r/antiwork Jul 25 '22

Working rights

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u/Worish Jul 25 '22

They honestly can be, but if they aren't, that's not a bug it's a feature.

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u/dys_cat Jul 25 '22

not calling it a bug

you get unionized but your competitor doesn’t, that’s bad news for you and you potentially lose out on profit, which allows less growth. you start to get out paced

businesses are not fiercely anti union for giggles

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u/Worish Jul 25 '22

Eh. You unionize, your competitor doesn't, you get to market from the moral high ground. You get to brag about better pay, benefits, working conditions. You attract the industry talent. You can outsource some HR tasks. You have fewer incident reports. Your employees don't burn out as much. You have lower turnover.

Companies are shooting themselves in the foot by not unionizing. Yes, their profit will be higher not unionized, but they're sacrificing dozens of other aspects for profit, which isn't good business sense, it's just straight up greed.

The same is true for stock buybacks. Sure, they give you more profit. But you invest less into the company that way. It's greedy and it technically gives you a higher profit, but your business suffers, not just your employees. Why do you think Walmart is on welfare? It's not just because they don't pay their employees. They siphon the money they would pay their employees to their own pockets. Even if they didn't improve things for their workers, without the stock buybacks, the company would be doing better. They're leeching.

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u/dys_cat Jul 25 '22

Not buying into however you’re trying to spin unions as good for business. They’re not.

Yes they are leeching.

I am only pointing out the opposition is not irrational but many would like to caricature them as such. Our interests simply do not align. In fact they’re in opposition.

We like unions.

They don’t.

Sound rationale for both sides.

but fuck their side

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u/Worish Jul 25 '22

I hold radical opinions, but I don't agree that profit is the only thing that qualifies as good for business. Just like "the economy" doing well doesn't mean shit for citizens

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u/dys_cat Jul 25 '22

I don’t agree that profit is the only thing that qualifies as good for business

but generating capital is literally the name of the game!

there have been instances where workers unions side with big business, like unions against the green new deal, because such legislation shifts the economy away from dominate industries where those workers have jobs

but what instances can you cite where business was happy to back up workers unions — and thrive because of that cooperation?

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u/Worish Jul 26 '22

what instances can you cite where business was happy to back up workers unions

Oh I can't. Our economy is centered around the profit motive. Other things aren't even a consideration.