certain industries, you should genuinely ask yourself if you are a salaried employee whether it is a workplace you should be organizing or if it's a workplace you should quit and stop being complicit in, to be honest.

I don't think you can organize a defense contractor for fair labor rights, I don't think you can organize a monolithic tech surveillance/ad sales behemoth for labor Rights if you're building that union first and foremost for the employees building that very architecture.
This doesn't apply to warehouse workers & production workers & people making low wages doing the most important stuff- you don't have to feel bad for that, everyone is exploiting you & you should organize.
But if youre programming their tools, writing their copy, making slick videos for them, project managing, making good money doing it- youre complicit. I dont say that lightly, Ive done that, I have that blood on my hands. You should quit if that's you, you can't reform this.
This is not anti-organizing, it is asking workers who are organizing to honestly assess the role they play in their company's function which is critical to power. if they follow up these demands re: surveillance in their organizing with a full work stoppage, then we're talking--
anything less than that will not lead to a single change theyre asking for. I'm gonna probably delete all this bc I think it's mostly just going to get people yelling at me to willfully misread this, when I am concerned about this fucking up organizing for low-wage contractors
For the last time every employee deserves a union, but google should not exist and ultimately if you are organizing at Google, you need to ask yourself if you are going about it in a way that protects the precarious workers & whether you will see any of your demands met
This doesn't mean don't organize, this means dont blow your fucking wad with such a small percentage of workers on board and even fewer of the far more vulnerable contractors.
Yes, labor laws "protect" against retailiatory firings after coming fwd but they are so easy to circumvent for contractors. And if you have big structural demands you need to have the numbers in hand to actually pull off a work stoppage, otherwise its an obvious empty threat
I am very understanding of very understandable and fair disagreement on this issue provided you actually read what I'm saying, which in most cases isn't really happening here
The funny thing is, there is a GREAT counterpoint to my argument right here, yet most people didn't really wanna engage in it lol. I have complicated feelings about this point but it's a hard one to argue with, a domino effect would be very good! https://t.co/nHRUOe7d4G

More from Life

1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?

You May Also Like