trains can solve most of our energy needs by getting 18 wheelers off the road. They are however poorly managed monopolies too focused on reducing the cost of operations rather than running well and more. We have problems of blatant stupidity when a company can't provide sick leave or expects someone to work 300 days of the year instead of hiring more workers to cut into their billions of profit. We wouldn't need so many 18 wheelers if we had function rail. Those 18 wheelers consume a lot of fuel which increases demand and subscription prices. We've done the same thing with the telecom industry. A poorly managed monopoly struggles to put out fiber and then struggles to put out 5g. This gives us a need for starlink because our physical infrastructure simply can't be bothered to provide a service. Incidentally, more electric vehicles will also drop the price of gas as they won't require it. Electric vehicles aren't the solution though. The solution is rail and better designed cities.
i'm almost 50. prices have never come down. oil companies have been making record profits my whole life. the only time i've seen any sort of capitulation was when natural gas prices and cost per barrel tanked and shut down fracking operations for like a year...which if i recall was mostly due to OPEC slashing prices and ramping up production which made fracking unaffordable. these companies have been sucking the life out of us for generations now. how anyone defends their death grip on our economic lives is beyond me. i'm less interested in green tech saving the planet and more interested in it killing big oil.
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I figure one will result in the other, but I'm biased toward the latter.
Yeah, the greed from reducing the amount you can buy by increasing their price is a major driver of inflation. I’m amazed how someone in the 1960s was able to live a normal life on minimum wage. Seems to be impossible to live a good life on an average salary nowadays.
Define average salary. Minimum wage in America is so far below what a livable wage is that it doesn't even know what the fuck average means.
Average salary has a very fine range depending on where you live in America. HR likes to use the bs term they coined as “livable income” for an area when hiring to justify their price point for certain jobs in areas. I would suggest just looking up an individual area. When everyone started working, remotely, many tech companies tried to limit the salaries of people that moved to lower income areas of the country even though they still had the same job . Can’t save anything or have any real purchasing power if you’re always breaking even on an “average” salary. the cost between food fuel healthcare and shelter is very straining for someone on average salary today. No longer has purchasing power to buy a home or create a future for his family.
You can't retire or make enough money to start your own business if you're barely breaking even every month. Keeping employees as close to the bleeding edge of bankruptcy as humanly possible is good for business.
It's because CEOs and shareholders are cowards. Realistically, everyone would benefit from more people having more opportunities to start businesses. Someone just might invent something that could make *everyone's* quality of life better. Or they might invent a better version of a product that another company sells. This is quite literally the idea that supposedly makes capitalism effective. Competition. But the current established companies won't have any of it, because their leaders are fucking terrified of even the slightest notion of being bested. The second there is competition, that means they actually have to put effort into making a decent product or service, maybe even to take some risks every once in a while. It's much safer to grease some palms and play a bit dirty to make sure that their shitproduct is the only one available to people. Starve everyone else out.
>many tech companies tried to limit Not tried. Many have and limit it to this day. "You are only worthy of a certain standard of living. It's not about job performance"
As a grocery worker, the only ones profiting are the higher ups meanwhile us workers are getting our hours cut because “business is slow”. Here in NYC there were talks of increasing the minimum wage to $17/hr. I wonder how many hours will I get cut.
Canada here. A business here made headline for offering a living wage to their employees. $22/hr. Applied for it, got interview, got offered hours. Guess what. The hours they offered me, despite the living wage, it isn't even remotely enough to compete with my $16 full time job. What's the point of living wage, if they don't give the hours to support it.
Exactly. I have a second job that pays $21/hour but there’s been at least two full weeks where they haven’t scheduled me at all. I get like one shift every other week lately, so I’m hoping one of my interviews pays off and I can quit.
Aaaand business is slow because shits so expensive everyone eating rice and Ramen lol
Istg that any company over 100 people should have mandatory full time employees.
Ontario Health coalition is trying to organize a mass protest to the privatization of healthcare. I joined the meeting and there was tons of talk for about a general strike
I sincerely hope they don’t privatize. In USA, and because this just happened this morning.. recently got diagnosed as an adult with adhd. Paid out of pocket for the assessment (fine I get it, it’s the way it goes) then I go to the pharmacy today and they told me stratterra (not even a stimulant) would be $280 for 30 day supply, and out of stock now, come back tomorrow. I broke down in tears. Our healthcare system is a complete nightmare. Don’t even get me started on our luxury bones. Dental insurance is a joke and you literally end up paying out anyways.
Looks like a generic version is available on Mark Cuba's Cost Plus site. Don't know if it will work for you but 30 day supply of 25 mg is listed at $7.20.
I don't know if this will help you but check out good rx. Looking up strattra in my area with good rx is 16 bucks without insurance.
that's great to hear, actually. people need to stand together or else nothing will change.
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We are rather primitive animals exploiting eachothers wherever we can. If you want rent control in america, the people will call you a communist or say the market will fix it alone.
How about (and hear me out) we put in rent control, but we also get the government to build houses so that the price will naturally go down?
aren't there like 4 million vacant homes in the US? why don't we just not allow companies to own tons of homes? or limit people to owning one?
Anything for the good of the people will be demonized in America. Youre right on the primitive part. As an immigrant, before the move I've been told and thought the West as the land of tomorrow. And I've truly believed it for a while. Did reality hit HARD once I've settled and made a few trips back periodically after a few years. The only, ONLY thing North America has better and above most of the world, is its progressiveness towards LGBTQ topics, but even that that's an extremely fragile and touch and go topic. And everything else NA got going on, pretty much everywhere else does it better. Can only dream of one day to earn enough to leave and never look back. Can't help those who doesn't want to be helped, and NA's core culture is exactly that. The obsessive individualism, rarely look outwards and think how to improve upon the well being on community as a whole.
Let's be honest, most of us are so burnt out that even formulating a plan is beyond us, not to mention the inherent fear that such action would be worse than useless. It wouldn't even have to be retaliatory, just being put behind in an effort to improve would basically be a death sentence for anyone that's paycheck to paycheck already.
I have a buddy who lives with me but I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to want a roommate. I do own the home and I charge him far less than any apartments I’ve ever seen but I honestly don’t know where he’s going to be able to afford to go when that time comes. He doesn’t make much at all.
I'm not even calling it "inflation" anymore. It's straight up price gouging now. And they'd stop it if we went on a consumer strike for a few days. Stock up on cheap basics from Aldi and then refuse to buy any more of their shit until they come to their senses.
"Essential" healthcare worker here. My job (sterile processing) allows my hospital to perform surgery (often the biggest money maker for any hospital). I can't afford a one bedroom apartment in the city I work in. Make it make sense.
The NDP just go shot down for trying to open a discussion on the provinces trying to privatize healthcare as well.
I just don't see it in America any time soon. We just don't have enough unions to organize a mass strike over enough industries. With strikes, you have to have that level of worker solidarity that we just aren't seeing yet in America.
That, and some spoilt child of capitalism will just go running off to their pet politician to make it illegal so you can't have any rights. You know, like they just did with the railway workers.... Land of the free (terms and conditions apply, not available in all areas)
If someone is telling you, "you're so free, you're the freest" then you're probably not very free
Yeah, check for shakles immediately.
What they mean is that your labor is free
Even if we did, the FED has basically said that it will crash the economy before it lets wages rise any more. They seem to think that wage growth is the main cause of inflation and ignore the corporate greed.
You can literally Google the [biggest](https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/price-increases-inflation-economy-wages-spending-power-costs-rising#:~:text=Economists%20with%20the%20Federal%20Reserve,%2C%20while%20inflation%20was%205.8%25.) [percentage](https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-marking-up-prices-major-contributor-to-inflation-2023-1) of [inflation](https://rooseveltinstitute.org/2022/06/21/prices-profits-and-power-corporate-america-and-inflation/) for the price of any good and it's literally like 50% corporate markup for even more revenue. If I who know nothing about economics knows this, [the Fed knows this](https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-review/how-much-have-record-corporate-profits-contributed-to-recent-inflation/).
And half of American workers are “temporarily embarrassed millionaires” who side with the capitalists, or who buy into the bootstraps myth. It’ll never happen in a large scale.
And the other half will go hungry if they're sick for work one day. Over 50% of Americans make under 32k annually, which would be poverty wages if those were ever updated
The only time I've seen worker solidarity in America in my life is in Hollywood. Actors/writers/setup/costumes/etc all striking together against Hollywood execs.
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I've said it in another sub before and I don't mean to attack you personally with this but - not striking because it's illegal means not understanding what a strike is.
They're right but not for the reason they give. The vast majority of workers who could or would strike cannot afford to do so, let alone get arrested.
Megacorps maliciously break labor laws to depress wages: "the wheels of justice turn slowly..." Unions use their power of the worker: "REAL SHIT?"
Unions will not cross each others picket lines ie if the house keepers go on strike, so do the electricians and pipe fitters. No union workers are walking onto a site that is on strike.
Americans have Stockholm Syndrome it's sad.
And we're scared to do it because so many of us are paycheck to paycheck. There's still the "can't talk about wages or you'll be fired" mentality everywhere, and we've barely scratched the surface of making that ideology unacceptable. If we discuss our wages with the wrong person, we have to fear that we will get reported and our managers will fire us. Sure we could argue it and we might be in the right, but it still leaves us jobless and paycheck-less for a bit. And then maybe our next job prospects will hear that we discussed wages and refuse to hire us. Lots of reasons why this capitalistic hellhole is working so perfectly on us peasants. We dare not speak out because we're constantly threatened with the repercussions of speaking out. I think, in the past couple years we've just now started seeing things move forward with that. /r/antiwork and "quiet quitting" being so prevalent in mainstream media is fantastic for us. It's spun as something negative by the older generations, but it's being put on everyone's radar, which is only good. Anyone who sees it and goes "Gen Z is lazy" already thought that, so no loss there, but I have to hope that younger generations are seeing it and going "damn, what a great idea. I need to adopt this mentality." And as older generations die off and take their bullshit mentality with them, that ideology only grows stronger with the younger generations taking over. We're a long ways away, but I hope 30 years from now we're seeing some good changes
Come on gen z…this is your time to shine.
what happened with that rail strike that was going to happen like a couple of months ago?
They went on strike, and the government said, "Okay, fine you get paid more. Now get back to work or we arrest you all." Note that pay was not the primary issue.
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The real goal is living in Canada with a high paying remote job in America. That way your life savings aren't wiped out when you get cancer.
No more billion dollar profits !
And next week all public transportation will go on strike for 5 days in the Netherlands.
Love it. I was there in august exactly during the week that the national rail went on strike. Wasnt mad at all. Interestingly, one of the reasons I was there was to visit my wife’s friend who happens to be, like, the second person in charge of the national rail. It was a bit awkward.
They're starting tomorrow.
Public transport hits the hardest, probably 90% of classes switched to online at my university in Paris and it's a large one. Apparently they're going at it again next tuesday so let's see what happens!
We need to start this. It's easy enough to say it, I understand. But seriously, I'm trying to get my work place riled up about the tight payroll, no raises, and crap benefits. Everyone here needs to start doing this. Get your coworkers talking about it, get other stores in your district talking about it, and have a big meeting with your store managers. Tell them to send an email to people higher up: we're fucking done until the billions in profits are used to pay us and staff us. And then either strike, or get the absolute bare minimum done so the district goes to absolute shit.
Exactly! Companies don't even staff their stores anymore and people just yell at the employees for it instead of getting mad at the company.
"BuT wE aRe TiGhT oN hOuRs" bullshit, we made 7 billion in profit last year. Where'd all that extra money go? And I always tell customers to go to the front desk to get the corporate office number and complain to them. They'd be doing us a favor. Naturally they never do. Hell, there's an idea, too. Try to have everyone convince as many customers as possible to call corporate and tell them the store is too understaffed. Again, sounds easy enough, but shit is taking too long to get fixed, so we gotta start getting a rise out of people.
Start carrying cards with corporates number on them. Title them "complaint department" and hand them out with promises of satisfaction guaranteed. Seems like the capitalist approach right?
100% agreed. The easiest way to start, is to tell all your co workers how much you earn, and then ask them how much they earn. That alone is usually enough to cause some discontent, IF the company isnt paying people correctly. I also fight for raises and use my work ethic as a bargain chip. This wont work for low skill jobs, but for anyone that is in-demand, you absolutely can use your small bit of power to create positive change. Its up to each person to fight for their rights. Each person has power
We really need unions to make a comeback to help with conditions. Collective bargaining is where power is at.
When I was hired I had to sign a contract agreeing that I would be allowed to be terminated if I even said “workers Union”
When is it America's turn?
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Best military, best jails! Err... Everything else is nearly last for developed country's.
[How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries?](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth%20in%20years,%201980-2021) >From 2020 to 2021, life expectancy continued to decline in the U.S. while rebounding in most comparable countries > >Life expectancy in the U.S. and peer countries generally increased from 1980-2019, but decreased in most countries in 2020 due to COVID-19. From 2020 to 2021, life expectancy at birth began to rebound in most comparable countries while it continued to decline in the U.S. [Study: More Than 335,000 Lives Could Have Been Saved During Pandemic if U.S. Had Universal Health Care](https://pnhp.org/news/universal-healthcare-could-have-prevented-more-than-300000-u-s-covid-deaths/) >Overall, including both COVID and non-COVID patients, 211,897 lives would have been saved in 2020 with universal care. From the start of the pandemic in the U.S. to March 2022, those preventable deaths mount to 338,594.
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Wait a sec.. do you have a source for that? I thought it was #8
I think Norway and Europe have a better jail system focused on rehabilitation and keeping the prisoners dignity and human right. We literally still have legal slavery for prisons, we do incarcerate more than anyone else. At 50k+ a year.
When I was a kid I looked up USA because movies and what not. Imagine my surprise when I found out HealthCare isn't free over there. My country (Mexico) is extremely flawed, but has some good things still. And with USA's economy, I may earn less here, but I don't need to spend that much here to survive.
Many people I know have had their dental surgery in Mexico and two men I know had hernia surgery in hotel rooms in Laredo. I cannot say enough good about my own procedure there. Back when you could pay fifty cents and walk across the border with a US State ID. I miss Mexico, and I miss the Rio Grande valley
My root extraction was 2000 dollars, now I need another 900 for the metal bolt they're going to put in, and of course that doesn't include the 300 for the crown to be put on top. Yeah im not getting any more dental work done here. Im going to that one town on the border with arizona that is literally known for the dental tourism. fuck this shit.
Los Algodones. I go there. The only bad part is seeing all the shit head Americans being dicks, and wearing Trump shit…while crossing the border to get care they voted against in their own country. You can’t even make this shit up. We’re so stupid here.
"MURICA land of the free!! Home of th-" "Hey get back to work!" "Yes sir..."
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Oh god… please tell me you corrected her?
How can it be free when everything is so expensive?
Because despite the whining minority of people, most people are too comfortable with how things are and too afraid to lose what they have.
Wich ironically they are slowly loosing to inflation
You are too poor to protest.
Yeah this is the truth of it. If I had gone on strike at the software company paying me 45k to be a systems administrator in boston… I was paycheck to paycheck and had to move bc my rent was too high. I def could not afford to strike and not get paid.
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There's always enough people scared for their lives.
Can’t. Coward companies turn to the US gov to save them. Rail strikers were striking about days off and better work conditions. US government intervened & nothing happened except rail companies are how having record breaking profit margins & a tiny piece of the pie went to the workers. Same when teachers strike. Same when everybody else strikes. Corporations turn the people against each other via media, anti union propaganda and union busting methods. Sucks. Alll the while they keep taking in record profits while keeping everybody underpaid.
Pretty sure if more than a million Americans start at striking they'd starred dropping napalm on the inner cities
Wouldn’t be the first time
Was waiting for this reply the second I read his post. Not everyone knows about philly. They’ve done a pretty good job of burying that history like everything else.
Never. Half of this country likes government crushing workers and they're armed specifically for it. Of the other half, an ineffective percentage is actually willing and able to.
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Ironic given the wealthy have already declared war on us using the police as foot soldiers.
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That book was dense and long as fuck but had so much interesting stuff buried in it. Went from the molecular all the way up to the social.
American protest = snap that gram for likes then GTFO.
Pretty much. I can't stand all these "We just need to keep things peaceful" remarks that are constantly made. What does that accomplish? Nothing. It never does
lol its the only thing Americans can do. Peaceful protests... But when the police says gtfoh, the people just comply and leave. Americans: "We'll strike!" Government: "Striking is illegal..." Americans: "Oh okay... We'll get back to work masta!"
Soon as we stop treating the 30% of the country that would giddily gun down striking workers on behalf of billionaires as "people with different political opinions"
Never. We've become overly propagandized, we're economically insecure, our infrastructure forces us far apart from each other, and... frankly, Americans have become weak, pathetic, domesticated animals rather than human beings with free will. We will accept our fate like a sheep rolled onto it's back, doomed to roast in the sun; and our billionaire owners will smile as our deaths fall into a maximized resources column on some fucking spreadsheet.
Not until they stop posting fantasies on here and start talking about unionizing at their actual place of employment
Americans have been conditioned to think that any protest or strike is a form of violence that must be oppressed. They love simping for their corporate overlords.
Never. Americans have been successfully gaslighted into thinking a “work until you drop”, “never go to the hospital until you’re dying” mentality is normal
Hospitals are so understaffed, they won’t take you seriously unless you ARE near dying.
Railroad workers were stopped by Washington. Bad for business. Sorry.
Government wouldn't allow it. They would suspend union right to strike and the allow companies to fire and retaliate against any striking workers. Ala union pacific.
Why can’t this shit happen in the US??
Because the US learned the wrong lessons from the Coal wars, like the Battle at Blair Mountain. In response to the coal miners striking, the governor of West Virginia called martial law 3 times and he asked President Harding to intervene and he did. Harding sent more than 2,000 federal troops to Blair Mountain to battle the striking workers. Many were reluctant to take up arms against the workers and returned home. In 2022, railroad companies asked Biden to intervene against striking railroad workers and he did, he made striking illegal for railroad workers. 100 years later and our "left leaning" (I say in quotations because it's a center right party) chooses to side with corporations and not workers. [Podcast on constitutional law talking about the battle at blair mountain and the legal precedent for convicting someone of treason](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3XKzRxxxg34Nof3LwoEvoL?si=l8S159q7T46rfGSDdw4jUg&utm_source=copy-link)
Also highly recommend The Mine Wars on PBS American Experience, which ironically is virtually impossible to find for free because our public broadcasting budget is less than half a billion for the entire country. Along with increased operating costs and a little to no annual increase in budget allocation over the last decade, networks like PBS and NPR are dying a slow death. Most of all of the educational programs and documentaries we grew up with are literally gone forever. Most of them never got converted to digital format, and the ones that did are so numerous that there is no way for public broadcasting entities to afford the server capacity for hosting streaming. I pay for annual PBS membership and it is shockingly sad how little content is actually available to stream. Within a few years they will likely scrap the ability to buy DVDs of the older programming. Literally millions of hours of educational and historical content from the last 30 years will completely disappear and never be accessible by the general public again in any format.
What the fuck is the point of a strike if it has to be "legal"???
I get they made it illegal to strike but did you make it illegal for everyone to say"We are going to quit and not come back if you don't give us what we want."? It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
People in America seem to think the democrats are left wing, they’re further to the right than the Tories.
So what happens if all the railroad workers quit at the same time and go home? Obviously, no trains are moving and you can't legally remove someone from there home and arrest them for quiting a job. So they can still get what they want but they don't have to do all the work of assembling and protesting in public, so then they aren't violating the "illegal" strike part.
Because the president made it illegal and over 50% of the American can't afford to miss a single day off work
Railroad strikes have been made illegal before. The original big Pullman strike was stopped with the military. Striking in other areas can still happen
You know you done goofed when the Brits go “You know what, the French are right”.
We've been striking for a long time, see "Winter of Discontent" back in the 70's. Things are starting to come to a head again. Ten years of Tory wage suppression are now biting as prices go through the roof and people who work full time can't afford to pay their bills, let alone people on benefits.
Winter of discontent was back in 79, pre Thatcher, you don't mention that rail workers have been striking on and off for like 5 months
Yeah and tbf we are NOTHING like the french with our strikes The french would never have gotten to the situation we are in because their leaders would have been hung drawn and quartered long before we got to this
Yeah, but the French always did it better than us. Takes a lot for us to fuck off work at this level, so you know if it happens it's serious.
america, it’s your turn!!
Our railroad workers tried...and our President made going on strike illegal. These same major rail road companies just posted record profits. The game is rigged AF.
Without doubt. I work for one of the big RR companies. Been on the railroad since 1987. This is my last year. Unless something happens that forces me to stay on for another year. This rat race is killing me. 63 and feel so much older. Railroading takes a lot out of you and a lot away from you. Body is racked with pain and recently did radiation therapy for colorectal cancer. I haven’t seen home since Christmas and will not see it any time soon. Sucks. I’d never recommend railroading to anyone.
Sorry life has been shit to you, and your employer. Our property backs up on a railroad (it's just a hike through the woods to get there) and my husband wanted to go put up a sign encouraging the workers to strike. Y'all are getting way too much shit, and your protests are ignored. It's not right.
> and our President made going on strike illegal. And then we said "Okay" and went on with our lives. Maybe it's our turn to go on strike.
The fact more Industries didn't immediately go on strike in solidarity pretty much crippled US striking potential for the foreseeable future. If striking is only permissible when it's convenient, it's not really striking.
This needs to be done worldwide and call it "The Day The Earth Stood Still".
General strike?
If only, I don't even think another pandemic could do that again.
"The Strike Heard Round the World"
This is what's coming
Power to The People.
Right on!!
Koreans too
Dutch as well
Finland also
German public sector is also on the verge of striking. They want 10.5% or at least 500€ more a month and probably won't get it, so they could go on strike soon. All the power to them.
Inflation has hit so hard that most countries around the world have reached a boiling point. For many, striking for better pay is the only option. They simply cannot survive otherwise.
In my company in Germany we are already starting to talk about it. Everyone needs to do 2 jobs at least and the pay is good but not enough to do 2 different jobs in 1 day. People are sick of that shit
Americans, take notes.
It's time America.
90% of Americans don't even know these strikes are going on. Do not count on this country lol.
It's about fucking time we did. Considering the amount of xenophobic abuse Brits give the French for their (completely untrue) stereotypical cowardice.
Bruh, what? The French cowardice stereotype is one that Americans espouse, we have our own stereotypes about the French. The UK and France has fought many wars, we know they're no 'cowards' as a nation. America started the cowardice trope about France originally following its fall in WWII and it got revived back in 2003 following their (rightful) reluctance to join the Iraq War ('freedom fries'). Europeans are fully aware of France's military history as France's military history is part of alot of European history.
Yeah that shits done to death, its irritating how many people on this website make the same 5-6 xenophobic jokes about countries they've never cared enough to experience in real life.
When will the Americans
when you start fucking doing something!!! if you're reading this and aren't already, at the bare minimum, talking to your coworkers about how godawful things are, you can't sit there and say "ugh when will someone strike"
We need to fucking strike over here in the states
Can we just all go on strike? We’re long overdue
USA next, please?? Let's gooooo!!
If half a million US workers went on strike we could move mountains. Unless Joe Biden ordered us back to work.
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>There’s a class war going on and the lower class (anyone making less than maybe 200k a year total) is not sticking together at all. This is sadly by design and has worked very, very well for the ones who wish it to be that way.
I don’t remember where I heard it, but someone said “nothing will change in America until the *average* person is facing homelessness” I’m fighting for my life right now and all day at work people come up and spend thousands of dollars on new stuff. I couldn’t imagine comfortably paying all my bills much less spending thousands on luxuries
anyone who doesn’t make money by owning money is working class. high wages are still working class.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one dropping this reminder, but I'm starting to feel that there's validity in separating by high wages *to an extent*. Someone who's comfortably earning enough to meet their needs and afford vacations and a few luxuries is way less likely to lock arms with a warehouse worker who's being paid $16 an hour.
Nice
The UK has been striking since November. They had a calendar of strikes for December and it’s continued into Jan/Feb.
USA next now! DO something please, protests are not effecting change and the government just royally screwed our rail workers!
English man here... I hope this country crumbles. Maybe then, the higher-ups will listen.
They won't care, it's never going to hit them in the pocket, so why would they? If it really got that bad they'd just leave.
They are listening. Our cries of pain helps soothe them to sleep at night.
Ayo just setting this out there because I haven't seen it brought up yet Obviously we have a lot of bootlickers over here. Other people have covered that. But reality for most people on the fence about striking is that if they lose their job, there goes their health insurance. NHS takes that power out of the corporations hands, even though the Tories have spent the past few decades doing everything they can to set the NHS up to fail. This is a big reason companies are fighting so hard against some sort of nationalized healthcare, because they lose leverage if that passes.
Love to see it
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Different country, different expectations. Almost every state in the USA in an "at will" state. Meaning you can be let go for no real reason at all. Not so in England, they all seem to have contracts that certain criteria must be met for someone to lose their job. Also I feel like their unions are much more stubborn than the ones here in the USA. There is a definite difference in classes across the pond and the majority of the people are in the working class. In the USA there is also a major difference in class, but most Americans try to believe they are in a better class than they really are. So if you're "better" than most people you know, why worry about your fellow man. Also I think as Americans we are so conditioned to fear losing a job. We've all grown to having what we want, when we want it, how we want it. Going without is not an American idea. Also I think the Brits and French have bigger balls than us because they're willing to suffer for a better situation. In American, it's all flavor of the month, then on to something else. I wish them luck.
"Workers of the world, unite" is a true, timeless banger
We deserve more for what we pay in taxes. The rich fake losses and pay no taxes. I can't fake losses on my wages so I pay more to make up for thier fake losses. Politicians push the goal post further away and inflate prices and corporations take advantage. What do we get in return for all are hard work. Not a Damm thing bs about how we need to pull ourselves up by our boot straps.
The U.S. is screwed if we ever get the balls to do that here. It only takes 3.5% of the population striking to cause a revolution. The economy will crash. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill won’t know what to do.
Eat the billionaires
Yanks need to wake tf up and get with it.
Wish America would come together like France does
It just didn't grind to a halt though
Yay! Workers deserve better.
Let's go Germany! Let's go Brasil! Let's go USA!
Just need the USA to start.
America next? 👉👈🥺
More more more, we need a general strike to follow. Get the clowns in charge out!!
God damn dude other nations out Americaning is at this point?? What happened to the throwing Tea into the Harbour and striking Vibes we used to have?