BubbleMonkey

I never said it wasn’t low. It’s low, but 14 million people is still a lot of actual people, people just like you, under a different circumstance.

14 million people looking for work means there are a lot of potential scabs, because our social safety nets are fucking laughable. They don’t even exist for a lot of people, such as those with no work history yet (can’t get unemployment if you’ve never been employed, for example, and if you only have a couple years employment history, unemployment in a lot of places doesn’t cover shit).

Having been one of the underemployed, you often take what you can get because you don’t have the luxury of finding the “right job”.

Or you and your family become homeless.

Those are basically the options these days and I’m not willing to say that’s not the case just because unemployment (which does not include underemployment, nor those who left the job market) is low by some economists standards, because it absolutely is for millions of people.

So sure, many of those people might be looking for “the right job”, but in the interim, they find and take “the right now” job. And that might be scabby.

All good friend; we do agree and it really sucks that it’s so difficult to get people to support their own best interest if it costs them in a tangible way (even if the benefits are exponentially more impactful).

This is an education thing and we are fighting a lot of anti-union propaganda, here and everywhere. We see people lose their jobs over joining.

Who can blame them not wanting to sign up?

Union leaders need to fight fire with -water-. They need an unyielding stream of information to fight the fanned flames of disinformation and anti-union propaganda going out to perspective members, and that’s… unfortunately just not generally practical.

I don’t really have a solution, I’m sorry, but I am absolutely behind yours and every other union. I will support you all with every breath in my body, for whatever that’s worth.

Ahh, I wish it were that easy, but 4.1% of 350 million is like 14 million people (I’m willing to accept that my math is wrong but I double checked it 4 times including using the internet… and idk if I mathed it wrong or if that’s just an accurate number… I really kinda hope I’m wrong…)

That’s a lot of people either way… and you can’t fault them for looking out for themselves or their family.

I’m really sorry to hear that. Genuinely. We all need better.

I am a firm believer in unions and collective action, despite never having the opportunity to be part of a union myself. And like they don’t have a lot of power here… they got most of it removed by law years and years ago.

But it doesn’t stop us trying at least, I suppose. And the general vibe is to support the unions. I’m sure there are tons of scabs here, but… they aren’t winning social favor being scabs at least.

Even if they are largely toothless, it’s better to be toothless together; A pack of starving wolves with one tooth each is enough to do a lot of damage if they attack together often enough.

The real problem is getting them to be part of the pack. I mean each wolf is toothless anyway, so getting them to join the pack is super important for their survival too.

You certainly aren’t wrong, but… at least in my area (and this is with state-level laws that fucking decimated union power), unions are relatively well respected by the population at large, because most of us have some experience with them (big trades area), and they are growing, rather than shrinking, despite having their legs cut off at the knee.

Despite being a super conservative and heavily gerrymandered area, our major trade unions (pipefitters, construction, metalworkers, electricians, etc.) never went away, much as the state (for the past 15 or so years) would have liked otherwise. And it’s making a big resurgence; there are tons of manufacturing plants near me and a lot of them are part of or bound by the unions (not just their workplace, but like regional unions)

I hope the trend continues! We need more collective action in our society. We need unions for non-tradespeople, and we don’t have any of those… but at least the trade unions are unshakeable, and that’s a good gateway for the rest of us.

Only scabs cross the line.

I come from a union family and walked way further than I thought it would be to see sanders speak at a union hall. Worth it.

The strike that happened a week or so before the event would have had me staying home, had it extended, though. Even tho I only ever saw one single person on the picket line. Only scabs cross the line.

Keep in mind that all of these could be more or less stopped if there was any real desire to do so.

But there isn’t.

https://www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/phone-companies-can-filter-out-robocalls-they-just-arent-doing-it/

So they don’t have ranked voting, then?

Well, good for them for working together to hopefully sidestep the worst of it. I hope it works.

I’m a bit unclear here; how does withdrawing from the next set of runoffs help prevent the problem? This article really doesn’t say.

I know nothing about their system, but wouldn’t that mean the people still running won by default? Or is this more to only give people two options instead of 3+ which dilutes the vote maybe? Does France not have some sort of ranked voting?

It depends when it launches and goes… viral (sorry…). If there’s a dem in office, it’s a real pandemic and we aren’t doing nearly enough and 10,000 people are dying every second, you lib monsters!! If it’s a repub in office it’s fake news poopvirus and why are you trampling on my poopeating freedums??

I saw him speak the other day and he was totally with it. Like that super old person who lives to be 120 and is sharp as fuck right until their body gives up, but until then they are firy and physically fit.

Honestly same on both counts.

Doesn’t look like it, but thanks for the suggestion! :)

I’ve never heard of it, looks like the closest one is like 5 hours from me :(

But thanks for the option all the same!

I’m legitimately upset about this one. It’s one of the first “company does something bullshit” that’s actually been actionable for me… and the first that was something I’d done a lot of work to find the “best place” for.

I get compressed wood pellets (sold for horse bedding or pellet stove fuel) there to use as very cheap compostable cat litter, 40lbs is $6, and if you have a good system one bag will fill 4 cat boxes about 4-6 times, so really cost effective and environmentally friendly. It’s like feline pine but not ridiculous expensive.

Next best option is almost twice the price… which is still ok, but man it still hurts…

Yeah, I know. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, I just roll with it. But I do regret not taking up a lot of the opportunities that I didn’t realize were worthwhile opportunities. I have a tendency to screw myself over, it is what it is. :)

The thing about the tragedy of the commons is that it’s basically bullshit. It’s been debunked as long as it’s been around. It’s privatization propaganda, nothing more.

People have been equitably maintaining commons for literally all of human history, and they are good at doing so within their communities. Social structures to maintain commons without official regulation have been in place for generations without major issues.

https://aeon.co/essays/the-tragedy-of-the-commons-is-a-false-and-dangerous-myth

An older couple who wanted to retire offered to let me take over their cidery, back when I was doing a lot more homebrew… I declined because I knew nothing about ciders, I’d have needed to relocate, and I was in my last year of college.

Big mistake turning it down, even if I would have needed to relocate. I haven’t been properly stable since.

Bar down the street has free WiFi and food. So probably there. The library is all the way across town, so not a great option for me.

Or there’s another bar close enough to my house that I could probably make an antenna and leech off that. I did that with on base housing back in the day cuz I didn’t want to pay for internet.

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