• mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Every fucking time:

    It’s a distinction between “on-the-job training will suffice” and “no chance without years of prep.”

    No shit anything worth paying a human for involves human skills. But some jobs are open to just about anyone who can put up with it, and some jobs kill people when you try to muscle through on sticktoitiveness. A fast food restaurant can bring some rando up-to-speed in a couple weeks. An ER cannot. The distinction is necessary.

    Nitpicking the label misses the point:

    All labor deserves a living wage.

    It doesn’t fucking matter how difficult or complex a job is. If your business wants people’s time - you had better fucking pay them enough to be there next month. Otherwise, you don’t get to be a business.

    • yarr@feddit.nl
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      11 months ago

      All labor deserves a living wage.

      It doesn’t fucking matter how difficult or complex a job is. If your business wants people’s time - you had better fucking pay them enough to be there next month. Otherwise, you don’t get to be a business.

      All labor that delivers value in excess of the wage deserves a living wage.

      • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        If you’re employing someone and losing money, that’s your stupid problem.

        If you’re employing someone - they deserve a living wage. Or fuck off.

        • yarr@feddit.nl
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          11 months ago

          If you’re employing someone and losing money, that’s your stupid problem.

          Correct, which is why the business left over don’t pay a living wage, otherwise it’s not economically viable and they disappear. Would you rather someone be unemployed (and receive no wage) vs a crummy job at which they can work towards getting higher pay?

          • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            Fuck off and take your false dilemma with you.

            We cannot tolerate any job, however shite, paying less than a living wage. There’s no shortage of money. There’s no shortage of work to be done. “Businesses left over” are making record profits, right now. You can figure this out.

      • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        You have known a not-insignificant amount of tribalist assholes. They don’t mean things when they say words. The natural shape of the universe, in their eyes, is a hierarchy where the bottom half must suffer, and they’ll make whatever mouth noises justify that foregone conclusion.

        If I gave you all the time in the world to pick a better label and you chose one we both agreed was flawless then those assholes would invent some other stupid reason to make the exact same claim. That’s how they think arguments work. That’s all they think we’re doing. That’s all they think there is.

        This label can’t justify poverty wages, because nothing justifies poverty wages. And if you renamed it, the people trying would keep trying. You have to recognize these assholes and stop taking their arguments seriously. They’re not arguments. They’re slogans.

        If it wasn’t ‘they’re unskilled!’ it’d be ‘those jobs are for teenagers!’ or ‘but hamburgers will cost thirty dollars!’ or ‘robots will do it instead!’ and if you try engaging with any of those then you’ve already lost. These people don’t fucking care. Prove them wrong and nothing changes. You have to attack the conclusion, because that’s all they have.

          • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            The distinction is literally life and death, sometimes. I don’t call it necessary just because I think it’s neat.

            The most ardent outright anarchists still need to distinguish jobs anyone can kinda do versus jobs with intense risk, impact, and/or time pressure. This is that term. You can pick a different one - but you cannot get rid of the concept, unless you want surgeons and architects who keep saying “oops.”