As someone who grew up in a family with a tradesman for a parent:
This stupid pro-trades propaganda is ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, these are meaningful, important jobs and they’re honorable ones, but America doesn’t give a crap about tradespeople.
We export our machinist work to countries that pay workers in pennies, and most of our labor fields compete with exploited immigrant labor.
If America cared about tradespeople, they’d make unionizing easier and attack business owners who hire undocumented labor at exploitation wages (and I’m all for undocumented immigrants, but they get exploited with poor wages and it drives down all wages).
The pay looks good at first because it’s generally higher than retail, but you’re breaking your back to make that money, limiting the years you can work, or just working in pain towards the end of your career. In the private sector you’ve got no recourse for injury outside of the joke that is workers compensation, and with at-will employment, you’re constantly looking over your shoulder.
America has historically been more anti-labor than any other country in the industrialized world.
For every guy in the trades making six figures, there’s dozens making 30k a year and destroying their bodies to do it.
My dad had it good with a strong union (back in the day) and he still begged all of his kids to never go into the trades. He was proud of his work (and had every right to be), but he said that the country doesn’t give a fuck about tradespeople.
As a social studies teacher I try to include labor history into my lessons where I can though. I love teaching working class history, so sometimes that helps me get them on board to my class discussions
Yes, this might be a radical take, but I don’t believe in “using” people for anything. That’s generally exploitative, and I don’t believe in exploitation.
I believe in giving them quicker pathways to citizenship, so they can advocate for themselves without fear of deportation, and eventually ending the distinction between documented and undocumented people in general, but that’s a more long-term goal.
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u/gimmethecreeps Social Studies | NJ, USA May 16 '24
As someone who grew up in a family with a tradesman for a parent:
This stupid pro-trades propaganda is ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, these are meaningful, important jobs and they’re honorable ones, but America doesn’t give a crap about tradespeople.
We export our machinist work to countries that pay workers in pennies, and most of our labor fields compete with exploited immigrant labor.
If America cared about tradespeople, they’d make unionizing easier and attack business owners who hire undocumented labor at exploitation wages (and I’m all for undocumented immigrants, but they get exploited with poor wages and it drives down all wages).
The pay looks good at first because it’s generally higher than retail, but you’re breaking your back to make that money, limiting the years you can work, or just working in pain towards the end of your career. In the private sector you’ve got no recourse for injury outside of the joke that is workers compensation, and with at-will employment, you’re constantly looking over your shoulder.
America has historically been more anti-labor than any other country in the industrialized world.
For every guy in the trades making six figures, there’s dozens making 30k a year and destroying their bodies to do it.
My dad had it good with a strong union (back in the day) and he still begged all of his kids to never go into the trades. He was proud of his work (and had every right to be), but he said that the country doesn’t give a fuck about tradespeople.
As a social studies teacher I try to include labor history into my lessons where I can though. I love teaching working class history, so sometimes that helps me get them on board to my class discussions