Strikes prove that unskilled labor isn’t.
Unskilled labor is a lie told to divide classes.
35 Likes
Quick reminder for anyone under the impression that Chipotle has a $15 minimum wage… they do not. That’s a lie. They carefully crafted a press release about a $15/hr average wage going into effect eventually, like that’s a thing, and relied on lazy, gullible news outlets and people seeing $15/hr (that minimum wage number) and mentally filling in “minimum wage”.
They basically spun minor adjustments they were going to have to do anyway as some big, heartfelt bit of charity for their workers.
18 Likes
You’re making an anti-immigration argument when you pit immigrants against underpaid American workers like that. These “labor shortages” are a good thing for workers, not a real problem that demands intervention on behalf of the companies. They can just pay a living wage and provide decent conditions.
8 Likes
Doug Ford’s Conservative government in Ontario just announced a small increase in the minimum wage to $15/hr. (It’s campaign season.)
More important, though, they are getting rid of the sub-minimum wage paid to servers and others who depend on tips.
Interesting article here on the origins of tipping culture in North America.
https://www.tvo.org/article/is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-tipping
17 Likes
Slavery comes to mind…
12 Likes
See the article I linked to.
10 Likes
12 Likes
They COULD do that… or they could skip a step and just put the debtors in prison…
13 Likes
Well, now I’m imagining the new prison/retail warehouse model… using plans designed by Munger.
18 Likes
as long as i can change my window lighting to “romantic”.
10 Likes
Capitalists want the threat of deportation available. It’s one of the tools they use to keep wages low as it makes a target group even more vulnerable for exploitation.
14 Likes
This is what most of the companies like this are doing. “Up to $18/hr” and “We pay $15/h (depending on local cost of living)”. Along with “average wage” that’s juked up by including management, or even executives in the math.
It’s been happening for a while, seemingly an attempt to head off a $15 minimum wage. With their executives and lobbyists arguing that’s unnecessary because they already do the thing.
It’s kinda bonkers to me that it’s become even more of a thing in the current circumstances. You’re getting hit with a critical labor shortage because your wages are low. And you double down on pulling a bait and switch?
How are you even addressing the fact that actual people won’t accept the actual wages you are paying by telling a bunch of other people “no we’re totally raising wages”. Or advertising a higher wage than you actually offer to the people who turn up?
9 Likes
Yeah, I was a dick to a pharmacist last week who was just trying to explain to me why my insurance didn’t cover something. I apologized during the transaction but still, we all have to be more patient and kind to each other and not confuse people who are helpless to do anything with the cause of our problems.
15 Likes
Everyone can have a bad day, of course. But some of the problem customers are just being dicks because they really believe that people in the food service industry are there to be actual servants… This has been especially true with the pandemic, with the anti-mask/ anti-vax crowd, who I suspect are who the person is really talking about.
21 Likes
No need to reinvent the wheel.
Here’s a 19th century design for a workhouse. Note windows. Even then architects criticized this as inhumane.
Government-run workhouses could go a long way towards reducing American dependence on imported oakum.
13 Likes
Around here we had “poor farms,” a derogatory term, but in general seem to have been rather humane compared to our current situation:
14 Likes
Don’t worry, the Rs have a (fucking stupid) plan for that…
20 Likes
19 Likes
