this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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Technology
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If only tech workers weren't allergic to unions that'd be great
Well it is starting over in the gaming industry. Hopefully it can snowball.
It's like the entire white collar industry. I think they think it's beneath them, and they think they will be special.
Eh.. having unions sounds good to me.. a white collar worker. I am just not considered part of the labour class by blue collar workers. So it makes me feel isolated. Don't be mistaken, we keyboard thumpers already fight corporate bullshit daily. Th e disdain is from blue collar workers.
Unions can and still lead you to resources and help you unionize. You can't blame blue collar workers.
I didn't blame blue collar workers. I said I was isolated because even though both white collar and blue collar workers sell their labour for a living, somehow we are never accepted as real labour just because the elite among us make $500k a year for instance.
I mean you're still the working class. But a desk job is quite literally not labour. Labour is physical work, specifically lol
I think it's time for you to be introduced to the concept of "cognitive work". We have been doing that for a few thousand years now.
labor
1 of 3
noun
la·bor ˈlā-bər
plural labors
Labour is physical work but working your eyes and brain is also taxing. It's just a different set of muscles/organs. Sitting at the desk all day is also taxing. it's just not evident enough to people who see an AC and think that's comfortable. It's not healthy long term. Leads to all sorts of health issues.
Many of us tech workers joke that we will make our bag of money, retire, and go do farming. But you must understand why we joke like that.
For a lack of physical activity, desk workers suffer numerous health issues due to sitting all day/lack of movement. We are deprived of natural sunlight and wind in our badly lit offices staring at bright screens.
My point is that I said i felt isolated by blue collar workers not considering tech workers as the same class. You just went ahead and proved my point.
this is one of the reasons you don't see class solidarity from tech workers. The blue collar bunch think we are somehow same as the capitalist class.
Edit:
I also think the definition of labourer is not as myopic as you make it out to be. If one sells their time/works for money then they are labourers. Only those who make their money/capital/resources work for them cannot be considered labourer. Even a manager is a labourer. I would exclude CEOs because they invest and are also board members in their buddies' companies. Their employ is just a facade to maintain control and keep the power "within the family" so to speak.
If people stopped repeating this stuff, it would help
Lol, no, it wouldn't.
I organize tech workers. The expectation that they are going to fight an uphill battle inhibits a lot of them and often it's not the scenario they are faced with. Tech workers being skeptical of the possibility of unionizing their workplace is a mind virus that needs to be eradicated for anything to happen. If then they find hostility, there are endless means to win over their colleagues, but if you discourage them before even starting, nothing will ever change.
Lol, no, it wouldn't.