this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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Maybe at a cushy white collar office job. I work at a hospital. There is no down time when you are on the clock, that’s true for nurses, doctors, housekeeping, pharmacy, lab, food service - I’d imagine the same is also true for all sort of service industry workers, and also factory workers, farmers, construction, and so so many others. Let’s stop pretending that everyone just sits in front of a computer all day.
Whats sad is that most of those jobs are just insanely and intentionally understaffed (and underpaid), which is precisely why they're so demanding.
It's almost like we should have started investing in better education and replacing manually repetitive tasks with automation.
Machines should have been a relief from the hardship of life, not a mean to gain more profit for a few individuals.
Those are the first jobs we need to change into 4 hours for 3 days shifts or something. It's dangerous for everyone to work without sufficient recovery
Exactly. I definitely would not want a nurse or a doctor to operate on me when there on the last stretches of a 12 hour shift, running on 5 hours of sleep. The only question I ask any doctor, nurse or dentist before they start any procedure on me is "how many hours of sleep did you get last night"... Anything less than 6-7 hours puts me in more risk than I'd accept!
Even truck drivers etc. have mandatory work:rest-ratios. It should be a norm
It's criminal how you are all treated because of purposeful under-staffing. Everyone needs downtime. The human mind does not go full throttle for 8-12 hours straight, and I'm well aware you often have longer shifts than that in a hospital! If medical staff had some downtime during their shifts, patient outcomes would improve, and not just by a little bit.
We need to mandate a certain level of staffing so this shit stops.
It would be better if you were 4 days instead of 5. You'd have better productivity and recovery.
I'm a doctor and intentionally set my own hours to four day work weeks whenever I can, because I run my own practice and can do that. Let's not pretend it's a badge of honour to grind ourselves into a twitching mess.
To be fair, for those jobs the 5 day workweek, as it is known traditionally, has never been true. They were always either doing starnge shifts like 24 hours twice then 2 free days, repeat or working way more than 5 days a week, based on demand (which of course has been increasing since businesses hire less and less for some fuckin reason).
This is exactly my problem as well... We wanted to try a 4 day work week at my factory but they said no because we need to ship things 5 days a week... Except for the fact that we almost never ship more than 1 or 2 things in any given day and they are rarely things that need to go asap... One day wouldn't kill them but they're stuck in the past.
I just posted the same thing. I used to be a bartender/ server and work in retail. You DON'T rest. Not on your own schedule at least
My work is hybrid these days and I have tasks to complete instead of just drink from the firehose of task garbage being thrown my way. I can control the ebb and flow of my workday and slack or be a champion as needed.
Oh, I work 4 9 hour day weeks too. My quality of life is better in every way and i STILL dick around certain days. You probably make a lot more than I do but it's not worth it to get home and have zero bandwidth
I assure you that "sitting in front of a computer" is less ideal than you seem to think it is
Well, it's kinda depressing when you conclude no particular task for a day, yet still feel boiled due to tired eyes, headache etc.
You're a human being, not a human doing. You need and deserve downtime. You are not a machine. You must find a way. If there's a will, there's a way.
Obviously white collar workers need help.