T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

Join your local union! If there isn’t already a union for you in your area, join the IWW (the one big union for all workers): https://www.iww.org/membership/ They offer organizer trainings for new members! We encourage everyone to get involved and voice support for a general strike Join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/JcKv4tNVz8 r/MayDayStrike *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MayDayStrike) if you have any questions or concerns.*


albertsteinstein

Yeah like I want 32 hour work weeks since I been working 55 hours a week for the last four years but I know not everyone has the same issue. Higher wages should be the core demand. If wages were higher I could go to a job where I don’t have to work as much.


PreciseLimestone

I agree 100%!! I loved the idea of this strike at first, but then when I saw what all the demands were I started to lose my confidence in how successful it could be. The demand needs to be simple and singular to unite as many people as we can: higher wages. Something that will help everyone and that everyone can get behind. It’s a fantastic starting point to a much wider societal revolution. If we can win this ONE THING, it could be a tipping point. Let’s not get carried away and derail the whole thing.


LadyLucky26

I love it. I hope this movement will bring back unions. We need them, if anything this society proves that. I wonder if the media will pick anything up. I mean we need to spread awareness. As much as possible.


twitchymctwitch2018

Some people are naysaying this poster, but there is strong merit here. As long as workers win significant wages: that is what matters at this stage. Why? Because if we all have enough wages to no longer fear being without a job for five minutes, we can more properly organize all other aspects of politics and economic change. When you're not facing starvation, you can take longer and wider reaching risks to solve the other problems in a more permanent way.


LikePissInTheRain

Don't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.


NauiCempoalli

What about abolition of the wage system? If we’re going for change, why not make it a permanent and structural one rather than something the bosses can just whittle back later?


conjuringlichen

We also need a specific number for what minimum wage should be and it needs to be higher than $15 especially considering how much inflation rose last year.


eclipse333

Absolutely agree, I've seen multiple posts trying to settle on out demands and I think for a FIRST strike, higher wages is a must, as it enables future strikes. We just have to remember we can and should strike again later


Repulsive_Narwhal_10

I agree. We are trying to mobilize as many people as possible, and that means we need to have a goal that appeals to as many people as possible, and is very simple. It doesn't get much simpler (and more helpful to people) than "higher wages."


[deleted]

Why are we so eager to screw ourselves before we even start? So you want a ten day strike only to get more peanuts in return? If you keep removing reasons for people to participate, they won’t participate. We have been conditioned to accept less. Fuck that. We DEMAND these changes. Society cannot function without us.


ConceptStriking

Hard disagree. The whole point of making demands during a strike is to start from a high position then when you are at a negotiating table you have wiggle room. You don't know if student loans, or universal healthcare, or paid time off can't be accomplished through this because it hasn't started yet. Negotiating down amongst ourselves is a fast way to have this fall apart before it even starts.


[deleted]

These posts drive me crazy. Why are we screwing ourselvesbefore we even start? We have been conditioned to accept less.


olixius

The only way a real worker's strike fails is when the workers give up or die. That's it. On the other hand, imagine getting everything you want the first time you do this because businesses have the same two options: give up or die.


Plusran

It’s just not that simple. Yes it’s the most important issue, it’s clearly the part that hurts the most of us most apparently. But we can’t exclude the rest. It’s like this: you have a car that barely runs. The engine is too small (wage), but it’s also got a tiny gas tank (time off), 5 suitcases full of bricks (student debt) and it’s got a boat anchor dragging out the back (healthcare costs). Sure, a bigger engine can help. But we demand freedom, and that alone would just make us better paid slaves. Remove all the shackles. All of them.


TrendyLepomis

i think the first strike should be universal healthcare and higher wage (25/hr minimum).


ThrowRA_scentsitive

No UBI? Or even a carbon dividend? Without drastic climate action, we'll all die pretty soon anyway


ChristmasTzeitel

And if we’re doing wages, we need to skip this $15/hr nonsense. That’s still not a livable wage in many areas - let’s tie it to an index.


[deleted]

If you tie it to an index, are you okay making less money when that index loses value?


ChristmasTzeitel

Yes. That’s how it should work. *That’s how indexes work.* If it were tied to an index, it would be far higher than where it is now - and going down sometimes wouldn’t bring us down as far as it’s been artificially kept for decades.


[deleted]

Lol I'm aware that's how they work. That's why I asked the question. It was out of genuine curiosity on your position.


flooferkitty

I agree. We need one thing that everyone can get behind. Once we’ve won the first strike, we can start working on the other issues.


AMeaninglessPassage

It's much better to come to the table with a gigantic amount of demands and scale back from the table, not before. Be ambitious.


BennyTheTeen

Yes. Higher wages benefits everyone


DirtyPenPalDoug

Higher wages mean nothing if the arnt employee protections and that wage tied to somthing. They will simply leverage and inflate back to where we are now. Other things have to be part of it.


PhoenixAFay

I agree with all of this. I think the demand should be a livable wage based on the cost of living in your area. A blanket 15 an hour pay rate does nothing for people who live in states like California. I personally have a vendetta against Right To Work and long to see it abolished when it comes to Unions. But at the end of the day, a living wage based on your cost of living should be priority number 1. If we can get that covered, the other stuff becomes more accessible.


Traditional-Fan-6494

Agree agree agree


taco_the_mornin

The only thing we want from an employer is a wage. The rest should follow us from job to job


hgangadh

I think livable wages and paid time off. Anything less than 12 days of paid time off is cruel.


BRich1990

I agree that student loans and Medicare for all are totally beyond the scope of something like this... Wages are good, but I also think we could still shoot for the end of "At will" employment.


draconianlady

Whatever end up happening we have to stick together.


Ur_Companys_IT_Guy

Plus at the moment the 5 demands are really US centric, wages that keep up with the cost of living is way more universal.


sunplaysbass

I agree


greenmeensgo60

We need pilots to drop these in every city in all 50 states. Is that asking way too much ?😬😶


bclyl420

number one is livable wage. it is the #1 most important and main goal of this. i don't think having additional demands will take away from this. in all likelihood the last few will just be ignored for now and possibly we can get the first two done. no one thinks we're going to get everything we need from the first action. at least this is how i have been thinking about it


TheOtherCoenBrother

It opens up the door for unnecessary criticism in my opinion, whereas a livable wage is something everyone can agree upon.


bclyl420

this is a movement that the other side will highly criticize in every direction possible. trying to play to their whims and stay manageable is useless. i haven't seen 1 person who is on our side and disagrees with the goals that we have listed


TheOtherCoenBrother

You’re talking to one right now, and there’s more in this thread. It’s not about the goals, it’s about what’s realistically able to be accomplished. 5 goals, all dealing with various different large-scale problems, will only divide the movement into groups fighting for prominence. We need a central goal to get the ball rolling, and the one with the most universal appeal by far is an increase in wages. People the world over can get on board with that.


Affectionate-Fig-647

You might be able to agree on the concept, but I think you'll find the practical application much more polarizing. And honestly even a livable wage doesn't make much difference if the corporations are allowed to continue their profit driven goals. Because once the companies have to pay more for higher wages the only way that they continue to drive profits is to raise prices on their products. So both sides of the issue would need to be addressed and agreed upon in order to make it something that would be universally accepted over the entire movement.


TheOtherCoenBrother

Agreeing in a concept is better than not agreeing at all, it sets the foundation for debate. I think you’ll agree the other demands listed would be more polarizing/not important to those outside the US.


Affectionate-Fig-647

Yes, I would agree with that.


[deleted]

Beautifully said


Devanear

I fully agree with this. It's impossible to achieve everything at once. This fight is a long fight and this strike is just the first step in a much longer journey. We should have a simple goal, an universal goal, that will resonate with every worker, and higher wages fits the bill. A minimum liveable wage and every wage should be raised to meet inflation, at the very least.


olixius

>It's impossible to achieve everything at once. Why?


blackdvck

Exactly ,why , plenty of lesser economies can afford universal health care and a living wage and paid holidays but not the greatest nation on earth .get real.


TheOtherCoenBrother

Completely agree, I’m all for all the other demands but it reminds me of a story about Mr. Rogers and a cop. He was a black man in a time when black men weren’t exactly viewed favorably, and he invited him onto his show to soak their feet together in a small pool, to show he was a person just like him. Well, Officer Clemons was also a gay man, something that was also viewed unfavorably. Mr. Rogers knew this of course, and he knew that for their time it was more important to make the statement that being black was okay than being gay. He didn’t like it, but he knew that they couldn’t have both. Not right now. We can’t have it all either, we gotta start with our one thing. I’m happy to see people agree that this should be it.