11/3/21

General strike or Great Resignation: the movement to hobble capitalism underway

Our Lady of the Arroyo and an interested party have been binge watching Squid Game: a dystopian look at capitalism's grip on the global workforce. 

The rise of companies like Amazon suggests many people are simply too afraid to go into town to shop so last year this blog called for a general strike to sink the Trump Organization. Now, the movement has morphed into what Anthony Klotz, an organizational psychologist at Texas A&M University, is calling The Great Resignation

It's not about laziness, it's about equity or Maria shrugged, if you will. Just because we're Democrats doesn't make us subjects, it makes us powerful: a reverse "Who is John Galt?" Some believe it could last well into 2023.
Traditionally, a slowdown is a strike tactic in which workers remain on the job but slow productivity with the aim of negotiating for a particular objective, such as higher wages. In this sense, a slowdown is a highly localized and temporary effort. In the spirit of slow-up, we could ask: What would it mean, instead, if diversity, equity, and inclusion practices were worker-led and intended to explore labor practices that can grapple with rest as a necessary part of reparations and closing the sleep gap? What if inclusion examined the relationships that emerge from labor organizing? As with any labor movement, the Great Resignation is a waiting game. [Erika Rodriguez, The Great Resignation has employers sweating. It’s time to escalate the pressure]
Learn more at NPR.

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