this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
496 points (92.5% liked)
Antiwork
8259 readers
3 users here now
-
We're trying to reduce the numbers of hours a person has to work.
-
We talk about the end of paid work being mandatory for survival.
Partnerships:
- Matrix/Element chatroom
- Discord (channel: #antiwork)
- IRC: #antiwork on IRCNow.org (i.e., connect to ircs://irc.ircnow.org and
/join #antiwork) - Your facebook group link here
- Your x link here
- lemmy.ca/c/antiwork
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The responsibility ultimately lies with UPS, though
The union has a responsibility to protect workers from UPS.
This comment acknowledges that UPS is doing the oppression, yet still somehow blames someone else
Amazing
The Teamsters share the blame for selling out instead of striking for safe working conditions. Deal with it.
I may agree that they share the blame, but their share is significantly smaller.
No, they have a responsibility to fight for protections for workers. They can’t implement it, UPS has too. Put your emphasis on UPS.
A responsibility they failed because they gave up the fight instead of striking.
Again, it’s UPS fault ultimately. It’s absurd to blame the union for not forcing UPS to do something over UPS not doing it in the first place.
The union exists to force the company to do anything in the first place! That's their only job! If UPS murders drivers it's because the union didn't strike and force them to stop.
More drivers will die because they didn't strike and force UPS to make its fleet safe.
You’re blaming the Union for UPS killing drivers.
Take a step back and think about that.
I'm blaming the union for not striking.
Why do they need to strike in the first place? Because of UPS. You're falling into the trap.
What trap? You said it yourself, they need to strike.
And they didn't.
They needed to strike in the first place because UPS was doing something wrong. You're not putting your emphasis on the ultimate party that is in the wrong. You're attacking the middleman which is the only reason the workers have any power at all. Either you're falling for the trap like UPS and other big businesses want you to, or you're anti-union and are arguing in bath faith.
I'm attacking class collaborators for getting a bad deal when they could have fought for a better one.
Don't act like unions have to be above criticism. They need to be critiqued so they can improve.
They aren't above criticism, they are above blame when the Employer is to blame. If you can be confused for Anti-Union, your tactics need to change. This is the exact garbage being pushed to spread apathy to workers forming unions. Teamsters got a lot for UPS drivers.
They share the blame when they collaborate with the employer and act as the company's PR and HR departments.
The anti-union and splitter interpretation of this reality is that this is a reason to not join the union or to form a splitter org (with blackjack and hookers etc), but I think it's the opposite; this is a reason to agitate the union membership to transform it from within and to push the union to abandon class collaboration. It's still a labor organization even if it is captured by corporate and nationalist interests. Unlike idiots who think the Democratic Party can be changed from within, there's historical and materialist foundation for this tactic. The union needs to be taken back, not abandoned.
You can't just ignore the fact that the union leadership pushed for a bad contract. Nor can you ignore the fact that every other interested party, from the corporate media to the literal President of the US, pushed for this contract.
Critical support, not blind support.
I disagree entirely, but youre entitled to your opinion.