cross-posted from: https://quokk.au/c/mop/p/931202/wage-theft
this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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Civilized countries have a social net. Or at least SHOULD have. Also you could sue WHILE still working there. If they owe you money, they owe you money.
You can sue while working there, and then they magically find some other reason to let you go.
I’m in Canada. They fired me for “restructuring” but it was really because the fragile people in charge couldn’t handle my absurdly gentle requests for improving our standards or asking for slightly more money. They got really mad when I told a senior engineer that I can’t continue working on his project until he updates his paper building code from the 2012 version to the ammended 2023 version. I sent them to the professional engineers association for that one, after I had left, and they got officially chewed out for it, but that didn’t help me keep my job.
The world is not the ideal “should” that it needs to be. I scream and yell for it and I will never say we should just take it, or that it needs to be that way forever, but at this exact moment it’s still what it is. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight right now, before it gets even worse, either, but it’s still not an easy thing.
Kudos to you to for not submitting to inferior building codes. But Canada does not have a social net? You get fired and end up without any income? That is so very US-american :(
the world surely is no ideal "should". But it should. It's so fucking simple. I always treated employees as equals. Sure, I had a slight bit more income, but it was also my risk alone, so that's just fair. But everyone got their salary directly tied to the profits. Only up of course, not below the agreed upon basis. Also everyone could come and go as they please, as long as the agreed upon work was somehow done. Local or at home, whatever. Who cares. Everyone, janitors included (although their from-home was a bit...hard to do lol). I had much less income, but everyone was a) happy b) actually motivated to do good work. Because everyone profited from it.
How could people enjoy their life with maximum profits, knowing every other employee's life suck? The world is so stupid.
There’s employment insurance, but it’s only 55% of your most recent salary and only up to a certain number, as well as the amount of time it lasts is related to the level of unemployment up to a maximum of around 6 months, I believe. But getting a job is hard as hell right now, especially with how all these companies are behaving.
It’s not a net, it’s a parachute with some holes in it. Not there to catch you, just there to slow the eventual crash.
I’m glad to hear you aren’t a piece of shit, though. Each business owner who acts right is a real-world example of what we could have.
It's so easy actually. But it mostly fails at people insatiable greed. I never really got it. Is enough not enough? Sure it can't hurt to have more than one needs, but to elevate your living standards by X for every X you earn more is....silly.
Thanks. IMHO that's the best buisiness-model. At least for privately owned companies. Sucks for publicly listed. They only exist to blow shareholder-dicks and would prefer machines or slaves over people.
And OK, your parachute instead of a net...fitting, yet a tad cynical. Here it's close to yours. 1 year at 60% (I think...) And bare minimum after that. Devastating if you lived large. But still better than nothing. Though it should be more fair and tied to income. 100% for lower incomes and 5% for higher or such.
But unless one had very little or lived exactly as large as one could, it's still a lot of time to comfortably get another job. I hope. Never actually had to search for one.