I want more people to think though
“If this tool makes me produce double, and I get paid the same, who’s keeping all that new value?”
Insult people to get them to listen to you, good plan.
The bosses are much more likely to shorten the work week while shortening pay even more and then using the “not full time” to reduce any benefits. Be wary.
I’ve seen unions in plants reinstate workers and remove machines because it reduced labor.
Instead of a machine sorting bagels down two different conveyers, there’s now someone standing there all shift with a yard ruler.
I can’t imagine anyone actually wanting a job like that.
Or Henry Ford oddly enough
It’s something of a joke that office workers do maybe 2-3 hours of work a day.
Or, at least, they did. And now offices are playing the “how many people can we lay off before the system collapses” game
Despite having full industrial machines, some workers here in a milk factory work for 24h in a row and rest for 48h, mathematically it’s the same as working 8h a day but who tf does that to their workers? another tomato factory I worked at kicked most of their workers and increased work time to 12h a day, everyday, even weekends, no shitty breaks, only 30min for lunch; bosses really don’t care, whether they have machines or not, they just don’t care for us.
No under individual ownership it won’t.
This isn’t quite right.
A technological improvement in production efficiency does shorten labor time per output.
However, employers don’t respond to this new efficiency with shortened work hours.
They respond with fewer laborers.
Improved technological efficiency, leads to higher unemployment.If anything we’re back sliding in the other direction and I think one of the most troubling things I’ve noticed is that workers don’t see unions as workers fighting together but another organization they can complain to.
30 hour workweek should have been 40 or 50 years ago. 30 would be late. We should be moving down to 20 about now.
This has a name: Jevons Paradox
What amazes me is how many people believe they will get universal basic income from the pedophile tech bro overlords who don’t pay taxes are actively gutting the meager safety net and worker protections we have. The cognitive dissonance is staggering
I mean many of them could, and probably would increase profits if they did. But yeah, most won’t.
Thanks, Industrial Revolution…
