Major US corporations threaten to return labor to ‘law of the jungle’
Major US corporations threaten to return labor to ‘law of the jungle’
Trader Joe’s and SpaceX are among businesses challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board
If you want to see a resurgent left in America, please strike down the NLRB. Take away the one avenue of redress that labor still has.
It won’t happen that day. It won’t happen that year. But that decision will lead to blood on the streets.
As MLK taught, riots are the inevitable result of voices going unheard.
124I think it might happen quicker and I hope it does. Modern communications allow for the whole country to hear what Shawn Fain's shirt sais shortly after he steps outside. And the police has grown out of the custom to shoot striking or protesting workers.
44Accelerationism is not the answer. It's just a stupid and defeatist way of thinking
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"The law of the jungle".
So they must mean the one where we work cooperatively together to survive, since banding together has been the thing that kept us alive the most?
Or do they mean the "law" where we band together and purposefully exterminate entities like them which threaten our survival?
89They mean the "law" where they're the predators and we are the prey.
33I think they meant the one where they sic'd the police on us if we got out of line.
12Oh, literal class war. We’ll bring our guns.
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You mean the time where militant unions literally picked up arms to guarantee their rights? Sure let's see where this thought goes
83I don't think it would end well for workers, but I could be wrong. The powers against Unions have such a long stretch of influence
-25That's more via media manipulation and propagandizing than a statement about the power of an armed Proletariat.
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I highly doubt that the rich would enjoy the law of the jungle.
51When the law of the jungle allows them to sit in their well-stocked bunkers guarded by an armed security force and possibly even drones, they can enjoy it for a significant amount of time.
6Good, let them never come back out lol.
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I don't see how this will end well for the corpos, should they succeed. It would allow them to further repress worker organization and wages, making a buck in the short term, but workers can organize, strike and shutdown businesses without the NLRB. Making life more painful for them would encourage them to act more not less. Sure it would be tougher but the extra hurt might just make them. For many this isn't a case where there's meat left on the bone to cut. Also modern communication might make these efforts easier than they used to be in the last century.
43That’s the thing, though. Corporations are all about the short game. They don’t give two shits if a cost-saving measure now will end up costing them triple that next year. They don’t care if breaking environmental laws, disposal laws, safety laws, or even labour laws will give them fines in the billions later, so long as they can save millions now.
The corporation as a concept desperately needs to be overhauled if it’s going to survive at all. Problem is: it has massive momentum being as it is, and the entire business environment around the world is extremely hostile to that sort of change. So, effectively, the corpos are gonna push and push and push until something snaps. They just can’t conceive of another way to be.
When something does snap, people are going to die, by violence or negligence or nature saying NO. Then, maybe, we’ll be able to change things.
43I agree and don't doubt the corpos gonna corp. I'm only unsure whether the courts are going to go along with them.
It's not even necessarily gonna cost them triple down the road, assuming no total economic collapse, which isn't impossible. The major shareholders offload their shares in the corpos they've brought to the brink before the losses hit and move on to the next one. The smaller fish and the corpo's workers are typically left holding the bag. To be honest I don't think the American publicity traded LLC will survive without strong unions. It either needs strong unions to counterbalance the major shareholders self-destructive profit maximizing, or things will start breaking as you said and the LLC as we know it would be eliminated.
I think the breaking point is pretty close for some and already here for many at the lower end of the wage scale. I think the last stat on people living paycheck to paycheck was over 50%.
13I remember a wonderful quote about that, something along the lines of:
The world was done and ended, but for a brief shining moment, value was created for the shareholders
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I've reached such a state of pessimism politically that, reading this article, I came away with the assumption that declaring the NLRB "unconstitutional" is basically a fait accompli at this point, and there's very little anyone can do about it.
My schematic for interpreting the news has become, "Imagine the worst case scenario. Make the impact 10% less severe. Put the stupidest person you've ever met in charge of the solution."
30Labor can't win under these conditions. On the one hand Republicans are chipping away at worker rights and establishment Democrats cut off opportunities for us to fight back legally.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-calls-on-congress-to-block-potential-railroad-strike
The cognitive dissonance people seem to have about how much damage the Republicans are doing while defending Democrats who prevent us from fighting back when we can is crazy. This is a class war. If we're not willing to take any risks we lose.
14Declaring the NLRB unconstitutional works both ways.
Corporations have stacked the deck when it comes to the current rules and regulations surrounding Unions. Disbanding the NLRB gives corporations even more power, but Unions will also be unchained. The government is going to have a lot less say in how strikes are executed and how unions are formed. States that outlaw or attempt to clamp down on labor are going to see much more unionized political activism than they see now.
2Democrats claim to be the champions of freedom and free speech, etc etc - and totally nowhere close to a fascist - yet I've been banned from three communities now for pointing out the labor issues of dems and the whole "sidestepping congress to back genocide" thing.
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Everyone get your wooden shoes ready.
11Excellent! I -- I mean, too bad.
2
Don't worry, you can still beat the shit out of some corpo fuck. - a teamster in good standing.
10You're in the jungle baby. You're gonna die!
9Just like the good ol days right? Where exploited workers would straight up beat their boss to death if they were abused.
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"Calling us out for breaking the law is unconstitutional"
5I’ve read this before.
4Work for yourself.
In any way you can, avoid contributing to the system.
2I've thought about it. It's a lot harder to pull off when rent is $1500 a month.
3
The US needs a revision of the entire constitution. But, it will not happen soon if it happens at all as they created a cult around it.
1It's as if it needs amending, with some sort of amendment.
12That's sure what Republicans want.
9How about, if a corp pays all its taxes on time, uses no loophole or tax break, shows a healthy profit ... they can move the reporting cycle to two years. This would mean that we'd have to face fewer short term plans.
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Are Journalists fucking illiterate or do they just not know history?
The quote should read 'law of The Jungle.' Whoever sourced this quote has never fucking heard of Upton Sinclair, The Jungle or how the book was one of the major impetuses that pushed major change.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
In other words we're absolutely flat out fucked.
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