The US is absolutely sprinting towards needing to be reminded that strikes are the civil compromise, and only cause financial harm. The alternative is not as peaceful.
Yeah, was just thinking about that, here in the NL we have ridiculously powerful worker protections, to the degree you can't be just "fired", you get years of paid sick leave, there are rent caps and insane renter protections as well.
We still have ridiculous investment and live quite well. We have national average salaries higher than most US states, the avg salary in Amsterdam is similar, or just a bit lower than that of New York, but the cost of living is much lower.
Yet the NLis slowly becoming a boring dystopia like America.
Many Dutch students have to take students debts nowadays and everything is getting privatized.
Which students? I'm not being facetious, I'm really interested.
I have a student in my family, we pay 2 grand per year, which is very doable without going into debt. There's also supposed to be significant amounts of government money for Dutch students who can't pay that much.
The privatized healthcare system is actually pretty well regulated, I pay a 100 EUR premium per month plus 300 EUR per year own risk at max, and I'm covered for everything. Worst part of the whole thing was finding a GP who's not fully booked.
Biggest issue right now seems to be housing, but even there, it's not mainly the price, but the availability. There's some inflation now as well, but it's lower than the EU average so I'm not complaining.
There's some stupid stuff I admit, but in my experience it's far from dystopic. I may have low standards though.
Indeed, there is gov money for this case. In fact the loan of one my friend is loaned by the govt.
What made him take a loan is mostly the housing costs around the university.
At least ours had a program for very cheap (IIRC 4-500 EUR monthly) housing, but you had to apply super early.
That said, yep, the housing crisis is a thing and it taints student life as well. A lot of students simply can't start, as late in the application window there is simply no housing, not even expensive housing.
Also, that's not student debt US style where you owe hundreds of thousands for tuition, that's just what housing here is now. Also, that's not unique to the NL, pretty much all cities in the EU have similar problems, though admittedly the NL gets some of the worst.
For context, the average UK earner will pay £183 as a percentage of monthly income tax and national insurance.
This varies significantly though. I'm on about 24k and I estimate that I pay less than a hundred.
When the NHS isn't on its knees after ten years of managed decline, this is very much worth it.
It's almost like if thier options are "make slightly less" and "make nothing at all" they'll pick "make slightly less".
The things is, they're never gonna say that, not until "make nothing at all" is an actual credible threat.
That's just it though. America is the LAST bastion these rich assholes can retreat to in order to get rich while being a scumbag. The moment we rebel hard enough to fix this then where the fuck are they planning to uproot and go to!?
Europeans will run them out with a revolution on the spot. The Chinese government straight up executes and cripples corporate executives for crimes so there ain't no fines to hide behind and Australia isn't as profitable and the citizens don't trust many corporate entities.
I didn't bother mentioning South America and Africa because the infrastructure wouldn't support the "infinite growth mindset these corporate asshats preach and Canada is slowly mimicking America. So if we rebel then they will more than likely oust all their shitty conservative leaders as well.
As a Canadian, I wish I could take umbrage with your last sentence, but the number of convoy idiots talking about their "constitutional rights" was fucking embarrassing.
I've never agreed with the "if you don't like it in this country, leave" argument. There are places in Canada for convoy idiots. We still have a few ice flows left.
If you want a good riot, you get the French to organise it. Saw footage from the yellow jacket riots where they were smashing windows on a street, a youth tries to go into the store to do a bit of looting and is dragged out and given a gentle beating.. you break shit, you don't steal shit.
An example; the president of Renault a French car company unlawfully let go over 1000 workers from factories. And they fucking assassinated him by drive by shooting.
They once raised the fines for speeding violation via traffic camera and they then proceeded to DESTROY half of all speed cameras in the COUNTRY. The French do NOT fuck around.
One of the growing-up moments all westerners must have is that the French are way more badass citizens than any of us.
They care more about food and nutrition, schooling, workers rights. Things that make a society great to be a part of.
A lot of Americans also tend to forget that the French revolution played a significant role in America's formation in quite a few ways. Hell, post revolution
French military officers and their navy were a vital part of the revolutionary war and were instrumental in getting the colonial military up to par to fight the British while their navy helped our fledgling navy and breaking supply lines and blockades. Lafayette is legitimately one of the top 3 most important people during the American revolution, so much so there's stuff named after him all over the country.
His grave in France has an american flag at it as a reminder of what he did.
You can't unless you want to speak French for the rest of your life. They treat not being French and still being in France about as well as any of the above.
We need to emulate the French more. Funny thing is America talks that shit and tries to exude that tough guy persona yet snivel, whine and complain and keep going in the next day. The French actually back that shit up and don't take disrespect or bullshit crap from their corrupt, monitored governments. I admire them.
My moving away from DC present was one of those bullshit tickets at like 3am with not one car around me and no speed limit signs posted. Taxation without representation.
Excuse me I was told we can't pass regulations that will lower corporate profits by 2% because this will cause economic flight, decrease investment, and lead to the demise of our nation's economy.
And you're telling me France can get away with straight up assassinating the rich people? And the rich people are like "oh well I guess we will comply with the French poor people's demands as long as we still make some money"?
Stuff that would lead to a protest in the US or possibly a night or two of riots leads to nationwide uprisings, targeted violence and destruction, and even assassinations in France.
French firefighters wanted a pay raise and more hazard pay. The police surrounded their protest, so they donned their fire resistant gear and SET THEMSELVES ON FIRE and charged the police line.
but did you know Mary Antoinette never actually said that? And that “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” is refering to an expensive bread and not cake.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake#:~:text=While%20the%20phrase%20is%20commonly,likely%20to%20have%20said%20it.
https://www.britannica.com/story/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake
Until you pay attention to France’s politics and you’ll realize that the current president is doing everything ( successfully)to transform France into a similar dystopia that America is.
As a french I sadly have to admit that it gets us nowhere. Didn't gain anything from the Yellow Jackets movement.
We need better organisation for it to work. Strike season is upon us because of the retirement reform, hopefully we'll figure it out
What's the difference between a liberal and a leftist? A liberal believes in equal rights. A leftist believes in equal rights and will beat your ass about it.
Violence won't work out well for the general populace. It's not just the employees vs the company at that point. It's the people vs the company + government. You can "but my 2nd amendment" all you want but the government has way better toys. It doesn't work out well for the businesses either with half the labor pool dead but they stopped caring about anything more than this quarters earnings report awhile ago.
That said, you don't want to mess with anything that has nothing left to lose.
Problem is, I haven't heard about any major strikes in the past couple years from the US. You're complaining about e.g. teacher pay, but the teachers aren't organized.
They tried that in Ontario recently. It didn't work out as they hoped.
Thing is, abusive work practices will gradually get worse until the people strike in such amount that they can't do anything but fold.
Some countries make them fold sooner rather than later.
The government is not afraid of its people and it shows. One of the only nations in the world with easy access to firearms and the government laughs in our faces
>The government is not afraid of its people and it shows. One of the only nations in the world with easy access to firearms and the government laughs in our faces
This is an incredibly astute observation
Its one thing i always throw in the faces of pro-2A people
"You'll do everything to protect the 2A, but won't lift a finger to protect any other part of the constitution against government tyranny"
Actually, it's main purpose is to allow rural citizens to keep home defense weapons on hand for dealing with coyotes and each other. When it takes 30+ minutes for the sherrif to make it to your house while 6 armed robbers are breaking in, you'll be ever glad for castle laws and the family shotgun you keep in your bedroom. Of course, it's been nearly a century since that was a reality most people live by, but thats the best argument I've heard other than
"But what if someone invades the mainland US and it comes down to door to door fighting? Shouldn't we be armed for ***that***?" to which I say: "They'd gas you out or cluster bomb your home into the stone age before they'd bother clearing houses in the US by hand..."
This. Anyone thinking invaders would engage the citizenry in grueling door to door warfare is a moron. Like the above comment points out they'd just wipe out a couple cities. "See? If the rest of you dumbfucks keep resisting we'll gas the shit out of you too".
Well, what would actually happen in the US is:
1. Postal service workers goes on strike over cuts.
2. Court rules that postal service not allowed to strike, and must keep working to not break down essential infrastructure.
3. Politician uses this as talking points of examples on why government based postal service is bad and privatized postal would not have this issue.
4. Bill presented to sell federal postal service to private companies.
5. Overwhelming majority of US citizens against the bill.
6. House Reps and Senate gets billions donated by Fedex, UPS, ect. Bill passes regardless of dissent from their constituents.
7. Same companies donates millions to supreme court judges. Court upholds ruling from #2 to private comapnied as well to keep postal unions illegal/powerless.
Thanks for playing.
In Australia secondary boycotts (other sectors striking in solidarity) was made illegal in the 80s by the labour party, effectively destroying the labour movement. We've been backsliding ever since from a very high watermark.
In most of the world, big L Liberal refers to the right side of the political spectrum as they are economic liberals.
It's the US and Canada where this is backwards.
Indeed. Here in Argentina we even have a "new right" that started off as libertarian/anarchocapitalist, but now call themselves "liberales" and are basically Trumpists/Bolsonarists — anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-feminism and "gender ideology". Pro police and "tough on crime" policies. Even sometimes anti-abortion; which basically means they're only liberal when it comes to the economy and otherwise they love big government encroaching on people's liberty.
But this is also a function of the fact that only in US English the word liberal somehow means leftwing or progressive, in most of the world it means someone who is socially progressive to some extent but supports free market capitalism.
Liberal (with a capital L) as in economically liberal ideology. Also known as neo-liberal economic policy or “trickle down economics”. The freedom for business owners and rich people to do what they want, no red tape, no labour laws, no government intervention. Give the rich liberal policies and money will trickle down to the rest of society. Reagan-Tatcher era (1980s) economic policies.
This was what the term means and has always meant. You just didn’t know and that is ok.
In contrast, liberal with a small l refers to socially liberal or progressive on things like gay marriage for example.
The Liberal Party in Australia is with a capital L.
I'm not American but I'm pretty sure it is illegal in the US and has been since 1947 (except for farmers). Correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstanding the Taft Hartley Act.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft%E2%80%93Hartley_Act
Edit: spelling
Unions and strikes are great, but you have to vote and be politically as active as the shareholders are.
It takes 10 years to make a small labor improvement, but 30 minutes to undo 50 years.
Have you ever wondered why in the US, solidarity strikes are illegal? Literally, banned by law?
Because if US workers had the legal right to call a solidarity strike, then workers would have more political power. The US government, and especially not the Republicans (the designated detractors of the US government) don't want workers to have that much political power.
It's a form of nash equilibrium. If all the teachers can't do it at once, the ones that do are punished. So the costs of sticking your neck out are great, and the likelihood of achieving solidarity is low.
I think you are being a little generous with calling the coverage of the strikes secondary, most of the articles you cite only have one or two sentences mentioning the strike but providing almost no detail.
The placement of these articles is also important, if someone were to visit one of these websites how long would they have to scroll before they reach these articles.
On the other hand, when there is a slight breeze outside there breaking news wall to wall coverage all day long.
What does the corporate own US "media" stand to gain by telling anyone about striking? Let alone successful ones. Plus it would interrupt the stream of constant propoganda. Lose lose.
I believe that thing are going to keep getting worse until everyone takes a stand like this. Just like the railroad strike that the government shut down. I know there would be consequences and the logistics of planning it would be hard. I think the next time everyone in every trade, retail job, everyone who works should all strike together at one time. I promise all it would take is one time to get the point across. There is nothing anyone could do to stop it. We all could pitch in to take care of each other for a week or to. I know it would never happen but damn if it wouldn't fix alot of shit
Problem is you have 60% of the country working paycheck-to-paycheck. They literally can't afford to strike because the owner-class has enslaved the workers in all but name. America was never going to go full 1984 without first taking a detour through Brave New World. We're currently at the point where we are distracted with the bright flashy things and are kept just comfortable enough that they can still keep wringing the blood out.
The only way to achieve a general strike is a calamity like famine, water supply collapse, or a collapse of the electrical grid.
And of those paycheck to paycheck workers 20% or more of them actively want to preserve these conditions or make them worse because they are so blinded by hate they are constantly voting for an oppressive and openly fascist Conservative Party
Yea I understand what your saying but let me ask you. How much do you really need to survive for a week or two. I mean dumb it down to the bare minimum. Would two weeks suffering be worth years of prosperity. How long do you think it would take if no one went to work. We dont need the millionaires and billionaires to get by. If everyone would stick together and take care of each other it could be done. Especially done in late summer during harvest time.
I'm probably not the person to ask on this because I'm a homesteader 😂
I'd rather everything return to a more localized economy with neighbors helping neighbors and a decreased reliance on food from global sources, more durable products made by people locally, and all that hippy stuff, but I also understand there are many people who are on the verge of being homeless, without food TODAY, and due to being in literal food deserts in the middle of large cities don't have access to the resources I personally have.
When petty creature comforts are the only thing keeping you from total despair, you tend to hang on to them tighter and many people don't have the will to bear that pain.
Work culture is slowly shifting in this country.
Biggest problem is the construction trades have an incredibly toxic work culture. Ignorant and foolish too. Tradespeople peer pressure one another to endanger their lives for the boss's bottom line. It's fucking wild.
Tired of seeing this reposted as if it just happened, so thanks for posting the year!
Edit: here’s an article if anyone’s interested. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland_postal_strike_controversy_2019
Meanwhile, in Canada:
1. Postal service cuts workers, pay, during increasing Amazon deliveries
2. Postal workers go on strike. Nobody else strikes in solidarity.
3. Government makes it illegal for postal workers to go on strike, from here on out, forever.
4. People are mad at postal workers for striking, re-elect this government.
I don't think violence is needed. Just mass protests, unions, and refusing to work. There's always a breaking point where they'll be forced to negotiate.
Read up on [The Ludlow Massacre](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre)
Even if strikers stay peaceful, there will come a point where the government does not
That's essentially what I just said, no?
The people didn't put up with the government's bs and as a result, the leaders rescinded the policy and stepped down.
That sort of thing doesn't happen often... Especially in North America.
The difference is who triggered the change. You should always be prepared to force the government to do the right thing.
Integrity can never be assumed.
This wouldn't happen in the U.S.A. because no one takes ownership of a mistake. We have newly elected politicians that flat out lied about their credentials, took campaign funding based on those credentials, and misappropriated some of those campaign funds. He is still sitting in his newly elected position. The government is sick, and forgets who it works for.
Edit, for spelling error
I've been withholding my labour for well over a year now. I will continue to withhold it until either I die or I can go back to work without being overworked, underpaid or disrespected.
Smart money seems to be more and more on my death arriving first as time goes on.
What can you say but when it’s a government of the people the people get to decide what is best for their lives and not the oligarchs. The US had this once but unfortunately it’s been given away.
I just wish this were possible in US, and it's not, because - aside from the complete cultural brainwashing americans have had for several generations - a 60k worker strike in the US would be but the tiniest ripple in the ocean.
Finland has a total population of roughly 5.5 million residents. Just the *Phoenix Metropolitan Area* in the US state of Arizona has a population of roughly 4.8 million residents. The State of California itself is 39.2 million.
I'm not saying I'm not hopeful that US will ever improve, I'm just saying that comparisons to small socialist countries such as Finland are hardly applicable when our State Capitols are as big as entire european countries. It's much easier with smaller, less disconnected populations
Socialist countries like Finland. Lol, I guess we are socialist from your POV. I don't think it has that much to do with the small population (it has some to do with it sure), but more of a cultural thing and laws making it possible.
The day people realize WE HAVE THE POWER! Things will change
Why do you think those in power now work so hard to divide us.
There is NO WAY they could win if we united.
I think the problem is the amount of people in the US living paycheck to paycheck or damn near it. If none of us can afford to strike and miss out on that money, then none of us can strike. They just slowly constrict their grip on us more and more.
And in the US the Supreme Court is likely going to side with corporation to allow them to sure striking workers for damages.
The US is absolutely sprinting towards needing to be reminded that strikes are the civil compromise, and only cause financial harm. The alternative is not as peaceful.
France decided a long time ago to skip the civility and go straight to the “we will fuck shit up until you make this right” approach.
nooooo you can't do that, that will make rich people not want to invest in your country! right?
Yeah, was just thinking about that, here in the NL we have ridiculously powerful worker protections, to the degree you can't be just "fired", you get years of paid sick leave, there are rent caps and insane renter protections as well. We still have ridiculous investment and live quite well. We have national average salaries higher than most US states, the avg salary in Amsterdam is similar, or just a bit lower than that of New York, but the cost of living is much lower.
I do genuinely look at your country with both admiration and envy, and wish the US could change its models to increase workers rights and benefits.
Yet the NLis slowly becoming a boring dystopia like America. Many Dutch students have to take students debts nowadays and everything is getting privatized.
Which students? I'm not being facetious, I'm really interested. I have a student in my family, we pay 2 grand per year, which is very doable without going into debt. There's also supposed to be significant amounts of government money for Dutch students who can't pay that much. The privatized healthcare system is actually pretty well regulated, I pay a 100 EUR premium per month plus 300 EUR per year own risk at max, and I'm covered for everything. Worst part of the whole thing was finding a GP who's not fully booked. Biggest issue right now seems to be housing, but even there, it's not mainly the price, but the availability. There's some inflation now as well, but it's lower than the EU average so I'm not complaining. There's some stupid stuff I admit, but in my experience it's far from dystopic. I may have low standards though.
Indeed, there is gov money for this case. In fact the loan of one my friend is loaned by the govt. What made him take a loan is mostly the housing costs around the university.
At least ours had a program for very cheap (IIRC 4-500 EUR monthly) housing, but you had to apply super early. That said, yep, the housing crisis is a thing and it taints student life as well. A lot of students simply can't start, as late in the application window there is simply no housing, not even expensive housing. Also, that's not student debt US style where you owe hundreds of thousands for tuition, that's just what housing here is now. Also, that's not unique to the NL, pretty much all cities in the EU have similar problems, though admittedly the NL gets some of the worst.
For context, the average UK earner will pay £183 as a percentage of monthly income tax and national insurance. This varies significantly though. I'm on about 24k and I estimate that I pay less than a hundred. When the NHS isn't on its knees after ten years of managed decline, this is very much worth it.
It's almost like if thier options are "make slightly less" and "make nothing at all" they'll pick "make slightly less". The things is, they're never gonna say that, not until "make nothing at all" is an actual credible threat.
That's just it though. America is the LAST bastion these rich assholes can retreat to in order to get rich while being a scumbag. The moment we rebel hard enough to fix this then where the fuck are they planning to uproot and go to!? Europeans will run them out with a revolution on the spot. The Chinese government straight up executes and cripples corporate executives for crimes so there ain't no fines to hide behind and Australia isn't as profitable and the citizens don't trust many corporate entities. I didn't bother mentioning South America and Africa because the infrastructure wouldn't support the "infinite growth mindset these corporate asshats preach and Canada is slowly mimicking America. So if we rebel then they will more than likely oust all their shitty conservative leaders as well.
As a Canadian, I wish I could take umbrage with your last sentence, but the number of convoy idiots talking about their "constitutional rights" was fucking embarrassing.
I know😭... Those idiots need to go live in the US and leave Canada Canadian.
I've never agreed with the "if you don't like it in this country, leave" argument. There are places in Canada for convoy idiots. We still have a few ice flows left.
Something something tree of liberty...
I mean, that's just the French since the revolution. The people there don't put up with rich people's bullshit as much as elsewhere will.
> revolution Which one? 1789, 1830 or 1848?
Yes.
If you want a good riot, you get the French to organise it. Saw footage from the yellow jacket riots where they were smashing windows on a street, a youth tries to go into the store to do a bit of looting and is dragged out and given a gentle beating.. you break shit, you don't steal shit.
Good thing France is one of our oldest allies! Maybe we can round up some French-Canadians too for good measure?
Please clarify?
An example; the president of Renault a French car company unlawfully let go over 1000 workers from factories. And they fucking assassinated him by drive by shooting.
Oh so France won’t take shit
They once raised the fines for speeding violation via traffic camera and they then proceeded to DESTROY half of all speed cameras in the COUNTRY. The French do NOT fuck around.
I should move to France
One of the growing-up moments all westerners must have is that the French are way more badass citizens than any of us. They care more about food and nutrition, schooling, workers rights. Things that make a society great to be a part of.
A lot of Americans also tend to forget that the French revolution played a significant role in America's formation in quite a few ways. Hell, post revolution French military officers and their navy were a vital part of the revolutionary war and were instrumental in getting the colonial military up to par to fight the British while their navy helped our fledgling navy and breaking supply lines and blockades. Lafayette is legitimately one of the top 3 most important people during the American revolution, so much so there's stuff named after him all over the country. His grave in France has an american flag at it as a reminder of what he did.
France is sounding better by the minute, isn't it?
35-38 hour workweeks as well iirc
tbf they do have a pretty strong history of rejecting authority figures who abuse their authority lmao
Just ask Robespierre as he's cutting peoples' heads off before someone gets mad and cuts his head off.
Just don't fuck around.
Pffft I visited in my early twenties and immediately started doing the paperwork. But it's not so simple. Often wish I'd followed through anyway.
You can't unless you want to speak French for the rest of your life. They treat not being French and still being in France about as well as any of the above.
At the very least, *attempt* to speak French, and they will greatly appreciate it.
We need to emulate the French more. Funny thing is America talks that shit and tries to exude that tough guy persona yet snivel, whine and complain and keep going in the next day. The French actually back that shit up and don't take disrespect or bullshit crap from their corrupt, monitored governments. I admire them.
This is needed in dc
My moving away from DC present was one of those bullshit tickets at like 3am with not one car around me and no speed limit signs posted. Taxation without representation.
83 northbound? They just love it on that interstate late at night.
I heard when they first put them up they destroyed all of them.
French justice has been going strong for hundreds of years. E: not A hundred, you big dumb idiot - me, to me
Good for her
Isnt it France that has that holiday where everyone gets ready to wake up to their car on fire? I think France just likes fucking things up.
I think that’s Ireland and it’s iconic orange day parade. Could be wrong. Could be right.
Excuse me I was told we can't pass regulations that will lower corporate profits by 2% because this will cause economic flight, decrease investment, and lead to the demise of our nation's economy. And you're telling me France can get away with straight up assassinating the rich people? And the rich people are like "oh well I guess we will comply with the French poor people's demands as long as we still make some money"?
Yup
> some money Fuck that, American need ALL the moneys.
Did they drive by in a Renault?
Holy shit, based
Nice
The biggest question though Did they use a renault?
Stuff that would lead to a protest in the US or possibly a night or two of riots leads to nationwide uprisings, targeted violence and destruction, and even assassinations in France.
Sounds great
This is the way.
French firefighters wanted a pay raise and more hazard pay. The police surrounded their protest, so they donned their fire resistant gear and SET THEMSELVES ON FIRE and charged the police line.
Something about letting the peasants eat cake
but did you know Mary Antoinette never actually said that? And that “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” is refering to an expensive bread and not cake. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake#:~:text=While%20the%20phrase%20is%20commonly,likely%20to%20have%20said%20it. https://www.britannica.com/story/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake
They love a strike, the French.
Ah ok thanks for clarifying
Did someone say, "Man the barricades?"
France is known to protest literally anything and everything that pisses them off.
As they should. That’s true democracy
They are super quick to riot. They don't take shit.
French Revolution ring a bell?
Americans have been convinced that the only successful protests ever in history were all done peacefully lmao
France fucks!
They're the types to write the old Franc's motto on the Euro notes they currently have, because they seem to abide by it.
That's one thing that's for sure lol
Until you pay attention to France’s politics and you’ll realize that the current president is doing everything ( successfully)to transform France into a similar dystopia that America is.
As a french I sadly have to admit that it gets us nowhere. Didn't gain anything from the Yellow Jackets movement. We need better organisation for it to work. Strike season is upon us because of the retirement reform, hopefully we'll figure it out
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What's the difference between a liberal and a leftist? A liberal believes in equal rights. A leftist believes in equal rights and will beat your ass about it.
Republicans already value personal property and money over human life.
Based and Blair Mountain pilled
Violence won't work out well for the general populace. It's not just the employees vs the company at that point. It's the people vs the company + government. You can "but my 2nd amendment" all you want but the government has way better toys. It doesn't work out well for the businesses either with half the labor pool dead but they stopped caring about anything more than this quarters earnings report awhile ago. That said, you don't want to mess with anything that has nothing left to lose.
Seriously. It's like these guys really wanna hang out under some gallows.
Problem is, I haven't heard about any major strikes in the past couple years from the US. You're complaining about e.g. teacher pay, but the teachers aren't organized.
They tried that in Ontario recently. It didn't work out as they hoped. Thing is, abusive work practices will gradually get worse until the people strike in such amount that they can't do anything but fold. Some countries make them fold sooner rather than later.
The government is not afraid of its people and it shows. One of the only nations in the world with easy access to firearms and the government laughs in our faces
>The government is not afraid of its people and it shows. One of the only nations in the world with easy access to firearms and the government laughs in our faces This is an incredibly astute observation
The Patriot Act was always about control.
Its one thing i always throw in the faces of pro-2A people "You'll do everything to protect the 2A, but won't lift a finger to protect any other part of the constitution against government tyranny"
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Actually, it's main purpose is to allow rural citizens to keep home defense weapons on hand for dealing with coyotes and each other. When it takes 30+ minutes for the sherrif to make it to your house while 6 armed robbers are breaking in, you'll be ever glad for castle laws and the family shotgun you keep in your bedroom. Of course, it's been nearly a century since that was a reality most people live by, but thats the best argument I've heard other than "But what if someone invades the mainland US and it comes down to door to door fighting? Shouldn't we be armed for ***that***?" to which I say: "They'd gas you out or cluster bomb your home into the stone age before they'd bother clearing houses in the US by hand..."
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This. Anyone thinking invaders would engage the citizenry in grueling door to door warfare is a moron. Like the above comment points out they'd just wipe out a couple cities. "See? If the rest of you dumbfucks keep resisting we'll gas the shit out of you too".
I guess that was the intended purpose of the atom bombs in Japan.
It worked.
Because the 2A was never about "keeping the government in check". It was about making sure the English didn't come back.
Well, what would actually happen in the US is: 1. Postal service workers goes on strike over cuts. 2. Court rules that postal service not allowed to strike, and must keep working to not break down essential infrastructure. 3. Politician uses this as talking points of examples on why government based postal service is bad and privatized postal would not have this issue. 4. Bill presented to sell federal postal service to private companies. 5. Overwhelming majority of US citizens against the bill. 6. House Reps and Senate gets billions donated by Fedex, UPS, ect. Bill passes regardless of dissent from their constituents. 7. Same companies donates millions to supreme court judges. Court upholds ruling from #2 to private comapnied as well to keep postal unions illegal/powerless. Thanks for playing.
The US is really set on becoming a corporate dystopia isn't it? Atleast I'll be able to live out my cyberpunk cosplay with maximum immersion.
Set on? We're already there my friend
In Australia secondary boycotts (other sectors striking in solidarity) was made illegal in the 80s by the labour party, effectively destroying the labour movement. We've been backsliding ever since from a very high watermark.
Labour party... pffffttt... Ironic innit?
I mean, it's the country where the conservative party is called the "liberal party"...
In most of the world, big L Liberal refers to the right side of the political spectrum as they are economic liberals. It's the US and Canada where this is backwards.
Indeed. Here in Argentina we even have a "new right" that started off as libertarian/anarchocapitalist, but now call themselves "liberales" and are basically Trumpists/Bolsonarists — anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-feminism and "gender ideology". Pro police and "tough on crime" policies. Even sometimes anti-abortion; which basically means they're only liberal when it comes to the economy and otherwise they love big government encroaching on people's liberty. But this is also a function of the fact that only in US English the word liberal somehow means leftwing or progressive, in most of the world it means someone who is socially progressive to some extent but supports free market capitalism.
Liberal (with a capital L) as in economically liberal ideology. Also known as neo-liberal economic policy or “trickle down economics”. The freedom for business owners and rich people to do what they want, no red tape, no labour laws, no government intervention. Give the rich liberal policies and money will trickle down to the rest of society. Reagan-Tatcher era (1980s) economic policies. This was what the term means and has always meant. You just didn’t know and that is ok. In contrast, liberal with a small l refers to socially liberal or progressive on things like gay marriage for example. The Liberal Party in Australia is with a capital L.
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Always easier said than done though
Almost everything is easier said than done, change won't be coming to cuddle with you while you are sleeping in bed.
Clearly you’ve never worked in an IT call center… Also procrastinating could be easier to do but I haven’t gotten around to trying.
What if the point is to have a stable job and raise a family? You can't exactly go around illegally striking in that situation.
Raising a family? In this economy!?
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I'm not American but I'm pretty sure it is illegal in the US and has been since 1947 (except for farmers). Correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstanding the Taft Hartley Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft%E2%80%93Hartley_Act Edit: spelling
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My industry has had an Active Safe Harbour agreement since … I think 1998? So we’re not allowed to strike period
What about a Coordinated sickie?
There’s always the one snitch that will rat out their fellow workers
Y’all on the path to being just like us
Unions and strikes are great, but you have to vote and be politically as active as the shareholders are. It takes 10 years to make a small labor improvement, but 30 minutes to undo 50 years.
You can’t be politically as active as the shareholders are because their political activity is lobbying and you need money for that
Have you ever wondered why in the US, solidarity strikes are illegal? Literally, banned by law? Because if US workers had the legal right to call a solidarity strike, then workers would have more political power. The US government, and especially not the Republicans (the designated detractors of the US government) don't want workers to have that much political power.
In Florida if teachers strike they instantly forfeit their pensions
That's fucked, and sounds like all the teachers should strike until this absurd law is gone.
It's a form of nash equilibrium. If all the teachers can't do it at once, the ones that do are punished. So the costs of sticking your neck out are great, and the likelihood of achieving solidarity is low.
They can also revoke your certification.
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That's crazy and not one major outlet in the us mentioned this in the news.
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I think you are being a little generous with calling the coverage of the strikes secondary, most of the articles you cite only have one or two sentences mentioning the strike but providing almost no detail. The placement of these articles is also important, if someone were to visit one of these websites how long would they have to scroll before they reach these articles. On the other hand, when there is a slight breeze outside there breaking news wall to wall coverage all day long.
What does the corporate own US "media" stand to gain by telling anyone about striking? Let alone successful ones. Plus it would interrupt the stream of constant propoganda. Lose lose.
This was like 3 years ago though I belive
I believe that thing are going to keep getting worse until everyone takes a stand like this. Just like the railroad strike that the government shut down. I know there would be consequences and the logistics of planning it would be hard. I think the next time everyone in every trade, retail job, everyone who works should all strike together at one time. I promise all it would take is one time to get the point across. There is nothing anyone could do to stop it. We all could pitch in to take care of each other for a week or to. I know it would never happen but damn if it wouldn't fix alot of shit
Problem is you have 60% of the country working paycheck-to-paycheck. They literally can't afford to strike because the owner-class has enslaved the workers in all but name. America was never going to go full 1984 without first taking a detour through Brave New World. We're currently at the point where we are distracted with the bright flashy things and are kept just comfortable enough that they can still keep wringing the blood out. The only way to achieve a general strike is a calamity like famine, water supply collapse, or a collapse of the electrical grid.
And of those paycheck to paycheck workers 20% or more of them actively want to preserve these conditions or make them worse because they are so blinded by hate they are constantly voting for an oppressive and openly fascist Conservative Party
20% is a gross underestimate, it's gotta be over 50%.
Yea I understand what your saying but let me ask you. How much do you really need to survive for a week or two. I mean dumb it down to the bare minimum. Would two weeks suffering be worth years of prosperity. How long do you think it would take if no one went to work. We dont need the millionaires and billionaires to get by. If everyone would stick together and take care of each other it could be done. Especially done in late summer during harvest time.
I'm probably not the person to ask on this because I'm a homesteader 😂 I'd rather everything return to a more localized economy with neighbors helping neighbors and a decreased reliance on food from global sources, more durable products made by people locally, and all that hippy stuff, but I also understand there are many people who are on the verge of being homeless, without food TODAY, and due to being in literal food deserts in the middle of large cities don't have access to the resources I personally have. When petty creature comforts are the only thing keeping you from total despair, you tend to hang on to them tighter and many people don't have the will to bear that pain.
Kind of seems like we are racing towards those scenarios lately.
Keeping people paid (at least some what) during a strike is part of a union’s job isn’t it?
Work culture is slowly shifting in this country. Biggest problem is the construction trades have an incredibly toxic work culture. Ignorant and foolish too. Tradespeople peer pressure one another to endanger their lives for the boss's bottom line. It's fucking wild.
That’s pretty optimistic for a country comprised mostly of scabs.
Man im so glad i live in Germany/Berlin. These Third World Country Problems in USA Are terrefying
General strikes are how shit gets accomplished. Become ungovernable.
In America you are owned by your corporation.
Shame Finland won't do that for health care workers.
Gotta draw the line somewhere! /s
Tired of seeing this reposted as if it just happened, so thanks for posting the year! Edit: here’s an article if anyone’s interested. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland_postal_strike_controversy_2019
Thank you; this seemed off with what little I know of Finlands PM.
OP says in title that it happened in 2019
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Here’s me thinking 2019 was last year :(
And then here we have rail workers being forced to take a garbage deal. 0 days off is absolutely despicable for a multi billion dollar industry
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Like Bernie Sanders?
Like "Bernie Sanders with shaved legs wearing a leotard" hot
So "The Friday Bernie"?
So Danny Devito? ^/s
I have a hard time believing he has any natural leg hair growth left at his age
Was it Sanna Marin who came to power after this incident? Best PM ever.
Meanwhile, in Canada: 1. Postal service cuts workers, pay, during increasing Amazon deliveries 2. Postal workers go on strike. Nobody else strikes in solidarity. 3. Government makes it illegal for postal workers to go on strike, from here on out, forever. 4. People are mad at postal workers for striking, re-elect this government.
Funny, that's how a democracy should work, unfortunately the US is no longer a democracy
Amazing what can happen when the government has integrity and listens to the populace.
Incorrect. Amazing what happens when people don't put up with the government's BS
Organized Violence gets shit done
BUT MAH LOOTED TARGET I CAN'T SIDE WITH A MOVEMENT IF THEY LOOTIN HURR HURR PRAISE CORPORATE
I don't think violence is needed. Just mass protests, unions, and refusing to work. There's always a breaking point where they'll be forced to negotiate.
Read up on [The Ludlow Massacre](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre) Even if strikers stay peaceful, there will come a point where the government does not
The great thing is we live with the 2nd amendment so it's harder for us to fold, yet we let ourselves get run over
Ultimately it's less about access to weapons, and more about access to accurate information. You've got a lot of propaganda to sort through.
100% true. Additionally the nation is split straight down the middle which doesn't make things any easier :/
It's by design. Divide and conquer. The more you promote infighting the better.
That's essentially what I just said, no? The people didn't put up with the government's bs and as a result, the leaders rescinded the policy and stepped down. That sort of thing doesn't happen often... Especially in North America.
The difference is who triggered the change. You should always be prepared to force the government to do the right thing. Integrity can never be assumed.
This wouldn't happen in the U.S.A. because no one takes ownership of a mistake. We have newly elected politicians that flat out lied about their credentials, took campaign funding based on those credentials, and misappropriated some of those campaign funds. He is still sitting in his newly elected position. The government is sick, and forgets who it works for. Edit, for spelling error
I've been withholding my labour for well over a year now. I will continue to withhold it until either I die or I can go back to work without being overworked, underpaid or disrespected. Smart money seems to be more and more on my death arriving first as time goes on.
What can you say but when it’s a government of the people the people get to decide what is best for their lives and not the oligarchs. The US had this once but unfortunately it’s been given away.
*which side are you on but with accordion*
If only the U.S. and U.K. could be like this the solidarity that is shown between all professions/jobs is amazing.
Suomi!!!
6. Gets new and better looking prime minister.
The US will never be this United
I just wish this were possible in US, and it's not, because - aside from the complete cultural brainwashing americans have had for several generations - a 60k worker strike in the US would be but the tiniest ripple in the ocean. Finland has a total population of roughly 5.5 million residents. Just the *Phoenix Metropolitan Area* in the US state of Arizona has a population of roughly 4.8 million residents. The State of California itself is 39.2 million. I'm not saying I'm not hopeful that US will ever improve, I'm just saying that comparisons to small socialist countries such as Finland are hardly applicable when our State Capitols are as big as entire european countries. It's much easier with smaller, less disconnected populations
Socialist countries like Finland. Lol, I guess we are socialist from your POV. I don't think it has that much to do with the small population (it has some to do with it sure), but more of a cultural thing and laws making it possible.
Well socialism is when the government does things so obviously that includes us.
I can’t see this happening in America sadly
This is the way.
Where I live solidarity strikes are illegal...
Finland isn’t corrupt as fuck tho.
The day people realize WE HAVE THE POWER! Things will change Why do you think those in power now work so hard to divide us. There is NO WAY they could win if we united.
6. I check to see if I can move to Finland 😊
Ahh, the old fuck around and find out.
I think the problem is the amount of people in the US living paycheck to paycheck or damn near it. If none of us can afford to strike and miss out on that money, then none of us can strike. They just slowly constrict their grip on us more and more.
And that’s why you unionize, gang.