#labor organizing

[iww-gnv]

Organize Your Workplace: Creating a Social Map

Assembled by Fellow Worker @dovesndecay for the March 2025 Gainesville Branch newsletter

[victusinveritas]

[eelhound]

"Scandinavian countries maintain what sociologists call 'low power distance' cultures, where extreme wealth disparities and conspicuous consumption are regarded with suspicion rather than admiration. Status anxiety still exists, but the structural features of the economy take the edge off, making it easier for other prosocial values to emerge. It becomes possible to locate the value of solidarity over competition, social cohesion over social rank, efficiency over theatrical displays of work commitment, and leisure over performance.

By contrast, the United States has a culture of competitive individualism fostered by our winner-take-all economic system. Here, things that might otherwise be considered entitlements are almost always commodities instead. Every element of a decent life, from health care to shelter to education, is sold on the private market. The richer the person, the higher the bid, the better the living. Relaxation is a failure to grow wealth, which is in turn a failure to live well. It’s a remarkable perversion: capitalism has actually weaponized the concept of 'the good life' against the notion of doing what we want with our time.

When essential components of a dignified life are collectively guaranteed rather than individually bought and sold, 'the good life' ceases to be a function of wealth or a reward contingent upon endless work. Instead, it becomes a baseline expectation rooted in human dignity and social citizenship.

The Scandinavian countries got this way through sustained class struggle. Workers’ movements wrested control of productivity gains from capital, refusing to accept that increased efficiency should only benefit shareholders and executives. Ending unnecessary toil requires expanding economic democracy, not just relying on market rationality."

- Meagan Day, from "We Shouldn’t Have to Work This Hard." Jacobin, 23 March 2025.

[rylandgraceofficial]

It is with great joy that I get to share this version of the breaking news meme

[wormsinabrain]

happy international workers’ day to all my working class siblings. we must stay united, organized and unionized 🚩🏴

[dakotadanger]

✊🏻

[thehumantrampoline]

Donate to Support 39th street Starbucks Workers United, organized by allison coy

Hello! This GoFundMe is being used to help the 39th Street Starbucks workers… allison coy needs your support for Support 39th street Starbu

Hey y'all!! Calling on anyone who can to help out this Starbucks, who badly need some additional help with their strike fund as some partners won't be able to make rent in the event the store strikes. Any additional money they collect beyond what is required will benefit unionized workers and organizing efforts at this and other stores in Kansas City!

If you can't donate, a reblog would be amazing! Thank you for your solidarity with striking Starbucks baristas! NO CONTRACT, NO COFFEE!!!

[jodipickens]

We under value and take for granted artists as a society. I’m talking all artists…writers, actors, musicians, dancers, designers, painters, sculptors…the list is endless.

The commonality is that they all have either spent their time honing their skills through practice, lessons, education or all of the above. Artists dedicate their time and often their lives to their craft.

We are failing our artists. Symphony orchestras are failing across the US. Writers and actors are on strike. People involved in the fine arts are turning to independent sales. We need to shift our expectations.

We need creatives as a part of our society. What we don’t need is the expectation that artists should work for free or for a paltry income. Simply because an artist enjoys performing or creating doesn’t mean they should have to do so for nothing.

We also no longer live in an era where it is standard that the extremely wealthy build museums or libraries or fund performing arts groups. We live in an era of amassing extreme wealth for the minority of the population.

I get that profitability is important, but at what cost? Are we ok that artists can’t afford health insurance? Are we ok that artists are leaving our communities for other opportunities? Are we ok that companies are ready to use AI over humans for creative processes and performance?

I’m not ready for any of this. We will lose a significant part of our humanity by eliminating and discouraging the ability to thrive for artists. Change can be hard but change is what is needed.

We are experiencing the beginning of a labor revolution and it will not stop with our writers, actors, UPS drivers or Starbucks baristas. The peasants are fed up and the nobility needs to pay attention.

Support your local artists. Support independent artists. Support the striking unions and organizations. We can all play a part in creating a long lasting effective change.

#WGAstrong #SAGAFTRAstrong #Unionstrong #BeLoud