Some More News - SMN: Unions And Strikes Are Good

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

Hi. In today's episode, Cody, who is still on strike against the News Lord, discusses the importance of Unions, Co-Ops, and the future of work. We now have a MERCH STORE! Check it out here: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/somemorenews Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/some-more-news/id1364825229 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ebqegozpFt9hY2WJ7TDiA?si=5keGjCe5SxejFN1XkQlZ3w&dl_branch=1 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/even-more-news Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/somemorenews Stop overpaying for shipping with Stamps.com. Sign up with promo code MORENEWS for a special offer that includes a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale. No long-term commitments or contracts. Scribd is offering our listeners 2 months of Scribd for only ninety-nine cents. Go to https://try.scribd.com/morenews/ to get your first two months for less than $1. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, and get the plan shipped to your door for FREE, go to http://MINTMOBILE.com/morenews. Follow us on social media! Twitter: https://twitter.com/SomeMoreNews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SomeMoreNews/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomeMoreNews/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@somemorenews Source List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oQ3z9MVtrddrUAoBs2kseDEAFOIe3hm9HMBVJwhmvoY/edit?usp=sharingSupport the show!: http://patreon.com.com/somemorenewsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previously on Some More News Where's my bathroom? I do not pay you to piss, man. You took my home bathroom! Where am I going to pee now? Nobody wants to work anymore! Alright. Time for ass.

F***ing what the hell?! I'm done. Officially on strike. See you never. Just gotta... tiptoe around these piss bottles. And now, the thrilling conclusion. So refreshing. Welcome to Some More News, a show about fun and friends and news and fun.

And today in The More News, Raytheon spokesperson says nuclear war is probably survivable Oh Wombo's tummy doesn't feel so good I better drink more of mr. Cody's delicious pee to make me feel better I've taken over the airwaves like Christian Slater and pump up the volume. Well, hello news comrades. Fancy seeing you here with this camera I set up and guess what? I'm still on strike. Remember from last week? Stop that, all right?

They already got a recap. So yes, I'm still striking and it's about a new tie apparently is what I want. And if Katie thinks that she can replace me with some piss chugging scab made of felt, she has got another thing coming. This is a movement now. I'm not the only one with a case of the old strikey fever.

There were many strikes in 2021. So many in fact, that we permanently renamed October to striketober and 2021 to 20strikey1. Over 140,000 people went on strike last year for concerns including, please pay us more and please give us healthcare and hey, could we not die on the job?

One of the most notable strikes started in October, 2021. 10,000 United Auto Workers, employees for John Deere in Iowa went on strike, citing stagnating wages despite increasing profits. Workers only received a 5% pay increase, while the CEO received a 160% pay raise. The strike continued after John Deere made some concessions, increasing the pay raise to 10%,

but this new contract allowed a loophole for them to keep hiring supplemental workers who would earn way less than workers doing the same job, which seems like a clever way to start to phase out your normal employees for supplemental workers whom you get to pay less for literally no good reason while trying to pit your employees against each other.

Nice work there, Dick's running John Deere. Unsurprisingly, United Auto Workers voted to remain on strike while this two-tier pay system continues to exist. John Deere responded to the strike by getting an injunction to limit the number of picketers outside the factory to four at a time and to ban burn barrels that were keeping strikers warm at night, using the power of the freezing cold

to fight against strikers. You know, Mr. Freeze stuff, but without the relatable backstory about loving his wife. They also forced salaried workers to become scabs and take over the factory floor work, despite these salaried workers being woefully untrained and unprepared to, you know, work in a factory. Almost immediately after John Deere forced their workers

to go on the factory floor, someone crashed a tractor into an electrical box. Oops! I guess the unskilled replaceable work of operating 10,000 pound machines requires some skill. Driving under the influence of upper management. While this incident is admittedly pretty funny, what's not funny is that John Deere cares so little

about its salaried employees that they're willing to risk the lives of office workers by thrusting them into an environment they haven't trained for. And they care so little about their factory workers that in all the years they've been running the company, they haven't bothered to learn how difficult their job is. Feels like the embodiment of Michael Scott. Like there has to be an office episode about this.

Anyway, the John Deere strike ended only after the company relented and gave workers a 10% pay raise. But this was far from the only strike that struck even before striketober began. In striketember, Nabisco employees went on strike for an attempt by the company to implement a similar two-tier wage system. The strike only ended when the union was able

to demand increased wages and killed said payment system. Then there's the Kellogg's strike in Omaha, in which workers also like the John Deere strikers are against a two-tier system where Kellogg's is able to pay those they deem transitional employees less for the same amount of work as legacy employees. Kellogg's was also trying to increase the number of employees they get to classify as transitional employees.

So, you know, trying to pay more employees less. The strike was also over poor working conditions where they are forced to work 12 to 16 hour days as transitional employees. So, you know, trying to pay more employees less. The strike was also over poor working conditions where they are forced to work 12 to 16 hour days, given mandatory overtime, and were punished for taking sick days. If there's one thing we've learned during the pandemic, it's the forcing people to work when they're sick

is smart and good and smart again and good again. The strike ended after the union voted to accept a new work contract that offered higher wages and more benefits. Unions, they're grr. Content removed under threat of legal action by plaintiff Mr. Anthony the Tiger Lombardi. Fucking serial pushers.

Speaking of gross food we love, in October McDonald's workers walked off the job in 12 different cities over the company inadequately protecting workers from sexual, verbal, and physical harassment in the workplace. Also 60,000 members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees threatened a strike citing grueling working conditions over 12 hour workdays

with little to no breaks and low pay. IATSE president Matthew Loeb said, "'Our people have basic human needs "'like time for meal breaks, adequate sleep, and a weekend. "'For those at the bottom of the pay scale, they deserve nothing less than a living wage. What? Sleep, meal breaks, what's next?

Not having your every move monitored while having to skip bathroom breaks to keep your job, also known as being an Amazon employee. How incredibly shocking that while we were writing this episode, Amazon experienced a bunch of walkouts from employees demanding a higher wage and longer breaks. Did I say we wrote this episode?

No, no, no, this is spontaneous. It's rebel radio, hard hairy, et cetera, and so forth. Anywho, in related news that I'm spontaneously mentioning, 30,000 Kaiser Permanente employees threatened to strike in November, also citing a two-tiered system in which newer hires would be given up to a 39% pay cut for the same work as other employees,

despite the company making $10 billion during the pandemic and its CEO getting a $35 million retirement package. Hey, do you notice a trend in these strikes? One of their primary complaints has been unequal pay for newer hires, which creates a system of arbitrary inequity among the workforce. The workers striking may not even be the ones

getting the pay cut, but still go on strike in solidarity. Unions recognize that when companies do this, they splinter workers into smaller groups, causing rifts and making it harder to organize. In this case, it was more like Kaiser Permanente, not permanent, Kaiser Permanent, not permanent, because the company caved is the point, agreeing to do away with the two-tier payment system

and increasing wages. Shane Burley, the communications organizer of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals said, I'm really happy we have an agreement. It was a really long fight. It only happened because we basically put forth the largest healthcare strike in American history. In fact, around half of the 140,000 people

who went on strike in 2021 were healthcare workers. Or you know, the heroes on the front line of the pandemic that we made cute Funko pops out of and some weird political cartoons imagining them getting killed in a war before forgetting to do anything materially useful for them at all, or like even viewing them as people with lives who were just doing a job

that wasn't supposed to have casualties. Like imagine if a serial killer was slaughtering a bunch of accountants and instead of doing anything, we just called them brave soldiers and thanked them for their sacrifice. That would be weird and fucked up. And so in 2021, nurses went on strike for 10 months in Massachusetts

at St. Vincent Hospital. The hospital is owned by Tenet, a very serious action adventure through time and space that I have not gotten around to seeing yet, and a for-profit healthcare company that owns 60 hospitals in the US and is valued at over $8 billion. The nurses union had been negotiating with hospital management for two years for a better contract, asking for pay increases and safer working conditions, but mainly for the hospital to address its staffing issues. More specifically, that there was not enough staff per patient.

The strikers called out a policy of the hospital to send nurses home during a shift if the management thought they were not needed, a practice called flexing. But despite how it sounds, this was done out of cost-cutting and not overstaffing, meaning that the remaining nurses on duty became swamped. And amazingly, this happened even during the pandemic.

To maximize profits, American hospitals have been intentionally understaffing nurses for decades, long before the pandemic. What the hospital industry doesn't want you to know is that there's never been more licensed nurses in America. Hospitals just aren't hiring them. After the 300-day strike of 700 workers, the nurses union won. They not only beat the hospital management's attempt to replace them with strike breakers,

they also got their main demands over staffing issues, 2% pay raises, better healthcare, since nurses need healthcare too, and provisions for nurses who are assaulted on the job, which is sadly a thing that happens a lot. This is also an improvement for patients. Research has shown, unsurprisingly, that patient outcomes improve

when they get more individual time with nurses. But despite what seems like a win for both the nurses and the patients, amazingly, there was an attempt to kill the nurses union following their victory. The National Right to Work Defense Fund, an anti-union organization, has given money to aid in a union decertification effort

led by a strike breaking nurse who quite ironically said the union was dividing workers. Some fun facts about the National Right to Work Defense Fund. It was established in 1968 and tries to advance right to work laws that prohibit unions from having agreements with management that all employees must pay dues.

Also, it was started by a white supremacist because this is America, you see. And so the anti-union right to work movement started with the Christian American Association led by Republican businessman, Vance Mews. Just to give you an idea of who Vance Muse was, his own son described him as, "'A white supremacist, an anti-Semite,

"'and a communist baiter, a man who beat on labor unions, "'not on behalf of working people,' as he said, "'but because he was paid to do so.'" Vance Muse also fought women's suffrage, tried to bring back child labor, and published anti-Semitic and anti-black propaganda. In other words, the founder of the right to work is a man perpetually on the wrong side of history

who was probably paid to do it. And this is the same movement alive and kicking today and trying to kill unions even after successful strikes that improve conditions for workers and patients. Luckily, the St. Vincent's Nurses Union voted to keep their union, so that's good. In fact, the pushback against anti-union propaganda and toxic work culture in general seems to be growing.

Posts from the anti-work subreddit have reached immense popularity and media pearl clutching. The anti-work subreddit has 1.8 million members since starting out as a niche community for work abolition, ending forced labor through capitalism. They cite books like The Abol abolition of work by Bob Black, but for most of the users, it's a place to vent about their struggles

and mistreatment at work, as well as a place for cathartic, if not sometimes fake, posts about texts they send their bosses quitting jobs that treat them poorly. It rose to prominence during the pandemic alongside the great resignation of people quitting in record numbers. And again, whether or not these posts

of people telling off their workplaces are real or not, this subreddit really rose to fame as some hardcore comeuppance porn, like really raw dogging that comeuppance. Their popularity reveals how many people fantasize about quitting their job after a round of abuse from their boss. And most importantly, people realizing they have the chance

to actually demand better treatment and have leverage. As in realizing the value of their labor and the fact that they aren't as replaceable as they've been told. And that of course brings us to me and why I'm on strike and my own realization. Sorry, ads, really? What?

This is my pirate broadcast. How could there be ads? Really? What? This is my pirate broadcast. How could there be ads? Who even are you? What is? It's been just you this whole time? Okay, well, I guess we have to cut to ads now, mom. Fight the power, but I guess also enjoy these sponsors.

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for a special offer that includes a four week trial, free postage and a digital scale. No long-term commitments or contracts, just go to stamps.com, click the microphone at the top of the page and enter code more news. That's the end. And we're back from those radical pirate radio ads. And we're talking about the sudden upheaval of workers,

specifically this war on work as Fox News calls it. Well, is it working when people choose not to work? When your policies are increasingly encouraging Americans to stay home? When the government keeps sending checks, we call them Biden bucks, to people to remain out of the workforce. You know what? It turns out a lot of people just don't work. It's shocking. We've been looking for the last hard, hard for the last couple of weeks. Can't even get people to come into interviews when they do apply. It's really very, very frustrating. You know, front of the house,

back of the house, across the board, we just can't find people to work. We have plants that aren't able to run at full capacities because they simply can't find enough people to work in them. I can't find enough staff to keep the service going here. Now I'm going to say, well, you have to be vaccinated. Can't get, you can't get anyone to show up at work. Oh, do workers not want to work for you because you don't pay enough and tweet them like garbage? But let's examine this claim that people don't want to work because of some kind of government welfare. We touched on it a bit in our previous video, but it bears a bit more explanation.

The current exodus of workers is due in large part to what is known as the Great Resignation, in which over 20 million workers have quit their jobs from May through September of 2021. The key word here is quit, not laid off, not fired, they voluntarily left. According to the US Department of Labor, people who quit their jobs don't get to collect unemployment

unless their reason for quitting is a direct result of COVID-19. And that doesn't mean they can quit if they simply don't feel safe. There are only very specific circumstances in which this can take effect. Like if the person quitting actually has COVID or a family member in their house has COVID.

Furthermore, the CARES Act stipulates that if a company tries to rehire someone, they had to lay off due to COVID and that person refuses to go back to work, they lose their unemployment benefits. In fact, when UI benefits are cut off, it has a negligible effect on employment. According to research by the International Monetary Fund,

the early removal of COVID related unemployment benefits had only a modest and temporary effect on getting people back to work. So 20 million workers quit not to collect unemployment, but because they wanted to quit for other reasons. And what are those reasons? I wonder, gee, it is a mystery. In fact, the great resignation is a bit of a misnomer.

People aren't quitting work entirely. They're quitting for better jobs. While rates of quitting are up, so are hires. And when polled as to why they were quitting for better jobs, the top three reasons people gave were, pay was too low, no opportunities for advancement, and felt disrespected at work. The people quitting are also mostly in blue collar jobs.

And given the treatment of essential workers during the pandemic, this isn't all that surprising. Low wage jobs such as cooks, warehouse workers, agriculture workers, construction workers, and bakers had the highest death rates from COVID-19, according to a study from UCSF. The most famous case of bosses not taking this risk seriously were the Iowa Tyson Foods managers who formed a, and this next word is important, motherfucking bedding pool on

which of the meatpacking workers would get COVID. Workers everywhere were also abused by customers who didn't want to follow COVID safety rules to the point of being physically attacked or degraded until feeling completely dehumanized. It's also important to point out that even before the pandemic, blue collar workers have been routinely mistreated, including but not limited to $50 billion

in wage theft per year, as in employers not paying their employees when money is owed. So to recap, we had managers literally betting on the lives of employees, service workers being physically attacked, and massive stolen wages. Not hard to see why folks might not want to work certain jobs

without being either extremely desperate or having some sort of humiliation fetish. Steal my wages harder, daddy! Not trying to kink shame, unless that's your kink. Okay, so we know why people wanted to quit. What empowered them to quit? Well, essentially, the pandemic disrupted the labor market enough to give people this chance.

People were laid off early in the pandemic because of COVID, but when these places opened back up, there's a lag between opening back up and being able to find employees. The employees they laid off don't just rush back to the same old job. They might take this opportunity to look for a better job. In 2021, 55% of people were looking to change jobs

over the next year. So the great resignation is more like a great find a job that doesn't treat me like shit Ignatian. That's what they should call it. That's how words work. Still, it is true some people aren't returning to work, but according to that International Monetary Fund study we mentioned earlier,

those not returning to work are mostly older people, either due to fears over COVID or rising home values and stock prices allowing them to live off of their current assets. Women with children under five years old were also less likely to return to work due to the unpredictability of school and childcare during the pandemic.

And since we still don't live in a gender equitable society, childcare expectations often fall onto women. In the UK, there was less of a she session, gross, because nurseries stayed open during the pandemic. But for people who can return to work, they have more leverage than they had in the past. Since these companies that did mass layoffs during the pandemic can't immediately find fresh,

trained workers to replace the old employees, prospective employees get to be picky about where they want to work. While this great find a less shitty job Ignatian movement started during the beginning of the pandemic, it is continuing to grow. And why not? People are realizing their bargaining power.

And this is beneficial not only to the people who are realizing their bargaining power. And this is beneficial, not only to the people who are quitting, but everyone. The increase in wages to entice new employees has grown wages for people who remained in their jobs as well. So it seems like the great resignation is better for everyone, you know, except for greedy, power hungry CEOs.

What? It is way too soon for that edible to have kicked in. Ha ha, I am back, baby! I have taken over Cody's pirate broadcast like someone who beats up pirates. Who's an iconic character, like, in tights that beats up pirates? The Phantom! I have taken over like Billy Zane in The Phantom. Hello, and welcome to the real Some More News. I am your normal,

typical host and ruler of news, Katie Stoll. Unfortunately, our new scab, Warmbo, has died of piss poisoning and, oh, wait, what's that? Cody's mom? He's clinging to life in the hospital. Good luck paying those medical bills, little guy, because we do not cover them. Anyways, in real news, unions are unnecessary and also terrible. How about all those dues you have to pay, huh? No thank you. Take it from Amazon, a notable pro-worker company who says you can do it without dues. Listen, you like video games, right? You could get a whole video game console with all those union dues, just like how Delta informed their workers that unionizing was silly since, duh, you could get video games with all that money you wasted on maintaining worker power.

Or football. You riffraff like the footballs, right? Well, you can buy some of those footballs with your dues! So what is the point of dues? Oh, Graphics Monkey, fetch me a headline about how useless dues are. Aha, see? States with higher union membership have higher wages, stronger voting laws, and better quality of... Hey, wait a minute! I've been duped by the Graphics Monkey! Graphics Monkey, you are fired! Video Clip Monkey, you're up! Show me a video clip that conforms to my worldview. Something like a leaked training video from Amazon

that warns of the evils of unionizing efforts. Welcome! We're excited to have you at this training, specifically designed to give you the tools that you need for success when it comes to labor organizing. We are not anti-union, but we are not neutral either. We will boldly defend our direct relationship

with associates as best for the associate, the business, and our shareholders. We do not believe unions are in the best interest of our customers, our shareholders, or most importantly, our associates. Thank you, very normal human cartoon. See, I'm not anti-union. I'm simply against the idea that you should form a union,

and I will boldly state that I would prefer you not make the mistake of forming a union and setting off the surveillance drones and the anti-union taser turrets. While employees have the right to organize, we have a right and responsibility to share our position that a direct working relationship is better for the customer, the company, and the associate. In order to be able to do that effectively, it is critical that we recognize the early

warning signs of potential organizing and escalate concerns promptly. Please, Mr. Normal Cartoon Man who isn't anti-union but is boldly against the formation of unions, tell me the early signs of organizing activity. The most obvious signs would include use of words associated with unions or union-led movements like living wage or steward, petitions or other concerted activity such as an associate purporting to speak on behalf of his or her co-workers when raising concerns. Living wage? Having grievances? Disgusting. Send in the flamethrower drones. I mean, friendly. Drones of friendliness that

aren't anti-union just politely and gently redirects unions into a neutralizing blast of friendly cleansing fire. So look, unions are very dangerous, but also pointless. Don't need them. Trust me. And if you can't take my word for it, take the word of the world's best thinker, Elon Musk, who liked a tweet saying we don't need unions anymore, as opposed to the past when people were, quote, getting their hands cut off and fired. Very good point from the meme guy. People don't get fired unjustly anymore only for good reasons.

Like, say, a Tesla worker trying to organize a union. And it's not like you get your hands cut off anymore. Just ripped bicep tendons, lung damage, and vision damage. And so what if one Tesla worker described his injury as agonizing pain? As the person being injured, he's a biased source as to how much that injury hurts. And you know I'm right. But here's the scary part. Unions aren't the only threat to the plucky little multinational corporation. There is this very dangerous new trend workers are trying called quitting. And personally, I think it should be

illegal. And so does ThetaCare, the for-profit healthcare company. You see, healthcare workers in Wisconsin tried to quit their jobs for a better job at another hospital because of things like better benefits, better pay, and better work-life balance. They even blackmailed ThetaCare with the threat of quitting, asking ThetaCare to match the new offer. Well, ThetaCare stood up to those bully employees and didn't give in to their demands, saying that the long-term expense to ThetaCare was not worth the short-term cost. Because what?

Do employees really think they can demand their boss pay them more? Or else they'll quit? What is this? A free country? Luckily, a judge agreed that it is not a free country and allowed Thetacare to sue for an injunction against the healthcare workers. Apparently, you can't legally prevent them from quitting because it's called, like, slavery or something.

But the judge did allow for the injunction to stop the nurses from taking the new job. You see, these workers are at will, meaning that they can be fired for any reason. And even though it also technically means that they can quit for any reason, I think we should just nudge that definition a little bit to mean that they can't quit for any reason. I mean, we all know that the whole at-will scam is for letting us fire workers whenever we want, right? Like, we don't actually care about workers having the right to quit. I mean, that wouldn't help serve our interests as CEOs at all. Oh, shoot, sorry. I'm not supposed to say that part out loud, am I?

Still a little tipsy from scotch brunch. Scrunch, we call it. What I meant is, well, you see, in this case, it's different. Because these are healthcare workers. And while, yes, of course, they're frontline heroes, blah, blah, blah, great sacrifice, blah, blah, blah. They can't just quit because that would threaten patient safety. What, you think ThetaCare should have just paid them more since they had plenty of time to make a counteroffer?

That is called negotiating with terrorists. I mean, frontline workers are heroes, of course. Thank you, heroes. But also terrorists. Look, my point here is that this whole entitled, I can just quit and find a new job attitude has gone too far. What we need to do is show people how lazy workers are for wanting better conditions. If we could say, find a random person on the internet, someone who's, I don't know, an introvert and isn't media ready and embarrass them on national television. Ooh, do we have anything like that?

So I think laziness is a virtue in a society where people constantly want you to be productive 24-7. And it's good to have rest. What do you do, Doreen? I'm a dog walker. I would love to teach. I would love to work with people and stuff like that. What would you teach, Doreen? A philosophy, mostly.

Philosophy. Just instruction in philosophy, critical thinking, reason, stuff like that. Okay. Well, I would love to take your class, Doreen. Ha ha. Perfect. You see, all workers who want to quit their job are lazy because this one person is kind of awkward. Score. You hear that, employees? Your little labor movement comes to an end now! Uh, excuse me. Lighting monkeys, why are you cutting the lights? You can't just... Excuse me, what? You're quitting? You can't just quit? No, you cannot just quit because I will sue you! Graphics Monkey!

Give me a picture of an injunction against the lighting monkeys! Oh, right. Fuck, I fired the Graphics Monkey. Fine! You're fired again! We don't even need a stupid news show! Fuck you! Fuck you all! Eat my shit and die also because we are gonna... We're gonna become a goddamn aggregate! You hear me? It's a cheap- a cheap news aggregate! Fine, okay fine, cut to some ads while I do a little company reorganizing.

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trap and eat that puppet who's been breaking into your house, which is probably legal to do. Fingers crossed. Fingies crossed! You know, going into 2022 I had a few goals I wanted to own my own penguin Finally crash a golf cart

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Also, please don't mention that I have a penguin because I don't, I mean, I don't legally think I can have one. Thanks. Okay, bye. Some more newsably. Heartwarming video. Some more newsably. forced to dance for customer or risk losing job, and we are here for it. Viral video of Chihuahua solving racism, and it is binge-worthy AF. Must keep power flowing to news reactor. What the hell is this? What are you doing in my home? Wombo powering the aggregate. Wombo sweat is money.

Are those wires coming out of your asshole? Warmbo, this is madness. It's not even a real set. I don't think you're actually powering anything. How about you join my strike, okay? Maybe you and I can form a union. Unions are bad and ineffective, you silly goat! Warmbo must keep working! Warmbo needs the salary for child support!

Come on, they can't needs the salary for child support! Come on, they can't keep, wait, child support? Look, nevermind, all right? Wormbo, this isn't sustainable, okay? Come here, old buddy. Let me just put you next to all the bongs and throwing stars. Okay, listen, Wormbo, if unions were so bad for you,

the worker, and so pointless, why do companies spend millions of dollars just on union avoidance consultants? In an article by the pro-labor think tank, Economic Policy Institute, they describe how the Dish TV Corporation spent years and huge amounts of money just to prevent around 100 workers from unionizing.

According to the article, while it may be hard to justify the time and money spent on fighting the union in terms of the costs of this group of 100 employees, this expense may be more logical when understood as an investment in preventing higher wages from spreading to the rest of its workforce. Understanding that unions and strikes put corporations in such a panic that they're willing to spend millions of dollars and many years fighting them should be a tip-off that unions and labor organization gives workers more leverage.

Even though work sometimes feels like you're a puppet on a treadmill with electrodes attached to your anus, it doesn't have to be this way. There is actually a future of work that exists without exploitation, or at least as much exploitation. It's worth looking at a realistic version of what the future of work could look like and what we would need to change, including things about ourselves to get there. So I guess let's talk about that right now.

Does that mean Mr. Cody is going to host the show again? What should be the future of work? Just because the title monkey is back doesn't mean that I'm back too. Yes, I know we're dating now, but it's more of a casual thing. We're not tied at the hip. Okay, first of all, it's worth noting

that people are still going to want to work in the future, even in a magical, idyllic future that doesn't have the imminent threat of climate change, insidious creep of fascism, rampant income inequality, a housing crisis, a water crisis, unchecked corruption, the film Book of Henry, an unregulated financial system, famine, definitely a couple more pandemics, and 3,700 active nuclear warheads still just hanging around.

Even in that world, people are still going to want to work. Because as I feel like we've made clear, the idea that people don't want to work anymore is just, it's generally false. I mean, I'm sure some people don't. Lord knows most days I just wanna get high and practice my shuriken technique. But for the most part, people are just tired of the endless grind

with no chance of upward mobility. But they still want to do things even when those things are working for other people. Perhaps that's why, despite the media framing that we're in a labor shortage, there are actually millions of Americans dutifully applying for jobs and getting rejected. As the chief economist at ZipRecruiter,

why does ZipRecruiter need a chief economist? Whatever, it doesn't matter. As the chief economist at ZipRecruiter, why does ZipRecruiter need a chief economist? Whatever. It doesn't matter. As the chief economist at ZipRecruiter told the Washington Post in November, a lot of the interest from employers is not spread evenly across the labor pool. There are some people in very high demand and there are some people who get no interest at all. So again, nobody wants to work anymore for $11 an hour at a job that treats them like trash. Most people just want a working situation where they're not going to be stuck in a warehouse during a tornado and threatened with termination

if they leave. And so in order for the US to initiate any of the changes I'm about to bring up, we would have to do a better job at disincentivizing companies from stealing from their employees or keeping them in poor working conditions. So that's a step one. A step two is that we should just flat out work less.

Much like how the Jetsons assumed we would be working reduced hours, the celebrated economist John Maynard Keynes wrote an essay in 1930 suggesting that people in the not too distant future would only work 15 hours a week. He knew that technology would be drastically enhanced over the next century

and believed it would increase productivity enough so that there would be less demand for even more productivity and people would elect not to work so much. Fortunately, there's already an initiative some are trying out that might be a kind of compromise between the endless working cycle of today and what Keynes envisioned.

And that is the four day work week. The push to shorten the work week from five days to four, gaining momentum around the globe. This week, the United Arab Emirates announced a plan to transition to a four and a half day work week starting in January. This is a pretty straightforward idea that has gained some traction in recent years.

A number of companies and countries are experimenting with cutting worker hours without cutting pay. A trial of companies and countries are experimenting with cutting worker hours without cutting pay. A trial of a four-day work week in Iceland found that employees experienced less stress and burnout and had a greater sense of wellbeing without losing any of that precious productivity. Microsoft employees in Japan were 40% more productive

with a four days on, three days off schedule. Kickstarter is allowing employees to work four-day weeks in 2022 as well, because apparently they have nothing better to do than like, I don't know, help raise awareness for a brilliant line of coats for dogs and cats that no one gave a fuck about. And according to this MSNBC headline,

the movement for a four day work week is even gaining traction in Congress. And by gaining traction, they mean a proposed law that according to the first paragraph of that article has no real prospect of becoming law in the near term. Thank you, way to news, mighty fine newsing. The proposed legislation came from Representative Mark Takano of California in 2021

and would, if passed, which it won't be, create a 32-hour work week for most Americans. Or rather, it would require employers to pay overtime for any employee who works more than 32 hours a week. This bill isn't perfect. It wouldn't apply to gig workers, contractors, or salaried employees exempt from overtime, and hourly workers might just see their hours get cut

so nobody breaks the 32-hour threshold, which would just cut their pay. So it's actually terrible. It's a terrible idea for a law. Still, you could argue that the fact that this is even being discussed by people in power is a major shift from previous generations, despite those people in power being bad at writing good laws. But honestly, don't hold your breath unless that's like your job.

And in that case, you will still be holding your breath for five days a week, congratulations. More realistically, the future workplace for many employees will probably be some form of hybrid office and work from home structure. The jury is still out on how working from home has impacted the US workforce with a constant push and pull between employees wanting more freedom and employers looking for ways to spy on them.

There's even a disconnect here between the companies themselves and the executives who run them. A lot of major companies are giving up office space to save money as their staff work remotely. But at the same time, the executives of those companies want to be in an office. They're three times more likely than rank and file employees

to say they want to work in person. You know, I guess bossing people around on an online workplace communication platform, it's not as fulfilling as berating someone in person, not to mention that if your job depends on looking busy and important as opposed to actually producing tangible results, working from home threatens that. You have to email everyone photos of you looking stressed

and pretending to take phone calls, which just has less oomph to it. On the flip side, there's at least one study showing that in-person workplace interruptions actually improve wellbeing and job satisfaction. It makes us feel like a real person in a valued team, not just another cog in a disposable virtual machine. Not to mention that when your home is also your office,

it's easy to work way more than what you usually would work. This was something we specifically saw happen during the pandemic. Having a place you can clock in and out of can actually help balance your work and your life. Believe me, our writers, producers, editors, title monkeys, and everyone here at the showdy, when we say that can be a huge asset to your mental health.

I haven't slept in two years. So for our scenario, let's say our workers of the future are doing two days in the office and two days at home with plenty of flexibility to do more or less as needed. You'll still get to work in your pajamas a few days a week. And Bryce, the regional manager will still get a chance to tell you in person how his dental surgery went. Also, we should ban slack, just get rid of it.

Everyone hates it. And while we're at it, the government could fund or mandate some things like universal pre-K, expanded childcare, maternity and paternity leave, and a minimum annual vacation time to make it easier for people to not have to work 260 plus days a year.

They could also provide universal healthcare and remove barriers to unemployment benefits to make it easier for people to leave awful working situations. One in six workers in the U.S. say they are only staying in a job they don't like because they can't afford to lose their healthcare. So the government could do some of those things

to make everything else we're talking about much easier. They could, but you know, won't. So what are some, perhaps, more grounded things we can do to make sure that labor is no longer so exploitative? We could do things like regulate corporations that abuse workers, like the new California law that aims to compel Amazon to allow their workers bathroom breaks,

but that seems like a Band-Aid solution, or slapping Flex Seal on a huge tank of urine that keeps sprouting leaks. It solves the specific issue of Amazon having a fetish for making their workers pee their pants, again, not kink shaming, but it doesn't seem like it solves the underlying issue of inequality of labor.

Even when legislation is enacted to help workers, when corporations have enough money and power, they're able to overturn worker-friendly legislation. If you recall, in 2019, California passed a new law to categorize Lyft and Uber drivers as employees instead of independent contractors, which would force Lyft and Uber to give their drivers benefits, protections,

a guaranteed minimum wage, overtime pay, and disability insurance. In response, Lyft and Uber and various delivery apps spent more than $200 million on Prop 22, a 2020 ballot initiative that reversed California's new labor law. Their money went toward propaganda that made it seem like Prop 22 was pro-worker

with fake progressive voter guides that urged voters to vote yes like Prop 22 was pro-worker with fake progressive voter guides that urged voters to vote yes on Prop 22 without revealing the mailers were paid for by Lyft and Uber. They also ran ads saying that without Prop 22, 90% of rideshare jobs would vanish. But if drivers are forced to become employees, up to 90% of app-based driving jobs could disappear.

Without the context that those jobs would disappear because their companies would rather stop service than pay people a living wage. And by golly, it worked. Prop 22 passed, many voters felt deceived, ultimately proving that money can, quite literally, buy elections. This is why what we're seeing now with unions, strikes,

and the great resignation is so important because it's not enough to wait for legislation to pass. We need to demand better treatment ourselves. But is this sustainable? When the labor market changes, will the leverage that workers gained over the past couple of years vanish? Well, there are ways to make worker leverage more permanent.

Pushing for unionization now while workers have more power is a good step as being done by workers at Amazon, Starbucks, McDonald's, REI and more. Another thing to consider is completely different models from the top-down rich CEO underpaid worker system we currently love for some reason. As workers realize their value more and more, the idea of the CEO making over 300 times more

than the median worker may seem kind of silly. In 2020, worker pay increased by only 1.8%, while CEO pay increased by 16%. Overall, CEO compensation has grown by over 1,300% since 1978, while the average worker's compensation has grown by only 18%. This isn't just unfair and grotesque, but actually illogical as well.

A 2016 report found the most underperforming companies actually had the highest paid CEOs. So at a minimum, CEOs are grossly overpaid, and maybe they're not even necessary? As we're seeing now, a company is only as good as its ability to keep employees. As professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, Sadal Neely told Recode,

"'When I talk to leaders of companies, "'they're literally panicking "'because they can't fulfill their services. "'They can't deploy their product. "'They can't meet their growth goals "'because they don't have trained talent.'" Damn, where will we find the money to train the talent? And there is other evidence that the amount CEOs are paid

isn't reflective of their relative talent or worth to the company. According to a report by the Economic Policy Institute, CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay. And because so much of their pay, more than 80% is stock related. Not because they are increasing their productivity or possess specific high demand skills.

So like, why do we need CEOs at all? There's no rule that states that management of a company needs to fall primarily into one person's hands. That might sound unrealistic, except not only is it already a business model, but an extremely stable one at that. After 15 years as a fixture in Baltimore Station North neighborhood, co-owners Joe Edgerson and his mom, Kathy Palikoff, were forced to close their doors.

I've only been here maybe three years, but it definitely feels like a special place. And so it was sad to kind of see it go. And yeah, I definitely did not think it'd be coming back. But they soon found hope. The former workers and owners began exploring worker ownership. And after receiving a number of pandemic-related grants, loans, and support from other worker owners, Joe Squared was able to reopen in December of 2020.

I don't know that we would have gotten the support if we were just trying to come back traditionally. It's a more democratic way to operate. This is the concept behind co-ops. You might have heard of them, but in case you haven't, co-ops are companies where ownership is distributed among workers and decisions are often made collectively. Workers can buy into the co-op with a certain amount

of hours worked and a small investment. The democratic nature of co-ops seems to have helped them weather the pandemic better. In the Bay Area, co-ops were able to make it through the pandemic with minimal layoffs and collectively voted on safety measures for their employees. This trend isn't restricted

to the magical hippie land of the Bay Area either. The Democracy at Work Institute examined over 140 co-ops in the US between April and July of 2020. It turned out most of the co-ops surveyed didn't have to lay off many workers during the pandemic and were able to adapt to new business models rather than resort to layoffs. And since workers often get to vote on how much they earn,

they often make more than the national average. There are some places where workers make around 40 to $50 an hour when including all benefits. Even before the pandemic, the number of cooperatives in the US had been increasing, up over 35% from 2013. The 50 by 50 project is an organization that aims to raise employee ownership of businesses

by 50 million workers by 2050. They reported that co-ops have an average pay ratio from the top to the bottom of two to one versus the typical ratio that we discussed of over 300 to one. But what of the precious profits? Can you have a profitable company without a 300 times normal human paid CEO? Well, in 2018, the worker co-ops verified by the 50 by 50 project employed

over 6,000 workers and were able to make close to $500 million in revenue, which seems good. Even if they're not as profitable as Amazon or Starbucks, do they have to be? If the workers are compensated well and the companies are able to stay afloat and workers are actually invested in the success of the business because they own part of it, isn't that enough? Do we need to be constantly shoveling green paper into the gaping maw of capitalism

or is worker happiness and wellbeing a better measure of success? Of course, as long as monopolies get bigger and bigger, it is hard to imagine a system like co-ops taking off. You know, I generally accept the premise that forward progress is good. Technology and society often improve as time lurches forward,

even if it doesn't seem fast enough. But if you watched our previous episode on the history of work, it really seems like there's some aspects here that aren't getting better as they become more advanced. Technology and tech companies should be making us work fewer hours a week, not more. The internet should be creating smaller

and increasingly niche businesses, not this series of monster corporations taking over their respective industries. Or in the case of Amazon, like 20 different industries. But the one assurance here is that with all their technology and power, they still haven't found a way to replace us, the worker. And if we remain united,

use unions and strikes to our advantage, well then in some ways, every company becomes a co-op. Because without us, they have nothing. At least until they find a way to replace us with robots, which in theory would force the government to create some kind of universal basic income, right? I mean, they certainly wouldn't just let everyone starve and die because a small percentage of rich people

don't wanna pay more taxes, right? Am I right? Somebody please say something. Sure, man. You're right. Anyway, I hope that explains why I'm on strike and why you should go on strike too, Warmbo, who I've been talking to this whole time if you recall. Anything to be close to Mr. Cody and smell Mr. Cody. Okay.

Thanks, I think. That was beautiful, Cody. You're right. I will join your strike after all. Aren't you the CEO? What? No, no, not even close. What about the bathroom stuff and the owls?

Yeah, no, I was ribbing you, obviously. Some fun amongst coworkers. Honestly, I'm surprised you was ribbing you, obviously! Some fun amongst coworkers! Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't filed a complaint about all that. A complaint? With whom?! Who runs the show?! What do you mean? What?! If you're not in charge, then who is sending us paychecks? Huh.

Yeah. Huh. That is... weird, isn't it? It's not normal. Like, you have no idea then. You just know, like, what do we do now? I mean, I'm just reading this off of a script, so. Yeah, me too. I mean, okay.

Cody goes on strike. Wormbo drinks piss. Katie evil. Wormbo's anus. Oh, okay. Cody goes on strike. Warmbo drinks piss. Katie evil. Warmbo's anus. Okay. Cody, Katie, and Warmbo realize they're on a show and Cody starts reading the script. Cody, Katie, and Warmbo realize they're in control of the show and start negotiating with themselves for better terms.

They agree with their own demands. Cody gets a new tie. Katie gets a fridge full of raw eggs. Warmbo gets health care that covers piss poisoning and paternity leave. Nobody asks questions and just accepts it. The credits roll, and as always, everyone collects a small vial of their blood to be mailed to the specified address. So I... I guess we did it, everyone!

And a new tie! Which I guess I wanted. I feel weird. Yeah, I'm a little unsettled by all of this. Oh, that reminds me! Wombo's late picking up Wombo's children from soccer practice. Wombo's shilling is gonna kill Wombo! That made it worse.

Considerably worse, yeah. that made it worse considerably worse yeah what do we do now that we improvise something after the credits yes my can we get a something after the credits. Yes, my... Can we get a location from the viewers? And an occupation? And a...

Location... I think that's it. Location, occupation, the only words I know to say. Location... I'm drawing a blank. Can we get a suggestion of... Animals! Words we should say now.

Favorite pet. That's going to be not helpful. Starfish? Oh, no! Lava! Lava! Oh no! Lava!

Thanks guys, thanks for watching this video. On YouTube. Click like and subscribe. And leave a comment. On YouTube. And we've also got a Patreon.com slash some more news. And a podcast called Even More News. And you can listen to this show as a podcast.

If you don't like the faces coming at you right now. And we've got merch with this adorable little fellow who means well, even if you don't like his voice. And... Other things. Other things. Websites. Websites things. You know the score. Do it.

It's five to one. Should know the score. Do it. It's five to one. Should we do that again? No.