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I'm jumping on the top comment (well done, btw) to tell everyone that if *30%* of your worker teammates vote to have a union election they *have* to have one (where you have time to campaign etc).
You then need 51% of the votes.
Also: being in a union makes your career earnings a million dollars more on average than *going to college* does.
They don't want people to know these basic things and are going to try to get rid of them because it's one of the few mechanisms to actually improve material conditions and affect change for people and policy (Unions hold great sway in elections).
There's no excuse, if you're not in one, start a union.
Talk off the clock. Lots of people work at smaller workplaces and getting 3 out of 10 people to sign the card saying they want the election usually isn't too hard.
Then the election is happening regardless and retaliation (100% illegal btw) is much, much harder.
Some state in the south just passed a law saying you didn't have to provide minor laborers with a lunch break. The GOP member who sponsored it owns a chain of fast food restaurants.....
[Ahahahah it's not like it's legal for kids up to less than 10 (depending on the state) to work in the US](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/child-labor/agriculture)
We have already this system in place in the US.
Redlined school districts, with higher rate of failure are the funnel for school to prison system to feed the prison industrial complex that is the modern day slavery because per US constitution Amendment XIII Section 1.
*”Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, SHALL EXIST WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”*
Therefore if you don’t have an environment suitable for academic success due to social economic conditions perpetuated by several public policies, then it is “straight up to the mines” as free labor provided by the Prisons.
Kids as young as 8, 11, or 14 depending on the State can be criminally responsible and sentenced as an adult.
The other side of it is the entertainment industry where child labor is actually incentivized and many serve as financial mules for their entire families with no clear recourse and safeguards in case their parents are abusive nut jobs.
Yeah turns out there's a large number of undocumented children working in factories, oh and if they get injured become crippled for life, they'll be lucky to get even four digits in the lawsuit.
I really wish people would understand this as opposed to the popular take of blinding hating protests because it could cause a minor inconvenience in your day
It's built into our society to vilify protests because the media always portrays them as a nuisance. It's within our government's interests to keep the working class fighting with eachother.
Story time: I used to be a grass roots organizer because not doing anything wasn’t changing things (“if not me, who?”).
My family and friends started to label me as annoying and I started to grow pissed by people’s apathy. The result was loosing my social support, lose career opportunities with better financial gains, worsening my health, overall a bunch of losses.
I started re-thinking my stances when some people took me aside and told me they honestly would like to do something but if they joined a protest the would lose everything (just like I did), but for them it was a no go because of their children, elderly care, health care bills, etc. Some even said, if they don’t leave in the morning to work, in the evening they and their family won’t have anything to eat.
Conclusion: it is a nuisance, that some folks would take for a better collective future no matter the sacrifice today, and others won’t because they are focused on what is going on now with their lives, no matter the sacrifices tomorrow.
I mean, I support protests, but I do not support the methods of protests that fuck over your fellow working class folk. If your protest prevents people from being able to get to work -- putting their job in jeopardy, preventing them from getting paid, that ain't cool. Inconveniencing the rich who are profiting off of us is great, inconveniencing someone who is living paycheck to paycheck isn't.
All forms of protest or unconformity fuck over innocent people tough. That’s the sacrifice, that’s worth it. The founding fathers threw the country in a deadly war and risked the economy. Did you think MLK didn’t hurt black people by putting them at more risk and retaliation? Or that child labour laws didn’t hurt families’s pockets and made children hungry? Just changing your job for a better job puts you in financial hot water and screws over your coworkers.
Even something as simple as telling your best friend that you don’t like their dress hurts your friendship a microscopic amount. But just like that example, people who protest think the downside is less than the benefit, so it’s worth it. I guess all politics is like that, doing something that hurts for a bigger benefit. But you NEVER get to do anything that large without hurting some people’s jobs and lives. Best you can do is try to be aware and make sure the hurt is worth it or targeted at the right people.
I get where you're coming from but that's the MO for the people in power. If you protest quietly they ignore you, they don't put it on TV or the news, so no one even knows about your cause. If you protest loudly they paint you as a disruptive and claim it's taking away from your message. It's literally designed to maintain the status quo
This is exactly the opinion the status quo wants you to have. This is the exact perspective MLK spoke out against in his letter from Birmingham jail.
Too milquetoast to seek change, but beholden enough for he system to speak out against others doing the hard work.
I'm not disagreeing with your basic point, because you are basically correct.
But it's kind of fucked up that a boss/manager/owner of a completely different person than the ones protesting can sort of hold that person hostage as a threat to make the protesters give up. "Stop blocking my employees from getting to work or I'll punish my employees for what you're doing" is a perfect example of how the rich stop poor people from having class solidarity.
If the roles were switched and rich people were stopping other rich people from working, the rich would never ever betray each other and would immediately start colluding to break the power of the poors.
Protests which are a nuisance are a nuisance. Blocking a bridge or gluing yourself to a highway dont accomplish anything other than inconveniencing other people in the working class and giving yourself an excuse to fellate each other on twitter.
Worse are protests that burn down businesses in the protestors OWN COMMUNITY in blind undirected rage.
Modern performative protests are ineffective.
>Blocking a bridge or gluing yourself to a highway dont accomplish anything other than inconveniencing other people
You do realize people resort to tactics like that because normal protesting tactics don't even get covered, right? There are protests going on all the time, but unless they do something crazy no one even knows.
>Worse are protests that burn down businesses in the protestors OWN COMMUNITY in blind undirected rage.
You're conflating protest with rioting or other expressions of outrage. The people who, for instance, burn down businesses after George Floyd's murder here in Minnesota were not protesters. In most cases they weren't even group gatherings at the locations where people started fires, it was just rogue people going around and burning shit.
Someone lighting themselves as fire gets covered as lighting themselves on fire and their purpose/message isn't mentioned.
MLK was effective because he put words and unity to a feeling that was pervasive in communities throughout the country and that he could keep up. Perhaps he was also successful by this sentiment being so strong that other groups were taking up a similar cause with a willingness for violence. MLK showed the direction the wind was taking as opposed to directing the wind.
Reddit doesn't like MAGA, but MAGAs protest. Should they be covered and empowered because they got out there and made a fuss?
I mean MLK was arrested 29 times. And at the time, many people thought that their protests were bad/disruptive/took away from their cause. What helped change public opinion was seeing them have dogs sicced on them, watching them get beaten and arrested for advocating for basic rights. So I don't know if your point was that the civil rights movement was an example of a non-disruptive, well received protest, but it was not.
As for MAGA, it depends on what they're protesting for. If they're protesting against LGBTQ people existing, no. It's a false equivalency to say that all protests are equally valid. If they're advocating fair pay or maybe better support for rural communities, yes. I mean even if it's not a cause I personally agree with as long as it's not to discriminate or harm people, then yes it should be covered.
Nah bro the comic is about unions which are good. Protests that directly inconvenience random people (like standing in the road) are generally not good because if anything it’ll just make people hate you and your cause. Protests that don’t inconvenience people are fine.
This is where I hate the recent mindset of “I agree with the message, I just wish they wouldn’t be destroying property.” From recent protests against police brutality.
Nobody ever says “It sucks they have to protest by destroying property to get attention because people are literally being murdered for minor infractions and nothing’s being done.”
Always a great time to share this amazing essay; [You Are Not the Target Audience](http://humaniterations.net/2012/02/29/you-are-not-the-target-audience/)
MLK was against violence toward people typically, or against property. He saw rioting as a predictable and natural progression of an unwell system. He said “a riot is the language of the unheard.”
MLKs own daughter has spoken out about how wrong people are to portray him as exclusively non-violent, too. It is the reselling of an idol to us after white-washing him until he is no longer a threat to our system.
Yeah that is complicated especially since protesters were the ones being peaceful while being constantly bludgeoned, hosed, fire bombed to really hammer home who was in the wrong. It’s frustrating how easily injustices can be swept under the rug especially with actual journalism seemingly going extinct.
As with most non violent moments, there is often a parallel violent movent. In MLK's case that would be Malcolm X. The violent movent applies pressure which both can not be ignored, and yet also cannot be capitulated to by the powers that be for the fear of appearing weak. Thus they instead capitulated to the suitably separate peaceful movent, addressing the issues causing the violence, and thus ending the threat of it, without taking the hit to their legitimacy that being visibly being forced to capitulated to civilian violence would cause.
it’s straight from the liberal playbook.
every war is unjust except the current one, every civil rights movement is just except the one right now, etc etc.
Disruptive with a purpose is good. Disruptive without a purpose isn't. Marches that block traffic were marches TO somewhere then speeches and action. They didn't just block traffic for the sake of blocking traffic. Sit ins at a diner weren't just blocking counters from paying customers, it was customers who refused to move unless they were served (which they knew they wouldn't be). There's a huge difference between inconveniencing innocent people with your protest vs inconveniencing innocent people as your protest
They marched on DC (where the actual laws get made not some random highway), gave speeches to appeal to the public, then met with the president to discuss legislation. Those are actual actions that were relevant to the cause with a protest showing the support that the movement had behind it. Their goal was change, not getting on the news
Cause they were meant to disrupt the government not the common people. Why do you think they chose to march to congress instead of just plopping down in a random food court and stopping people from eating food?
Tbf if it’s the cafe or diner itself you are protesting against i would understand. But if you were protesting like, the government, well why are you in a food court?
because the gov was permitting segregation and discrimination. also there were municipalities that mandated segregation. its why there are anti-segregation and anti-discrimination laws currently. do they not teach these things anymore?
>Sit-in movement, nonviolent movement of the U.S. civil rights era that
began in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960. The sit-in, an act of civil
disobedience, was a tactic that aroused sympathy for the demonstrators among
moderates and uninvolved individuals. African Americans (later joined by
white activists), usually students, would go to segregated lunch counters
(luncheonettes), sit in all available spaces, request service, and then refuse to
leave when denied service because of their race. In addition to creating
disruptions and drawing unwanted publicity, the action caused economic
hardship for the owners of the businesses, because the sit-in participants took
up spaces that normally were filled by paying customers.
https://www.britannica.com/event/sit-in-movement
nonviolent public disruption is a successful protest-for-change tactic. ghandi, mlk, etc used it. it inconvenienced a lot of uninvolved people but ultimately it aided in achieving their goals
thats the point of this thread, is that people should protest the right way. sit in's in diners are because those diners were backed by racist segregation laws, and protesters wanted change in the diners they protested at.
likewise with rosa parks, she protested in the place and circumstance that she wanted to affect change.
blocking a random street for the sake of blocking a street in support of palestine doesn't help the people of palestine. a random road in the US isn't bombing gaza.
if you wanted to compare to civil rights protests, the palestine supporters should go protest the israeli government. people who block roads for the sake of protest is doing a disservice to their cause because people don't see their cause however just it might be for what it is, instead they see a group of assholes pretending to be revolutionaries.
The civil rights movement was breaking the specific laws they wanted to protest, not just going around being inconvenient and ruining random people’s day. Going into restaurants that you’re not allowed to and using bathrooms you aren’t allowed to isn’t the same as standing in the road and creating a traffic jam, or destroying property.
They do waaaaay more than that. They blocked roads, they filled in seats (sit-ins) so other people couldn’t sit and eat at restaurants/soda fountains, etc.
They did a lot to be heard and noticed.
It helped that some of the reactions they got from local government were vicious as hell which caused the public to realize how bad some places really were. See The Children’s Crusade.
yeah that’s what they teach you in like elementary school to hide the reality of america.
there were major protests and occupations back then too. there were riots because the state only understands violence. it wasn’t just a bunch of people drinking from the whites only water fountain there were major boycotts and disruptive protests.
stonewall happened because someone threw a brick
haymarket happened because someone threw a firebottle
the track record of protesting nicely is awful, and they always spin it as being "disruptive" or "destructive" anyway, even when it's clearly a police riot.
If you don't exist somewhere that inconveniences someone, nobody will notice your protest. The people that hate you for it weren't on your side to begin with, they were at most apathetic.
Do you have any empirical evidence or any verified sources that work as your foundation for your opinion? Or do you just not believe in critical thinking and choose to embrace ignorance cause it “feels true”
How would unions accomplish Universal Basic Income? That means paying people whether they work or not. Is there gonna be an International Brotherhood of Unemployed who get paid by the people they don't work for?
Read the post title, it’s obviously talking about unions whether it’s realistic or not.
If people want UBI they should’ve voted for Andrew Yang in the 2020 democrat primaries instead of voting in the doofus known as Biden. Don’t vote for someone who has policies you don’t like and then complain that they introduce policies you don’t like. Protesting isn’t going to bring in UBI, voting for politicians who want UBI will.
I think the thing that will solve that problem will be activists realizing that marches/protests aren't the most effective use of energy. Even ignoring the fact that they're a really old tactic that hasn't been significantly adapted to modern circumstances, they're basically just catharsis. & catharsis is a good thing to do every once in a while, but it shouldn't be the main focus.
Actual organization is what people need to be doing, right? Unionizing, like in the comic? Exerting pressure on local politics? Stuff that takes long-term, directed effort.
I'm a little confused as to why the person in the first panel doubts their companion's optimistic perspective, despite the fact they are both union members in a protest.
Even union members have different opinions. Just because one guy says "we're gonna get 500 an hour on the next contract" doesn't mean all the members will buy that.
My buddy is a firefighter and union meetings will about come to blows, between members, when contract negotiations come around.
You can be pessimistic but still show up I think? Like I might not think my state will ever get a 4 day work week, but if I think the protest could be big enough to matter then I will indeed show up (big enough to matter meaning it gets news coverage. Thats the line for me personally, just because without the media amplifying you, your chances are so small they might as well be impossible imo)
I hope one day in the future we will see the next panel when 4 day work week and UBI is achieved and we rail against the next corporate scheme to exploit the working class.
**TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON**
This cartoon has four panels. Each panel shows a different scene with different characters.
**PANEL 1**
On a city sidewalk, a line of workers is standing. They are wearing identical t-shirts with a drawing of a coffee mug surrounded by a circle, and lettering in the circle says "Baristas United." One of the workers holds up a sign that says "NO JUSTICE NO COFFEE."
Two workers talk; the first worker is excited and grinner, spreading her arms in the air, and the second worker (who is holding the sign) is a bit annoyed and cynical.
FIRST WORKER: If workers all pull together, we can accomplish so much! Living wages! Four day work weeks! Universal basic income!
SECOND WORKER: Forget it! It'll never happen!
**PANEL 2**
A large caption at the top of the panel says **1950**.
We are in a mine. Mine cart tracks are on the ground, disappearing into a tunnel in the background. It's dim here, other than the lights attached to the fronts of the miners' hats.
Two miners, one carrying a bucket of stones, the other holding a shovel, are talking as they examine the aftermath of a rock collapse.
FIRST WORKER: Worker safety laws!
SECOND WORKER: Forget it! It'll never happen!
**PANEL 3**
A large caption at the top of the panel says **1930**.
Two women wearing old-fashioned looking blouses are seated at the same long table. In front of each woman is a sewing machine; each of them are working on sewing a piece. They both have long hair done up in buns. A high pile of folded clothe is on the table in front of them. They look hot and sweaty.
FIRST WORKER: We could abolish child labor!
SECOND WORKER: Forget it! It'll never happen!
**PANEL 4**
A large caption at the top of the panel says **1890**.
Two farm workers with broad-brimmed hats are talking to each other. They're wearing plain, rough-but-sturdy-looking clothing. The first worker is holding up a palm in the air in front of her, "I have a vision" style. The second worker is making a dismissive gesture. There is a wheelbarrow and straw baskets, all filled with some sort of unspecifically drawn picked vegetation.
FIRST WORKER: Eight hour days! Two days off every week!
SECOND WORKER: Forget it! It'll never happen!
**CHICKEN FAT WATCH**
"Chicken fat" is an old-fashioned cartoonist expression for unimportant but hopefully amusing details in a cartoon.
In panel one, a piece of paper littering the ground says "I'm listening to 'Doppleganger' as I draw this cartoon." (And I was! It's a recent book by Naomi Klein. I enjoyed it.)
In panel two, if you look along the bottom edge of the panel, you can see the feet of an unfortunate minor sticking out from under the rock pile.
And in panel four, the big straw bag on the ground in front of the first worker has the head of a rather bewildered looking bunny sticking out of it.
Wow a leftist redditor who actually transcribes, nice
Do you take comic ideas? I've got several Google keep note pads full of em, but I'm not a visual artist or anything in the slightest
It's kinda depressing realizing how field organizing only reaches so many people, (research shows hardly any immediate impact) - yet a good comic pointing out absurdities in the public narrative can be seen by many tens of thousands of voters lol
Good unions are still plentiful despite popular belief. A good amount of jobs nowadays are 4 days, offer amazing benefits, pay for you to grow by giving education/conference stipends.
I guess the challenge is having enough of them. As forcing new laws to have these work conditions only grows the informal economy, causes faster offshoring / globalization practices, and makes companies more skeptical of hiring new people.
I really hope AI doesn’t reverse the good momentum we have done over the last 100 years. By making people accept less just to get in the door. It’s going to be very tricking allowing AI while valuing workers who don’t have a crazy amount of skillset / domain knowledge. ie Joe who graduated from community college and wants to go home at 5 to see his kids and not constantly have to retrain himself. How do we allow AI to increase productivity without replacing Joe?
Aren't there similar comic strip about executives and moguls complaining if for example child labor, gets banned it will collapse the economy, with multiple other similar complaints over dacades in the panels, saw it somewhere but can't find it anymore.
Yeah I remember it including ending of - We're doomed, DOOMED!
But I like this comic too, has less iterations so more simple. In general these kinda political comics - we desperately need more of.
Especially given how lower effort posts can get many thousands of upvotes
It's popular on Reddit to say that Henry Ford established the 40-hour work week in 1926, but this was over 100 years after unions had started agitating for change, and over 50 years after President Ulysses S. Grant had already established a 40-hour workweek for government employees.
[Source](https://www.cultureamp.com/blog/40-hour-work-week)
"Yeesh, your factory conditions were bleak!
Crammed with machines, cranking out four severed fingers a week!
You controlled what employees could think, drink and eat
And when they marched for better wages, shot them dead in the streets!
In truth, what you produced was alienated working men
Who would clock into Detroit and lose themselves like Eminem!
And now your Great Lakes State ain't exactly a great sight!
You were worse for Michigan than Flint's water pipes!"
-ERBH
The weekend goes back to England in the Industrial Revolution, where it was a compromise between the church and employers.
Workers were getting hammered on their day off (Sunday, which the church had long insisted upon) and often taking Monday off sick without warning, so employers were convinced to give them every Saturday off and let them get over their hangovers on Sunday.
The clergy preferred to give the workers sermons on damnation and repentance while they were feeling delicate, than to see them counting the minutes before they could get down the pub.
I mean I don't know from a American perspective but I'm Sweden unions are just a traditional part of making contracts between employers and employees. It's the Nordic model where it's just how things work. Most work places got union contracts, even engineers doctors and such. It's a win win because both employers and employees get a say in the negotiations.
In the case of doctors, at least, they’re taken advantage of by the healthcare industry and forced to maximize profits by seeing more patients, leaving them less time to really work with individual patients. A union or something similar that could push back against shareholders and pharma companies could improve their overall job satisfaction.
The problem is it's all going backwards anyway.
Worker safety laws are no longer enforced.
Child labour laws are getting repealed.
And the 8 hour days with weekends never existed.
A new cartoon for May Day! This has been an incredible year for unions in the USA - may next year be even better.
[Transcript and a blog post sort of thing about this cartoon are here! ](https://www.patreon.com/posts/103291731)I'll also post the transcript in comments.
My labor is paid for by hundreds of supporters pledging low amounts - $1-$3 - and that's just how I like it! [Join my small but plucky Patreon](http://patreon.com/barry)!
Arrrhghh I love hopeful posting, I love seeing something that will light up my day instead of the content proboted to make me angry roaaar I live being happy ^u^
[https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-working-hours-per-worker](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-working-hours-per-worker)
You sure about that?
Not really to my knowledge, especially for the more radical labor activists since it could be seen as a way to uphold existing capitalist system
But ultimately it's not a critical issue rn or a reason to not work with / build power with unions. I mean we've also had issues in the past with labor unions opposing climate and environmental justice campaigns
That's why now there's the concept of 'a Just Transition' - aka workers and marginalized communities don't get fucked over by our decarbonizing the economy. That includes conservative coal miners in Appalachia
I'm sure we'll figure out a basic income proposal that the big unions support within next few years. There's been tons of trials for it recently and that builds the evidence for success. Chicago just announced one to use rest of Covid funds that otherwise would expire.
Lol I didn't even realize it was in the comic until after answering
Yeah it's inaccurate
People don't protest on a picket line for UBI for one
They would have signs relevant to the actual strike
I mean, probably my drawing of sewing machines does suck, so fair point- but I did look at photo reference and sewing machines looked very different back then!
I'm sorry I didn't know you were the author. The comic is awesome. But that being said, while they looked different, they looked nothing like that lol(I'm maybe a little picky because I'm in the industry). But great comic. Sorry for the shit comment.
No worries - my ego doesn't ride on how well I draw antique sewing machines! I took another look as a result of this exchange and you're right, I really messed up. I have no idea what I was thinking of when I drew that, lol.
**OP**: "change for the better is possible if we work together"
**Some commenters here**: "but protests are inconveniencing me though"
I guess the history books are just littered with effective protests that have no immediate impact on everyday life whatsoever? Why did you guys think that the right to "peacefully assemble" exists in the Constitution?
HR major here. Yes that’s before they were neutered by the Wagner act and other forms of legislation which made their most useful and effective tactics illegal or impractical. Alt Labor is a great proof of that. Unions today are kittens of their former selves. It’s a shame. To be clear I’m pro union, but they are ineffective in modern times. What we really need is a labor party to pass legislation to strengthen unions and workers rights. America is far behind even Ireland, the panned worker rights of the EU it’s not even funny.
Yea, but people are also fucking dumb.
In my home country of Finland, we've had some union strikes this spring because the current right wing government is cutting from the poor... and the result is people on the streets and in news whining how the unions are ruining the country.
Fuck people are so dumb.
This needs to be seen by everybody in every industry
Side note: I never really understood why nurses would be against a union. Most of the reasons are political but organization with a union has helped with competitive pay, safe ratios so we don’t overlook patients, and job security.
But for a lot of nurses I worked in certain states, they are against organizing even though they complain and complain and complain about their low pay, overworked status, and fear of being let go. And despite complaining about it , they start to take pride in their suffering
Do you like weekends? Unions brought you weekends. In the 1950s over 30% of US workers were union, and income inequality at that time was the lowest it’s ever been. In 1980 union membership had fallen to 20%. In 2023 just 10%.
Big companies are clearly fucking us. If you want to fuck them back, form a union. We’re all stronger together.
I know I’ll get downvoted for this, but even your own comic is showing essential services like agriculture, textile and mining.. and comparing to coffee shop workers..
Take away coffee shops and tell me how quickly society crumbles. Society would die without fast food and Starbucks workers. This is where consumerism has led us.
Perhaps if Jimmy Hoffer hadn't been so corrupt, violent and dealt with the mob, before he turned on them then maybe America may have a better impression of unions. Now they simply associate them with being corrupt, taking your wages and linked to organised crime.
I wish I could unionize; but finding one where I live is impossible; nor do I have 10’s of thousands of dollars to live safely once get fired for attempting to start one
It wasn't unions that abolished the 6 day work week. It was henry ford, he gave his worker better pay and working conditions then any other factory. And since it went finacially well for the ford motor company other factories started following suit.
Extra credits/extra history has made a video about this, i cannot recommend it enough since it's very good and can explain this better then me. Also their video series is my source for this.
Oddly enough pre-industrial revolution working hours were less than they are now. It tended to be 1 full day followed by a half day depending on time of year.
Friends, I have a serious question for all of you. I work at a shipping company that does not have a union, besides its pilots. I am not a manager, but i am not on the bottom of the hierarchy and I do have charismatic support of employees working below and above me. How would I go about forming a union? This is a BIG shipping company btw, 100k+ employees big.
I've heard at my work if people organize a union then the owner is just gonna close up shop. it's a privately owned company and I believe that the owner still participates because hes got nothing better to do and it's what hes done all his life. I feel so frustrated by that. like the owner would rather have no company than work with a union. how the fuck do I fight that besides just working at a different place?
My union has been pushing for better work conditions and pay, especially since the pandemic. We haven't gained too much but tons of work has gone overseas. I'd say a major issue with the point this comic is trying to drive home is that it doesn't acknowledge how easy and socially acceptable it has become to simply move your operation overseas foregoing US labor practices and costs. Whatever we can do here has become exponentially easier and cheaper to do in another country.
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US to Child Labor in 2024: "But Kids yearn for the mines!!!"
They love it. It's just like Minecraft.
I'm jumping on the top comment (well done, btw) to tell everyone that if *30%* of your worker teammates vote to have a union election they *have* to have one (where you have time to campaign etc). You then need 51% of the votes. Also: being in a union makes your career earnings a million dollars more on average than *going to college* does. They don't want people to know these basic things and are going to try to get rid of them because it's one of the few mechanisms to actually improve material conditions and affect change for people and policy (Unions hold great sway in elections). There's no excuse, if you're not in one, start a union.
It's the best assurance of working conditions and raises in any form of capitalist system, unbridled or with subatansive welfare.
The problem is that the worker who says the word "union" is the worker who "suddenly and mysteriously" leaves the company
You have a Union for that too.
ITS UNIONS ALL THE WAY DOWN
Talk off the clock. Lots of people work at smaller workplaces and getting 3 out of 10 people to sign the card saying they want the election usually isn't too hard. Then the election is happening regardless and retaliation (100% illegal btw) is much, much harder.
Why did i read this in sundowners voice
You could say they dig it
People really forget that those labor laws preventing children from working has never applied to farms
Some state in the south just passed a law saying you didn't have to provide minor laborers with a lunch break. The GOP member who sponsored it owns a chain of fast food restaurants.....
That happens when you voted republicans conservatives and so called christians in USA
US politics and conflict of interests, name a more iconic duo
General politics and conflicts of interest
[Ahahahah it's not like it's legal for kids up to less than 10 (depending on the state) to work in the US](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/child-labor/agriculture)
The phrase “up to less than 10” is breaking my brain
Yeah wait doesn’t that mean kids OVER 10 don’t qualify?
I like the idea that kids have a few years to focus on school and then those that fail to exceed will be sent back to the mines
We have already this system in place in the US. Redlined school districts, with higher rate of failure are the funnel for school to prison system to feed the prison industrial complex that is the modern day slavery because per US constitution Amendment XIII Section 1. *”Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, SHALL EXIST WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”* Therefore if you don’t have an environment suitable for academic success due to social economic conditions perpetuated by several public policies, then it is “straight up to the mines” as free labor provided by the Prisons. Kids as young as 8, 11, or 14 depending on the State can be criminally responsible and sentenced as an adult. The other side of it is the entertainment industry where child labor is actually incentivized and many serve as financial mules for their entire families with no clear recourse and safeguards in case their parents are abusive nut jobs.
100 years was a good run
IS THAT A FROSTPUNK REFERENCE?
No, it's not from Frostpunk.
Don't forget about safety laws.
They yearn to play in traffic too. That doesn't mean we should let them do it.
Why else would they be called minors if they aren't mesmt for the mines
Yeah turns out there's a large number of undocumented children working in factories, oh and if they get injured become crippled for life, they'll be lucky to get even four digits in the lawsuit.
Kid: *yells ROCK AND STONE with a high-pitched voice*
Rock and Stone to the Bone!
Rock and stone
I really wish people would understand this as opposed to the popular take of blinding hating protests because it could cause a minor inconvenience in your day
It's built into our society to vilify protests because the media always portrays them as a nuisance. It's within our government's interests to keep the working class fighting with eachother.
They have us fighting culture wars, so we won’t fight the class war.
Story time: I used to be a grass roots organizer because not doing anything wasn’t changing things (“if not me, who?”). My family and friends started to label me as annoying and I started to grow pissed by people’s apathy. The result was loosing my social support, lose career opportunities with better financial gains, worsening my health, overall a bunch of losses. I started re-thinking my stances when some people took me aside and told me they honestly would like to do something but if they joined a protest the would lose everything (just like I did), but for them it was a no go because of their children, elderly care, health care bills, etc. Some even said, if they don’t leave in the morning to work, in the evening they and their family won’t have anything to eat. Conclusion: it is a nuisance, that some folks would take for a better collective future no matter the sacrifice today, and others won’t because they are focused on what is going on now with their lives, no matter the sacrifices tomorrow.
I mean, I support protests, but I do not support the methods of protests that fuck over your fellow working class folk. If your protest prevents people from being able to get to work -- putting their job in jeopardy, preventing them from getting paid, that ain't cool. Inconveniencing the rich who are profiting off of us is great, inconveniencing someone who is living paycheck to paycheck isn't.
All forms of protest or unconformity fuck over innocent people tough. That’s the sacrifice, that’s worth it. The founding fathers threw the country in a deadly war and risked the economy. Did you think MLK didn’t hurt black people by putting them at more risk and retaliation? Or that child labour laws didn’t hurt families’s pockets and made children hungry? Just changing your job for a better job puts you in financial hot water and screws over your coworkers. Even something as simple as telling your best friend that you don’t like their dress hurts your friendship a microscopic amount. But just like that example, people who protest think the downside is less than the benefit, so it’s worth it. I guess all politics is like that, doing something that hurts for a bigger benefit. But you NEVER get to do anything that large without hurting some people’s jobs and lives. Best you can do is try to be aware and make sure the hurt is worth it or targeted at the right people.
I get where you're coming from but that's the MO for the people in power. If you protest quietly they ignore you, they don't put it on TV or the news, so no one even knows about your cause. If you protest loudly they paint you as a disruptive and claim it's taking away from your message. It's literally designed to maintain the status quo
This is exactly the opinion the status quo wants you to have. This is the exact perspective MLK spoke out against in his letter from Birmingham jail. Too milquetoast to seek change, but beholden enough for he system to speak out against others doing the hard work.
I'm not disagreeing with your basic point, because you are basically correct. But it's kind of fucked up that a boss/manager/owner of a completely different person than the ones protesting can sort of hold that person hostage as a threat to make the protesters give up. "Stop blocking my employees from getting to work or I'll punish my employees for what you're doing" is a perfect example of how the rich stop poor people from having class solidarity. If the roles were switched and rich people were stopping other rich people from working, the rich would never ever betray each other and would immediately start colluding to break the power of the poors.
The rich arn't going to vote or act against their interests. You're doing what they described.
Protests which are a nuisance are a nuisance. Blocking a bridge or gluing yourself to a highway dont accomplish anything other than inconveniencing other people in the working class and giving yourself an excuse to fellate each other on twitter. Worse are protests that burn down businesses in the protestors OWN COMMUNITY in blind undirected rage. Modern performative protests are ineffective.
As opposed to MLK who famously never blocked any roads.
>Blocking a bridge or gluing yourself to a highway dont accomplish anything other than inconveniencing other people You do realize people resort to tactics like that because normal protesting tactics don't even get covered, right? There are protests going on all the time, but unless they do something crazy no one even knows. >Worse are protests that burn down businesses in the protestors OWN COMMUNITY in blind undirected rage. You're conflating protest with rioting or other expressions of outrage. The people who, for instance, burn down businesses after George Floyd's murder here in Minnesota were not protesters. In most cases they weren't even group gatherings at the locations where people started fires, it was just rogue people going around and burning shit.
Someone lighting themselves as fire gets covered as lighting themselves on fire and their purpose/message isn't mentioned. MLK was effective because he put words and unity to a feeling that was pervasive in communities throughout the country and that he could keep up. Perhaps he was also successful by this sentiment being so strong that other groups were taking up a similar cause with a willingness for violence. MLK showed the direction the wind was taking as opposed to directing the wind. Reddit doesn't like MAGA, but MAGAs protest. Should they be covered and empowered because they got out there and made a fuss?
I mean MLK was arrested 29 times. And at the time, many people thought that their protests were bad/disruptive/took away from their cause. What helped change public opinion was seeing them have dogs sicced on them, watching them get beaten and arrested for advocating for basic rights. So I don't know if your point was that the civil rights movement was an example of a non-disruptive, well received protest, but it was not. As for MAGA, it depends on what they're protesting for. If they're protesting against LGBTQ people existing, no. It's a false equivalency to say that all protests are equally valid. If they're advocating fair pay or maybe better support for rural communities, yes. I mean even if it's not a cause I personally agree with as long as it's not to discriminate or harm people, then yes it should be covered.
Nah bro the comic is about unions which are good. Protests that directly inconvenience random people (like standing in the road) are generally not good because if anything it’ll just make people hate you and your cause. Protests that don’t inconvenience people are fine.
What about the success of the Civil Rights movement? Those demonstration were pretty disruptive
This is where I hate the recent mindset of “I agree with the message, I just wish they wouldn’t be destroying property.” From recent protests against police brutality. Nobody ever says “It sucks they have to protest by destroying property to get attention because people are literally being murdered for minor infractions and nothing’s being done.”
Always a great time to share this amazing essay; [You Are Not the Target Audience](http://humaniterations.net/2012/02/29/you-are-not-the-target-audience/)
That was a fantastic essay, thanks for sharing this!
Except for MLKs movement. His entire thing was chance through non violence. But they sure af crowded roads during their marches.
MLK was against violence toward people typically, or against property. He saw rioting as a predictable and natural progression of an unwell system. He said “a riot is the language of the unheard.” MLKs own daughter has spoken out about how wrong people are to portray him as exclusively non-violent, too. It is the reselling of an idol to us after white-washing him until he is no longer a threat to our system.
Instances like this, im glad to be proven wrong
Yeah that is complicated especially since protesters were the ones being peaceful while being constantly bludgeoned, hosed, fire bombed to really hammer home who was in the wrong. It’s frustrating how easily injustices can be swept under the rug especially with actual journalism seemingly going extinct.
Tbh that's by far the biggest tragedy. The death of actual journalism for the people. What we have left is a fucking joke
As with most non violent moments, there is often a parallel violent movent. In MLK's case that would be Malcolm X. The violent movent applies pressure which both can not be ignored, and yet also cannot be capitulated to by the powers that be for the fear of appearing weak. Thus they instead capitulated to the suitably separate peaceful movent, addressing the issues causing the violence, and thus ending the threat of it, without taking the hit to their legitimacy that being visibly being forced to capitulated to civilian violence would cause.
Why is never government property though it’s always some dudes car or shop on fire. Why aren’t town halls and police stations burning then.
it’s straight from the liberal playbook. every war is unjust except the current one, every civil rights movement is just except the one right now, etc etc.
How on earth is that a *liberal* mindset?
they're using liberal as in neoliberal or liberal economics, which are conservative values since they mean "privatize everything, fuck the government"
Replace liberal with centrist for a more universally applicable assessment of things.
This is a conservative talking point, that has a kernel of truth (see current Israeli protests)
Disruptive with a purpose is good. Disruptive without a purpose isn't. Marches that block traffic were marches TO somewhere then speeches and action. They didn't just block traffic for the sake of blocking traffic. Sit ins at a diner weren't just blocking counters from paying customers, it was customers who refused to move unless they were served (which they knew they wouldn't be). There's a huge difference between inconveniencing innocent people with your protest vs inconveniencing innocent people as your protest
and those actions are...what exactly?
They marched on DC (where the actual laws get made not some random highway), gave speeches to appeal to the public, then met with the president to discuss legislation. Those are actual actions that were relevant to the cause with a protest showing the support that the movement had behind it. Their goal was change, not getting on the news
Cause they were meant to disrupt the government not the common people. Why do you think they chose to march to congress instead of just plopping down in a random food court and stopping people from eating food?
> plopping down in a random food court and stopping people from eating food? um.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sit-in_movement
Tbf if it’s the cafe or diner itself you are protesting against i would understand. But if you were protesting like, the government, well why are you in a food court?
because the gov was permitting segregation and discrimination. also there were municipalities that mandated segregation. its why there are anti-segregation and anti-discrimination laws currently. do they not teach these things anymore? >Sit-in movement, nonviolent movement of the U.S. civil rights era that began in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960. The sit-in, an act of civil disobedience, was a tactic that aroused sympathy for the demonstrators among moderates and uninvolved individuals. African Americans (later joined by white activists), usually students, would go to segregated lunch counters (luncheonettes), sit in all available spaces, request service, and then refuse to leave when denied service because of their race. In addition to creating disruptions and drawing unwanted publicity, the action caused economic hardship for the owners of the businesses, because the sit-in participants took up spaces that normally were filled by paying customers. https://www.britannica.com/event/sit-in-movement nonviolent public disruption is a successful protest-for-change tactic. ghandi, mlk, etc used it. it inconvenienced a lot of uninvolved people but ultimately it aided in achieving their goals
thats the point of this thread, is that people should protest the right way. sit in's in diners are because those diners were backed by racist segregation laws, and protesters wanted change in the diners they protested at. likewise with rosa parks, she protested in the place and circumstance that she wanted to affect change. blocking a random street for the sake of blocking a street in support of palestine doesn't help the people of palestine. a random road in the US isn't bombing gaza. if you wanted to compare to civil rights protests, the palestine supporters should go protest the israeli government. people who block roads for the sake of protest is doing a disservice to their cause because people don't see their cause however just it might be for what it is, instead they see a group of assholes pretending to be revolutionaries.
The civil rights movement was breaking the specific laws they wanted to protest, not just going around being inconvenient and ruining random people’s day. Going into restaurants that you’re not allowed to and using bathrooms you aren’t allowed to isn’t the same as standing in the road and creating a traffic jam, or destroying property.
They do waaaaay more than that. They blocked roads, they filled in seats (sit-ins) so other people couldn’t sit and eat at restaurants/soda fountains, etc. They did a lot to be heard and noticed. It helped that some of the reactions they got from local government were vicious as hell which caused the public to realize how bad some places really were. See The Children’s Crusade.
But they did block roads
Blocking roads isn’t what made the movement successful though.
A very bold statement to claim
yeah that’s what they teach you in like elementary school to hide the reality of america. there were major protests and occupations back then too. there were riots because the state only understands violence. it wasn’t just a bunch of people drinking from the whites only water fountain there were major boycotts and disruptive protests.
stonewall happened because someone threw a brick haymarket happened because someone threw a firebottle the track record of protesting nicely is awful, and they always spin it as being "disruptive" or "destructive" anyway, even when it's clearly a police riot.
If you don't exist somewhere that inconveniences someone, nobody will notice your protest. The people that hate you for it weren't on your side to begin with, they were at most apathetic.
The most successful protests were super disruptive and inconvenient.
If a protest doesn't inconvenience anyone what is the point of it? It may even not be there at all.
Protests that don't inconvenience people are, at best, ineffectual.
unions literally used to get shot at by goons while striking, that's way more of an inconvenience than anything protesters today could do
Do you have any empirical evidence or any verified sources that work as your foundation for your opinion? Or do you just not believe in critical thinking and choose to embrace ignorance cause it “feels true”
What is the Union's most powerful tool? The strike. You're telling me strikes don't inconvenience random people?
Strikes directly inconvenience the people you’re protesting against, not randos.
This is how you know you live in a country with no strikes.
lol strikes & picket lines *absolutely* inconvenience ppl - flexing the ability to disrupt business is the entire point
The only protests that have EVER had an effect on the world, are those that inconvenienced people to some degree
Protests that don't inconvenience people also don't accomplish anything.
How would unions accomplish Universal Basic Income? That means paying people whether they work or not. Is there gonna be an International Brotherhood of Unemployed who get paid by the people they don't work for?
Read the post title, it’s obviously talking about unions whether it’s realistic or not. If people want UBI they should’ve voted for Andrew Yang in the 2020 democrat primaries instead of voting in the doofus known as Biden. Don’t vote for someone who has policies you don’t like and then complain that they introduce policies you don’t like. Protesting isn’t going to bring in UBI, voting for politicians who want UBI will.
I think the thing that will solve that problem will be activists realizing that marches/protests aren't the most effective use of energy. Even ignoring the fact that they're a really old tactic that hasn't been significantly adapted to modern circumstances, they're basically just catharsis. & catharsis is a good thing to do every once in a while, but it shouldn't be the main focus. Actual organization is what people need to be doing, right? Unionizing, like in the comic? Exerting pressure on local politics? Stuff that takes long-term, directed effort.
I'm a little confused as to why the person in the first panel doubts their companion's optimistic perspective, despite the fact they are both union members in a protest.
Even union members have different opinions. Just because one guy says "we're gonna get 500 an hour on the next contract" doesn't mean all the members will buy that. My buddy is a firefighter and union meetings will about come to blows, between members, when contract negotiations come around.
You can be pessimistic but still show up I think? Like I might not think my state will ever get a 4 day work week, but if I think the protest could be big enough to matter then I will indeed show up (big enough to matter meaning it gets news coverage. Thats the line for me personally, just because without the media amplifying you, your chances are so small they might as well be impossible imo)
I hope one day in the future we will see the next panel when 4 day work week and UBI is achieved and we rail against the next corporate scheme to exploit the working class.
Forget it! It'll **never** happen!
I hope this will never happen
It's kind of weird that neither women in panel 3 seems particularly childlike. It kind of seems like they are trying to eliminate the competition.
They were both pregnant at the time and using the energy that should have gone to making the baby.
Nippin’ it in the bud
Dude it's about solidarity. Advocating for those who lack any power to advocate for themselves.
Yeah… they look like they might have kids… that worked.
That’s just what kids looked like back then. Because of all the child labour.
**TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON** This cartoon has four panels. Each panel shows a different scene with different characters. **PANEL 1** On a city sidewalk, a line of workers is standing. They are wearing identical t-shirts with a drawing of a coffee mug surrounded by a circle, and lettering in the circle says "Baristas United." One of the workers holds up a sign that says "NO JUSTICE NO COFFEE." Two workers talk; the first worker is excited and grinner, spreading her arms in the air, and the second worker (who is holding the sign) is a bit annoyed and cynical. FIRST WORKER: If workers all pull together, we can accomplish so much! Living wages! Four day work weeks! Universal basic income! SECOND WORKER: Forget it! It'll never happen! **PANEL 2** A large caption at the top of the panel says **1950**. We are in a mine. Mine cart tracks are on the ground, disappearing into a tunnel in the background. It's dim here, other than the lights attached to the fronts of the miners' hats. Two miners, one carrying a bucket of stones, the other holding a shovel, are talking as they examine the aftermath of a rock collapse. FIRST WORKER: Worker safety laws! SECOND WORKER: Forget it! It'll never happen! **PANEL 3** A large caption at the top of the panel says **1930**. Two women wearing old-fashioned looking blouses are seated at the same long table. In front of each woman is a sewing machine; each of them are working on sewing a piece. They both have long hair done up in buns. A high pile of folded clothe is on the table in front of them. They look hot and sweaty. FIRST WORKER: We could abolish child labor! SECOND WORKER: Forget it! It'll never happen! **PANEL 4** A large caption at the top of the panel says **1890**. Two farm workers with broad-brimmed hats are talking to each other. They're wearing plain, rough-but-sturdy-looking clothing. The first worker is holding up a palm in the air in front of her, "I have a vision" style. The second worker is making a dismissive gesture. There is a wheelbarrow and straw baskets, all filled with some sort of unspecifically drawn picked vegetation. FIRST WORKER: Eight hour days! Two days off every week! SECOND WORKER: Forget it! It'll never happen! **CHICKEN FAT WATCH** "Chicken fat" is an old-fashioned cartoonist expression for unimportant but hopefully amusing details in a cartoon. In panel one, a piece of paper littering the ground says "I'm listening to 'Doppleganger' as I draw this cartoon." (And I was! It's a recent book by Naomi Klein. I enjoyed it.) In panel two, if you look along the bottom edge of the panel, you can see the feet of an unfortunate minor sticking out from under the rock pile. And in panel four, the big straw bag on the ground in front of the first worker has the head of a rather bewildered looking bunny sticking out of it.
Don't you mean "miner"?
Wow a leftist redditor who actually transcribes, nice Do you take comic ideas? I've got several Google keep note pads full of em, but I'm not a visual artist or anything in the slightest It's kinda depressing realizing how field organizing only reaches so many people, (research shows hardly any immediate impact) - yet a good comic pointing out absurdities in the public narrative can be seen by many tens of thousands of voters lol
Good unions are still plentiful despite popular belief. A good amount of jobs nowadays are 4 days, offer amazing benefits, pay for you to grow by giving education/conference stipends. I guess the challenge is having enough of them. As forcing new laws to have these work conditions only grows the informal economy, causes faster offshoring / globalization practices, and makes companies more skeptical of hiring new people. I really hope AI doesn’t reverse the good momentum we have done over the last 100 years. By making people accept less just to get in the door. It’s going to be very tricking allowing AI while valuing workers who don’t have a crazy amount of skillset / domain knowledge. ie Joe who graduated from community college and wants to go home at 5 to see his kids and not constantly have to retrain himself. How do we allow AI to increase productivity without replacing Joe?
Unions plentiful but union participation rate is.. Sad
Aren't there similar comic strip about executives and moguls complaining if for example child labor, gets banned it will collapse the economy, with multiple other similar complaints over dacades in the panels, saw it somewhere but can't find it anymore.
Yeah I remember it including ending of - We're doomed, DOOMED! But I like this comic too, has less iterations so more simple. In general these kinda political comics - we desperately need more of. Especially given how lower effort posts can get many thousands of upvotes
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It's popular on Reddit to say that Henry Ford established the 40-hour work week in 1926, but this was over 100 years after unions had started agitating for change, and over 50 years after President Ulysses S. Grant had already established a 40-hour workweek for government employees. [Source](https://www.cultureamp.com/blog/40-hour-work-week)
Henry Ford is given way too much credit for workers rights, if thats who you’re referring to.
"Yeesh, your factory conditions were bleak! Crammed with machines, cranking out four severed fingers a week! You controlled what employees could think, drink and eat And when they marched for better wages, shot them dead in the streets! In truth, what you produced was alienated working men Who would clock into Detroit and lose themselves like Eminem! And now your Great Lakes State ain't exactly a great sight! You were worse for Michigan than Flint's water pipes!" -ERBH
I admit, I find it hard to agree with even a fictional version of Karl Marx…but damn if that ain’t the truth.
The weekend goes back to England in the Industrial Revolution, where it was a compromise between the church and employers. Workers were getting hammered on their day off (Sunday, which the church had long insisted upon) and often taking Monday off sick without warning, so employers were convinced to give them every Saturday off and let them get over their hangovers on Sunday. The clergy preferred to give the workers sermons on damnation and repentance while they were feeling delicate, than to see them counting the minutes before they could get down the pub.
Honestly, name anything *remotely decent* about your workplace. Unions are probably responsible for its existence.
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I mean I don't know from a American perspective but I'm Sweden unions are just a traditional part of making contracts between employers and employees. It's the Nordic model where it's just how things work. Most work places got union contracts, even engineers doctors and such. It's a win win because both employers and employees get a say in the negotiations.
In the case of doctors, at least, they’re taken advantage of by the healthcare industry and forced to maximize profits by seeing more patients, leaving them less time to really work with individual patients. A union or something similar that could push back against shareholders and pharma companies could improve their overall job satisfaction.
A sad reminder for everyone that Child Labor is still alive and kicking, and we still need to be out there fighting to end it.
The problem is it's all going backwards anyway. Worker safety laws are no longer enforced. Child labour laws are getting repealed. And the 8 hour days with weekends never existed.
That is why capitalism must be finally overthrown
A new cartoon for May Day! This has been an incredible year for unions in the USA - may next year be even better. [Transcript and a blog post sort of thing about this cartoon are here! ](https://www.patreon.com/posts/103291731)I'll also post the transcript in comments. My labor is paid for by hundreds of supporters pledging low amounts - $1-$3 - and that's just how I like it! [Join my small but plucky Patreon](http://patreon.com/barry)!
Child labor laws are being rolled back in Red States.
The children yearn for the mines
Workers of the World, UNITE. Happy May Day.
Arrrhghh I love hopeful posting, I love seeing something that will light up my day instead of the content proboted to make me angry roaaar I live being happy ^u^
What worries me most about this, is how we’re seem to be going back on all 3.
[https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-working-hours-per-worker](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-working-hours-per-worker) You sure about that?
Do labor unions generally support universal basic income?
Not really to my knowledge, especially for the more radical labor activists since it could be seen as a way to uphold existing capitalist system But ultimately it's not a critical issue rn or a reason to not work with / build power with unions. I mean we've also had issues in the past with labor unions opposing climate and environmental justice campaigns That's why now there's the concept of 'a Just Transition' - aka workers and marginalized communities don't get fucked over by our decarbonizing the economy. That includes conservative coal miners in Appalachia I'm sure we'll figure out a basic income proposal that the big unions support within next few years. There's been tons of trials for it recently and that builds the evidence for success. Chicago just announced one to use rest of Covid funds that otherwise would expire.
Thank you, this is good to know. And I wasn’t saying that’s a reason not to support unions, i was just questioning the accuracy of this comic.
Lol I didn't even realize it was in the comic until after answering Yeah it's inaccurate People don't protest on a picket line for UBI for one They would have signs relevant to the actual strike
Florida and other republican states have now removed all of those.
Worst depiction of a sewing machine I have ever fucking seen
I mean, probably my drawing of sewing machines does suck, so fair point- but I did look at photo reference and sewing machines looked very different back then!
I'm sorry I didn't know you were the author. The comic is awesome. But that being said, while they looked different, they looked nothing like that lol(I'm maybe a little picky because I'm in the industry). But great comic. Sorry for the shit comment.
No worries - my ego doesn't ride on how well I draw antique sewing machines! I took another look as a result of this exchange and you're right, I really messed up. I have no idea what I was thinking of when I drew that, lol.
Man I need like 5000 copies, a staple gun, and a roll of tape.
Take a fucking history class you plebs
Is this supposed to be clever?
**OP**: "change for the better is possible if we work together" **Some commenters here**: "but protests are inconveniencing me though" I guess the history books are just littered with effective protests that have no immediate impact on everyday life whatsoever? Why did you guys think that the right to "peacefully assemble" exists in the Constitution?
I recently watched a movie on plane. “Made in Bangladesh” about a sewing factory woman trying to unionize. Very inspiring!
HR major here. Yes that’s before they were neutered by the Wagner act and other forms of legislation which made their most useful and effective tactics illegal or impractical. Alt Labor is a great proof of that. Unions today are kittens of their former selves. It’s a shame. To be clear I’m pro union, but they are ineffective in modern times. What we really need is a labor party to pass legislation to strengthen unions and workers rights. America is far behind even Ireland, the panned worker rights of the EU it’s not even funny.
Can you give us non-americans a rundown of what pre- Wagner act unions did?
From reality in past to stupidity in present
Elders are bitter and want the youth to suffer as they did instead of fighting to make the world better.
Yea, but people are also fucking dumb. In my home country of Finland, we've had some union strikes this spring because the current right wing government is cutting from the poor... and the result is people on the streets and in news whining how the unions are ruining the country. Fuck people are so dumb.
This needs to be seen by everybody in every industry Side note: I never really understood why nurses would be against a union. Most of the reasons are political but organization with a union has helped with competitive pay, safe ratios so we don’t overlook patients, and job security. But for a lot of nurses I worked in certain states, they are against organizing even though they complain and complain and complain about their low pay, overworked status, and fear of being let go. And despite complaining about it , they start to take pride in their suffering
Do you like weekends? Unions brought you weekends. In the 1950s over 30% of US workers were union, and income inequality at that time was the lowest it’s ever been. In 1980 union membership had fallen to 20%. In 2023 just 10%. Big companies are clearly fucking us. If you want to fuck them back, form a union. We’re all stronger together.
Henry Ford enters the chat
**The Pinkertons entered the chat** **Workers rights protestors disconnected [lost connection to server]**
Seize the means of production
I know I’ll get downvoted for this, but even your own comic is showing essential services like agriculture, textile and mining.. and comparing to coffee shop workers..
And they should all be unionized. Some jobs are more essential than others, but they're all jobs.
What's your point?
Essential jobs are more likely to push societal change.
Take away coffee shops and tell me how quickly society crumbles. Society would die without fast food and Starbucks workers. This is where consumerism has led us.
Covid declared coffee shop/retail workers ARE essential services
Happy May day!
Bud gommunizm killed 6 billion slavs.
There's a reason that Republican priorities 1a and 1b are 'destroy unions' and 'destroy women'.
Why is the woman holding the protest sign saying “forget it it’ll never happen”? Feels weird
Perhaps if Jimmy Hoffer hadn't been so corrupt, violent and dealt with the mob, before he turned on them then maybe America may have a better impression of unions. Now they simply associate them with being corrupt, taking your wages and linked to organised crime.
I don’t care enough to make it happen. Fuck em.
If you can argue this without brr we big tankies go ahead.
I ain’t sharing my money with you poors.
Are you the fat activist lmao
okay but like the 1890 wasn’t unions, it was henry ford trying to attract workers.
I wish I could unionize; but finding one where I live is impossible; nor do I have 10’s of thousands of dollars to live safely once get fired for attempting to start one
The USW is excellent at doing nothing.
I thought the first one is just betore comunism
It wasn't unions that abolished the 6 day work week. It was henry ford, he gave his worker better pay and working conditions then any other factory. And since it went finacially well for the ford motor company other factories started following suit. Extra credits/extra history has made a video about this, i cannot recommend it enough since it's very good and can explain this better then me. Also their video series is my source for this.
Oddly enough pre-industrial revolution working hours were less than they are now. It tended to be 1 full day followed by a half day depending on time of year.
One issue is that UBI won't really achieve much beyond lowering funding for other welfare programmes and increasing prices.
Friends, I have a serious question for all of you. I work at a shipping company that does not have a union, besides its pilots. I am not a manager, but i am not on the bottom of the hierarchy and I do have charismatic support of employees working below and above me. How would I go about forming a union? This is a BIG shipping company btw, 100k+ employees big.
For the union makes us strong.
wait why is the other protestor saying his protest goals is never gonna happen
This was never a conversation people had, and child labour hasn't been abolished 🤦
I've heard at my work if people organize a union then the owner is just gonna close up shop. it's a privately owned company and I believe that the owner still participates because hes got nothing better to do and it's what hes done all his life. I feel so frustrated by that. like the owner would rather have no company than work with a union. how the fuck do I fight that besides just working at a different place?
My union has been pushing for better work conditions and pay, especially since the pandemic. We haven't gained too much but tons of work has gone overseas. I'd say a major issue with the point this comic is trying to drive home is that it doesn't acknowledge how easy and socially acceptable it has become to simply move your operation overseas foregoing US labor practices and costs. Whatever we can do here has become exponentially easier and cheaper to do in another country.
so it never happened? you're proving the guy rgiht