Oh I believe that. VW workers make twice as much in Germany than the workers at Tesla make from Elon Musk in this country, and his cars are tens of thousands more expensive. Why would I buy a Tesla? I am not supporting the workers to make money, I am facilitating their oppression.
I'd bet when the Bay area NUMMI plant was cranking out Chevy-badged Toyotas, the workers were paid better than those shoving teslas out the same doors today.
And those union jobs were only good from shortly after the war till the mid to late 60’s. The corporate attack came fast and furious. Concessions and moves to right to work states decimated aircraft, defense and automotive sectors.
Labor, women’s and civil rights have all stepped backwards.
Resisters, please boycott Amazon, Target, Meta, Tesla, X, Space-X, Starlink.
Participate in any or all Work Stops as you can.
During all Work Stops please assist the elderly, volunteer at shelters, donate to local food banks. Organize local barter systems. RESIST RESIST RESIST!
Blanc 100% right about unionization. Unions raise all boats. Unionization in the US never got more than slightly over 30% of the workforce, but it made the middleclass.
Since reagan, the GOP has gone after unions where now unionization is under 10% of the workforce, much of it govt jobs, hence DOGE.
American democracy as an enterprise takes on two feats that small, relatively homogeneous nations don’t face: Last century we proved democracy can be pursued in a populous nation. This century we must find a way to grow democracy in a culturally, ethnically, religiously diverse country.
Europeans are beta soy boys. So what if they have higher wages, are better educated, and enjoy a higher quality of life? They can't buy a gun and shoot up a school, and won't go bankrupt from medical debt like real men.
People also believe free market capitalism made us an industrial/manufacturing powerhouse when it was really a ton of government intervention and investment. The military research-industrial complex is a real thing.
80% of factory jobs were lost to automation, not foreign competition. They're not coming back. The solution to that is universal basic income, not tariffs.
Its almost as if its not the factory jobs themselves that make workers economic conditions improve, maybe its the collective bargaining, maybe its the societal 1950's style economic supports for the middle and working class. Could that be it? ( like duh)
Re-industrialization is a joke.
UAW had good workers with decent wages and benefits. Those workers bought homes, cars, trips, bought stuff for their kids and family. People making $10/hour and no benefits are seriously disadvantaged.
They can’t afford their house or their car or the stuff anymore
2/ And this is a good idea? Because? The wealthiest who have no moral compass to guide them are quite proud of themselves for giving people work even if that work is underpaid and undervalued and under appreciated. People want to live a life that’s theirs. Where they can dream big and do things!
To the USA, Jane you ignorant slut!
Denmark actually provides free to low cost Healthcare . Free education, university. Denmark provides a retirement. They practice welfare, meaning that you fare well through your taxes. They don't charge you a 1M bucks to eat with you, or sell Tesla, or steal $$
Wouldn't it be nice if the economics of a functioning system not only lead to people being able to afford living expenses but also drive out McDonald's and only serve food with eating
Workers need industry specific and wide associations that can know profits and bargain collectively. They do not need a higher min. wage. Thats how Denmark does it.
An aside: Guys I'm 10000% sure that Donald Trump isn't pining for the Factories because 1950's America factory jobs had strong union contracts and negotiations.
I'm absolutely positive that hes pining for the factories because EVEN HE knows how easy it will be for workers to be squeezed even more.
(And because it will be so much easier to abuse workers here with all the loopholes and clever outs that the legal system affords businesses than it is even abroad)
He wants to go back to the sweat shops and child labor that kill people well before they can collect the little bit of money that they put into Social Security, if their employers even pay into it for them.
Hey if they are paying employees in Denmark's Mickey D's
MORE than a Honda manufacturing plant in Alabama think what a professional would make?
Dumb Fuck long term plans to limit wage growth and Keep American Workers Down
has been the mantra of Big Corporations for TOO long.
and here we are...
I wouldn’t know. And you probably have to balance all that against whatever the cost of living in Denmark is, and I believe their taxes are rather high, though they probably provide more extensive social services than we do here.
well if McD's is paying more in Denmark dollars to donuts a physician, an attorney, an engineer etc probably are paid more as well esp when taking into account that ,as you point out,that nation offers, gifts their citizenry with extensive social services.
bet their fries are better too.
😉
Believe it or not the only people that don’t make more over there are CEOs. The CEO of NovoNordisk makes around $10 million a year which is peanuts compared to the jerks in this country.
I thought this was wrong, but its right. Honda has weirdly low pay. In Huntsville, AL, Toyota pays $23.50/hr at minimum.
Maybe worth pointing out the Honda plant is in the middle of nowhere, while the Toyota plant is in the biggest city in AL.
I recall a NYT piece circa 2015 (?) about a McDonald's mgr in Denmark who made ~$40k, IIRC. Different place and time, but McDonald's mgr may approach that in $15+/hr minimum wage states
They don't make more but they certainly earn more (quality of life, healthcare outcomes, education, infrastructure safety) <- these are things that Alabamans rank low on.
If your basis of this is only wages, then of course they'd want more money.
Right now they get a wage they can barely live on. If they lose their job they most def the bare min. I'd love to know how well unemployment benefits work in AL. Healthcare is definitely not free. Also, is a comfortable retirement a real possibility. I'd venture to say very few would say yes.
I'm not well versed in AL but having grown up in MI I know unions for workers at car manufacturers there (mostly the big 3) is very much the norm. I think for Hyundai (not part of the big 3) the focus has been on th AL plant first though
But maybe you are right Americans would rather work themselves to death rather than pay taxes and have that $ go towards benefits to keep them healthy and alive 🤷🏾♀️ even though this admin is most def not giving these low wage workers a tax break lol
It all depends on how much they take home and what they can afford with that aka their standard of living.
Tax rate as a number is meaningless until you know what is included.
Think of living in Denmark as an all-inclusive resort.
With retirement, Healthcare and education already paid for.
Those fast-food workers in Denmark not only make more, but they also enjoy universal access to other social programs — free health care, free education, subsidized daycare, paid parental leave — that allow them to live a safe and comfortable life in an expensive country.
The ironic insanity of blackmailing the world to bring manufacturing jobs back to U.S., while at
same time Howard Lutnick declares that the future of U.S. manufacturing is in automation & robotics.
ROBOTS MAKE 73k LESS THAN HONDA WORKERS IN ALABAMA, & THEY WORK 365/24/7
Robots, not jobs are coming.
This is why we must plan to strike for UBI fair share laws. Whomever can set up the coming automated industries as a form of publicly owned utilities will save the nation
I rant about this point a lot. They've never missed a chance to automate. Robots don't take sick days or vacations, robots don't have to care for aging parents, robots don't have to take their kids to the doctor, etc.
It’s always been understood that robotics & automation would advance over decades, reducing the price point to where manufacturing would could back automated.
This is such a bullshit fake populist fool the MAGAs jethro-mind-trick lol I just made that up
And I also think a lot of people including a lot of union members forget much of the labor rights fight by unions was spearheaded by lefties/card carrying commies who regularly got harassed by the FBI for trying to build and strengthen institutions.
In light of the difficult war conditions, prices have increased. A bag of flour costs $300. Milk now costs $50We must save its price so that we can feed my little girl. Every donation means life to us. Save the children of Gaza from starvation.😭💔🇵🇸🙏
The minimum wage in this 🇨🇦 province is $17.40/hr and is increasing to $17.85 on June 1st. McDonald's workers may make more as finding staff to work these jobs is challenging. I googled the wage at the Honda plant in Alabama-starting at $14.18/hr. Healthcare, mat leave, EI, paid vacay are a given in🇨🇦
I worked for an American company (based in Alabama), in the UK - they wanted to be ahead of competitors in Europe. Labour costs were still too high so they outsourced to Asia (jobs lost in Alabama as well as Uk) Companies want profits.
This is so timely, because dimwit Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama was just at a Mercedes plant in Alabama. I sent him a screenshot of your post, thank you.
It’s sad to live in a place where union electrical workers are MAGA. When they get the union newsletter, they throw it in the trash without reading it because it is “propaganda.” Truly, these guys prioritize hateful rhetoric over their own self-interest. Mind boggling cult behavior.
It’s not whether you're flipping burgers or assembling cars; it's whether the system respects your labor. Denmark proves it: dignity in work is a political choice, not a product of the industry.
There's a false premise underlaying this, and that is that somehow McDonalds workers are unskilled whereas auto workers are skilled. Both work on assembly lines.
This is true. But we've seen the Starbucks campaign stall out for many reasons, including the shop-by-shop process in the US. That needs to change, but there's a logic to a) prioritizing larger shops (Amazon warehouses, factories), b) drafting off legacy unions that have had success (UAW etc)
That's not a fully persuasive case to me; SEIU has clearly been the best organizer of the past 20-30 years and most UAW growth is at grad schools.
But there's a "go with what worked in the past because there are so man veto points to doing something new" bias in US labor organizing.
The govt can legislate these changes into existence. The point is you don't need to bring factory jobs back to the US to ensure a decent standard of living for working people; you just need a govt that *actually* wants to help workers, i.e., you have to ditch the oligarchs AND the Dem establishment.
The ppl in Alabama are happy with what they make, MAGA have trained them well. It's the voters that always vote for MAGA who keep the hourly wage low, they are assured to abuse the ppl.
The federal minimum hourly wage is just $7.25 and has not increased since 2009. The Raise the Wage Act of 2023, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on July 25, 2023, would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2028. The MAGATs voted it down!
A related point: it's easy to hoodwink and radicalize people who are perpetually poor and desperate--like rural Kentuckians, whose churches have been parasitized by the white nationalist movement to elect and reelect people like Mitch McConnell and Trump 😔 https://bsky.app/profile/criquetgen.bsky.social/post/3llos4s3xrk2u
In the Danish case, it comes from strong unions. Denmark doesn't have a legal minimum wage, but along with the other scandinavian countries, there are such strong industry wide collective bargaining agreements that it's impossible to get away with underpaying
The way you square that circle is via Kaldor's rules. High-productivity growth industries tend to have lots of value added, aka manufacturing, which creates the conditions that make having high wages in less productive sectors possible.
i'm confused how the accounting works. in denmark, an employer pays you, then you pay tax and get health care, etc. the US, the employer may pay a lot toward a health insurance premium. if they instead paid *you* that money but said you had to spend it on premiums, then wouldn't your pay rise?
not arguing with that. but i don't know how they compare wages across countries that use employer- vs employee side deductions. in denmark it looks like the employee pays the taxes themselves vs e.g. france.
1: economists say (correctly imo) employer benefits (health, FICA) are part of the wage in the US
2: if employers did not provide benefits, workers with bargaining power would demand higher wages
3: we have “benefits” rather than a welfare state for historic reasons: 1/3 @buddyyakov.bsky.social
…weaker unions (Jen Klein), race (Marie gottschalk), WW2 (Jacob Hacker)
4: wage compression & tax funding in DK have political sources and consequences
4a: compression helps with solidarity - same wage, same benefits (feygin) = same consumption possibilities
4b: i paid taxes for these benefits!… 2/3
Make no mistake: #Trumplardo's tariffs have nothing to do with manufacturing returning. It's about countries paying him off directly to get rid of the tariffs. He thinks the US is a thing he 'owns' & can use to make money. Mfg is never coming back but #trumplardo could give 2 shits about that.
I used to think socialism and capitalism were on opposite sides. They're not at all. It is socialism and oligarchy that are on opposite sides. The marriage of capitalism and socialism works incredibly well in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.
If wages kept pace with productivity based on the 1968 Consumer Price Index, minimum wage would be higher than $24 per hour today. That’s the disconnect the rubes have bought into about a federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and entry level jobs. The push for $15 sounds good, still inadequate.
We all know that Scandinavia is and always has been expensive for visitors. Their wages reflect that and always have. They you look at their taxes, their population, everything in the round. You cannot compare those 2 jobs in 2 different countries as though everything else is the same.
Almost. Danes have nearly as much disposable income per year as Americans after taxes. Remember the Danes don't pay out of pocket for their healthcare, it's covered with their taxes.
They have public healthcare, senior care, and college, all with taxes.
I was in Italy recently. Same thing in Rome. I was expecting to have to pay a lot at restaurants, but things cost roughly the same, sometimes less, but waitstaff make a decent living without tips.
Where are you getting this information? Wait staff on the west coast can be bringing in $40/hr with tips. In Rome they don't get these tips in the first place
That's what I was saying. Tips aren't expected in Italy, though a small tip isn't uncommon. I'm used to tipping 25%, so leaving a couple Euros felt strange.
it's both getting paid "a decent wage" and having housing options that don't destroy you. tokyo and jp do a lot of construction to keep that money cycle going.
yeah basically this cartoon lol. In practice unions are also a good way to reign in landlord renting, in how their power shapes the rest of the political system.
Japanese wages are very low and those staff are not treated well, they likely live with family or in suburbs even considering the low housing costs. Other companies will give you housing stipends or corporate dorms though
"Re-industrialized" means the GOP's plans for America is a 'Company Store' ..
You make them $10.00
They pay you two and keep eight
Then through rent food and health to keep making them that $10.00, they get the other two back from you. And everything's fine, until the day you can't.
This also shows why Denmark is a happier place than the US. They pay much higher taxes than we do, but they have a social safety net that protects their schooling, working, and retirement days.
And way more than the “millions and millions of people” who will be screwing in “tiny little screws” into iPhones as per Secretary of Commerce Lutnick.
the EXACT SAME PEOPLE saying that we should want to turn good paying, formerly secure academic & government jobs into manufacturing labor are the ones who block minimum wage increases & oppose unionization
I regret to inform you that David Brooks long ago wrote a column about how young high school educated men should view "putting together a hamburger" as "manufacturing".
Which is why it is so dispiriting that Shawn Fain would rather trust tariffs to protect the American worker than, you know, the power of unionised labour
Shhh. You're giving away the truth when they depend on the lie of dignity from work to support trickle down economics. Who will worship the Job Creator if everyone is in a union?
And as a counter to the inevitable "yeah, and prices are higher in Denmark" argument, I'll just say that I was in Denmark in 2023. Prices were equal to or lower than what I pay in my own town for the same things. And that's AFTER the 25% VAT is included.
This is a crucial point! To FOTUS, a manufacturing job is a sine qua non in his daft mind. This fantasy doesn’t account for the lack of Unionization most everywhere in the USA.
Capitalism in our modern era has become, "I take as much as I want while I make sure everyone gets as little as possible by any means necessary."
FDR saw that as it was before. He tried and succeeded in some parts to afford some means of gains for the masses of "everyone."
We have fallen back.
and then at the same time, the cost of living is gargantuan for americans, rent/debts/car/etc is 50-70% of income. Someone with a relatively comfortable income can live in near destitution because of this
And also at the same time, Americans pay less than 1/8th what Scandinavians pay for gasoline for cars and only 66% as much for housing. So Danes need to make more money at McDonalds than their U.S. counterparts.
Hence Scandinavians and most Europeans driving more fuel efficient cars for less distances, and numerous public transit options. Comes out pretty even. And you can rent a good apartment in Copenhagen for $1200, which is impossible in most American cities.
Don’t forget: while Americans have lower wages at McDonalds, to offset it, they have to pay exorbitantly for college and healthcare, and risk bankruptcy for both. But Europeans, who might be paid more at McDs and have lots of vacation, are forced to get excellent education and healthcare for free.
Manufacturing jobs alone don’t produce the middle class if you can’t buy a middle class life with your salary. Wages have not kept up with inflation. That is the real problem that people are having but they’ll blame it on everything and everyone else.
Yes though to steelman the (left) counterargument, those institutions were built under conditions where the industrial proletariat was a key and growing class with the power to paralyse the national economy. They've persisted in Scandinavia to a large extent but been rolled back in many other places
Correct. The jobs Trump wants, especially when we're discussing him imagining we'll get jobs in textiles and manufacturing that has a low-skill floor to entry, they are not going to be great jobs. My brother is in manufacturing. He has no Union. The pay is worse than McDonalds workers in Denmark too
ALSO, check out Denmark's electoral system. Denmark hasn't handed ONE party 100% of the power since 1902!
Cooperation in parliament!
Universal health care, free education, generous vacation time, childcare, living wages.... AND always in one of the top spots for "happiness".
If you change the rhetoric to "they get way more for their taxes" it's much more relevant for the discussion.
The biggest treasure in the Nordic countries is the level of social/societal trust we have. We know our taxes are high, but we also know how much all may benefit on multiple counts...
More pertinent question: can America’s ~$7 minimum wage compete with China’s? Maybe Trump will ask new US manufacturing workers to take the restaurant server minimum wage and work for (still taxed!) tips somehow?
When I was a new RN I was told I’d be fired for wanting to unionize and my friend who was a union organizer gave me healthcare pamphlets to take to the hospital. Some hospitals are progressive and unionized….
I will say this, a job where you tangibly produce a physical good is rewarding in ways that service jobs just aren’t. I do not consider making or preparing food to be making something similar to building a car, or even something simpler like thumb screws.
There is a Marxist, "alienation from the product of one's labor" that comes with specialization and does not map neatly onto manufacturing or service sector jobs or male/female-coded jobs.
It's a real feeling. Can sometimes be addressed with hands-on hobbies: gardening/cooking/woodwork, etc.
I feel great seeing the smiles of gratitude on the people I help directly, or hearing that my back office work is well received. Does a line worker feel the same way after their spot-weld on their 12th auto body frame that shift? Maybe they do, but that doesn't make my job less rewarding.
Every job has its monotony and has thankless tasks, but I’m just referring to seeing a literal object in front of you that you completed or made. That might seem trivial but it’s a tangible thing for many people. We all like hearing praise and gratitude too 🙂
Disagree. There is genuine satisfaction, reward in giving someone a great experience in a restaurant. Hard to do at McDonald’s, true, but McDonald’s is less likely to leave you crippled than working in a manufacturing implant.
I can believe that at smaller restaurants or high end places there could be a similar sense of satisfaction for some people. But that’s not really an apples to apples comparison imo. MFG is very safe for the most part nowadays, assuming Trump admin doesn’t destroy OSHA.
It may be germane that the two jobs that still have strong unions in this country, teaching and nursing, are female-dominated. There's been a generations-long push to stop white men, in particular, from believing in cooperation and solidarity, and it's hurting them bad.
And new(?) imagined class lines where,
Manly: blue-collar
Feminine: white-collar
Mean that the factory owner is blue-collar deserving of state considerations, but the barista is an elite and shouldn’t.
not that this is under-discussed, but it has been true for at least the last 30 years that in truly depressed areas it is women who work, fast food, mall storefronts, cashiering, and the men who sit at home. Too angry to even bother with housework.
It is truly pathetic, and the employment growth in many of these areas has come from immigrants even though there's no shortage of able bodied labor. These dudes want to make *bank* for doing not super valuable work, because their previous factory jobs paid based on expectations from the '50s.
Yes. These are the straight, white men who got off their couches to vote for Trump, then went back to their safe spaces to watch Fox News and continue playing victim while their girlfriends worked double shifts at Pizza Hut to pay the bills and buy his smokes.
Who can work when ya gotta watch watch Fox news all day to find out who to be angry at about why a high-school dropout can't be rich like Trump & Elon too?
Denmark has higher taxes and higher cost of living. Alabama has lower taxes and cost of living, plus Honda workers receive far more benefits. See the whole board.
I worry about how the US middle class would react to service workers getting bargaining power, with how they reacted to Bidenflation. While the median American is wealthier than the median European, poor Americans are worse off than their European peers and the median American benefits from that.
Taxes in Denmark are much higher and pay for free healthcare, free education for all. The cost of living is much higher in Denmark. One cannot relate Alabama Honda with Denmark McDonalds.
There’s also a very big reason why the auto manufacturers relocated to Right to Work for less states. These people think all plant and manufacturing jobs are High Paying Union jobs and that’s not exactly true.
And they are sooo close to getting it when they bitch, predictably, about "overpaid" union employees.
Like, yeah, I get paid more than you because my union fought to ensure I get paid enough to have a chance at a decent life outside of work. You could have that, too, ya fuckwits.
In the pre-1913 era Trump pines for, factory work was a 12-hour day, 6 days a week. Several family members had to work for a household to survival; child laborers were "old enough" when they were "big enough." There was no safety net if you were injured or laid off.
Unions arose for a reason, folks!
For that matter, McDonald's workers in Denmark are unionized (3F) and Honda workers in Alabama are not (Japanese automakers put the plants in the states they do because they're chasing "right to work" laws)
The Republicans had the Japanese auto makers build in the south because they had right to work governors who would not allow a union,that’s true, but the Japanese auto makers were willing to pay union dues. The whole project was to destroy unionism for the American auto maker.
It’s interesting. I used to work not far from the Mercedes plant in Alabama,it’s viewed locally as a very good job. There have been multiple attempts to unionize and my understanding is the workers always vote it down. I suspect the company scares them with the specter of closing.
Right to work also means that you can be fired at any time without warning for arbitrary reasons. It’s like working in a pressure cooker because your livelihood is always under a state of threat. Fear is a powerful motivator.
It's a credible threat. This is why it's not enough to focus on improving our local areas areas, we need solidarity / to raise standards everywhere. Otherwise everything becomes a race to the bottom.
You’re still antiquated. Robots cost 1/30th to operate vs. a whiny, smoke break needing, lunch needing, liability insurance costing WHITE PATRIOTS! Same reasons you moved it all to out of sight out of mind, more profitable China!
The idea that good jobs can only be found in the mines, factories, and fields is so goddamn stupid and farcical. The cult of Trumpism is slowly unwinding into its constituent threads of various chauvinism and prejudice. Like this particularly stupid one.
Boeing airplanes didn't fall apart in the air til they started working on them in "Right to Work" States, like South Carolina and Arizona...they just didn't.
I quit a company because they were transitioning us from a "mil.spec" shop to a Boeing Repair Station, which was total crap work.
Also: McDonald's in Denmark ain't cheap. That's a choice.
Sadly I think a lot of people's takeaways from the last few years was that an underclass of desperate wage laborers is essential to the American way of life.
Washington State fast food workers make at least double what Alabama workers make, our fast food prices aren't significantly higher (if at all!). I think people need to travel more, you don't even need to leave the US to prove stuff like that wrong
That's just not true. McDonald's is one of the cheapest fast food chains available there. Any other slightly higher quality food is more expensive. Price-wise is similar to low quality kebab places with questionable meat selection. It's not a choice, it's just cheap.
Okay, thanks for the correction. When I lived in Copenhagen in 2016 I was shocked how expensive it was to eat or drink out compared to my experience in Seattle, and I've always assumed that was associated with a more egalitarian income structure, for better or worse.
This book, Helen Russell’s The Year of Living Danishly, is a UK expat's view of life in Denmark. There's so much we could emulate from the Danes (even their National Service - which UK far right see as a means of control, has a community service option available). https://www.amazon.co.uk/Year-Living-Danishly-Uncovering-Happiest/dp/1785780239
I picked it, figuring it would be the most expensive. If their rental prices appear lower than many US major cities then it will show Denmark's cost of living is lower and the wages higher.
Many GOP usual squawk, "but their costs are probably higher". I wanted to preemptively debunk that idea.
Well, we have living wages. Some things may be more expensive, but most of us can earn a living from one job. If you’re frugal, don’t have debt, you’re going to be fine on minimum wages or pension. Hard to compare bc of different institutions and rules. And we don’t have to worry about healthcare…
Are there actually apartments available at those prices? Or is it like rent-controlled cities in the US, where you basically have to win a lottery drawing to get in?
My search shows only privately owned residential rental apartments built up to and including 1991 can be rent controlled. Any built after 1991 are not rent controlled.
I live in Seattle with no rent control. The apartment prices are FAR higher than what my search in Copenhagen found.
Rent control is always a trade off -- it helps existing residents stay in place but reduces supply, making it harder for new ones to move in. I was just trying to figure out if that's what was going on here.
My search results show 19% of apartments in Copenhagen are rent controlled.
Keep in mind I chose Copenhagen, because it is the most expensive city in Denmark. Other cities will have lower apartment rent, but McDonald employees are paid the same wage all over Denmark.
But the institutions of unions is easier to create in places where large numbers of workers are concentrated, such as auto plants. And that will remain the case without a far more worker-friendly labor law regime.
the masculine mystique of working in a factory how it just automatically made everyone happier is just a short period in the mid-late 20th century where factory workers were unionized, could get a job out of high school and support a family of 5. We could do that for any industry at any time.
The reason factory workers got paid so well was working in a factory was historically so miserable and dangerous that workers had no choice but to unionize for safer conditions and wages. Need to find an industry that sucks so much and is in high demand, that'll be the factory of the 21st century.
Comments
Labor, women’s and civil rights have all stepped backwards.
Republicans are daft.
Participate in any or all Work Stops as you can.
During all Work Stops please assist the elderly, volunteer at shelters, donate to local food banks. Organize local barter systems. RESIST RESIST RESIST!
You cannot make something by adding nothing to nothing.
Other then french fries.
But its TRUE, that you used to be able to make ends meet,
just from an average job. Driving a forklift.
ITS THE OVER HEAD, for welfare states and wars for england,
that is leaving everybody homeless on the streets.
Since reagan, the GOP has gone after unions where now unionization is under 10% of the workforce, much of it govt jobs, hence DOGE.
It is unions not any specific manufacturing that made the middle class. Unionize Walmart and shitcan the tariff BS
https://fortune.com/2024/12/12/walmarts-walton-family-worlds-richest/
*spit*
UAW had good workers with decent wages and benefits. Those workers bought homes, cars, trips, bought stuff for their kids and family. People making $10/hour and no benefits are seriously disadvantaged.
They can’t afford their house or their car or the stuff anymore
Denmark actually provides free to low cost Healthcare . Free education, university. Denmark provides a retirement. They practice welfare, meaning that you fare well through your taxes. They don't charge you a 1M bucks to eat with you, or sell Tesla, or steal $$
I'm absolutely positive that hes pining for the factories because EVEN HE knows how easy it will be for workers to be squeezed even more.
"Something is rotten in America."
I'm moving to Denmark!
MORE than a Honda manufacturing plant in Alabama think what a professional would make?
Dumb Fuck long term plans to limit wage growth and Keep American Workers Down
has been the mantra of Big Corporations for TOO long.
and here we are...
bet their fries are better too.
😉
Maybe worth pointing out the Honda plant is in the middle of nowhere, while the Toyota plant is in the biggest city in AL.
If you tell them that Denmark's taxes give them healthcare, dental, vision, maternity/paternity leave, sick pay, vacation, etc you'd be more honest.
If your basis of this is only wages, then of course they'd want more money.
https://thehill.com/business/4440930-hyundai-workers-alabama-uaw/
Tax rate as a number is meaningless until you know what is included.
Think of living in Denmark as an all-inclusive resort.
With retirement, Healthcare and education already paid for.
same time Howard Lutnick declares that the future of U.S. manufacturing is in automation & robotics.
ROBOTS MAKE 73k LESS THAN HONDA WORKERS IN ALABAMA, & THEY WORK 365/24/7
Robots, not jobs are coming.
This is such a bullshit fake populist fool the MAGAs jethro-mind-trick lol I just made that up
First step, no matter what, has to be restoring power to the workforce.
But there's a "go with what worked in the past because there are so man veto points to doing something new" bias in US labor organizing.
Prioritizing larger shops in 2025 means hospitals and universities, the focus on manufacturing is a dead end.
2: if employers did not provide benefits, workers with bargaining power would demand higher wages
3: we have “benefits” rather than a welfare state for historic reasons: 1/3 @buddyyakov.bsky.social
4: wage compression & tax funding in DK have political sources and consequences
4a: compression helps with solidarity - same wage, same benefits (feygin) = same consumption possibilities
4b: i paid taxes for these benefits!… 2/3
Today on TAP: Fearing workers’ professionalism and workers’ rights, Republicans are going after both.
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-02-18-anti-worker-party-working-class-base/
if not, this isn’t going to to be the great return to manufacturing they are trying to sell to their base….
They have public healthcare, senior care, and college, all with taxes.
it's both getting paid "a decent wage" and having housing options that don't destroy you. tokyo and jp do a lot of construction to keep that money cycle going.
You make them $10.00
They pay you two and keep eight
Then through rent food and health to keep making them that $10.00, they get the other two back from you. And everything's fine, until the day you can't.
How will they manage to feed their children if we ask for money?
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/13/defense-stocks-drop-after-trump-says-defense-spending-could-be-halved.html
https://youtu.be/0xoK9k4sF5U
Some Honda Employees make as much as 40$ an hour.
Alabama is also a lower living cost state.
the cost of living in Denmark is higher
im just saying this are things to consider when putting out this kind of info.
He's posturing for the sake of "good" jobs, but that's all it is.
We need to establish a global minimum wage.
Those people who earn $22/hr are not competing for the bottom.
Oh yeah, a Big Mac in Denmark and in the US cost almost exactly the same.
FDR saw that as it was before. He tried and succeeded in some parts to afford some means of gains for the masses of "everyone."
We have fallen back.
On the right, I reckon they are perfectly happy to bring back sweat shops and child labour to strengthen (as they see it) the US vs China
>Uses one of the most anti-union fields in the US as his example
Make it make sense bro
My guy is missing a point there
My impression is that Denmark is a bit (?) more humane with workers? Just a thought 🤣
Cooperation in parliament!
Universal health care, free education, generous vacation time, childcare, living wages.... AND always in one of the top spots for "happiness".
Sure, and less in healthcare, education, transportation, housing, and food.
The biggest treasure in the Nordic countries is the level of social/societal trust we have. We know our taxes are high, but we also know how much all may benefit on multiple counts...
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ddcdpvayapxexb26u6z3zlac/post/3lmcjgloma22p
Service jobs: lady stuff
It's a real feeling. Can sometimes be addressed with hands-on hobbies: gardening/cooking/woodwork, etc.
Manly: blue-collar
Feminine: white-collar
Mean that the factory owner is blue-collar deserving of state considerations, but the barista is an elite and shouldn’t.
So frustrating.
Service jobs: individualist
Our generic drugs are made in India, where an average middle income annual salary is about $2500.
You simply cannot just “policy” you way around this important reality.
https://onlyfans.com/kristyskinnyvip/trial/r6gfvis2lmgn4wcyyqr4wfcepgv8rsez
Like, yeah, I get paid more than you because my union fought to ensure I get paid enough to have a chance at a decent life outside of work. You could have that, too, ya fuckwits.
#unions
Unions arose for a reason, folks!
(The latter is what we do in the Nordic countries)
Dying in a mine explosion for MAGA. Oh ok. ✔️
I quit a company because they were transitioning us from a "mil.spec" shop to a Boeing Repair Station, which was total crap work.
Tax & unions needed to share the wealth - but a sector with increasing returns to scale (one that can have increasing marginal profit, & sell globally) needed too.
Fuck Citizens United and every politician who works for the benefit of corporations not The People.
Sadly I think a lot of people's takeaways from the last few years was that an underclass of desperate wage laborers is essential to the American way of life.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/big-mac-index-by-country
As someone that lives in Finland, fast food isn't much more expensive than it is in the states.
You're simply wrong.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Year-Living-Danishly-Uncovering-Happiest/dp/1785780239
In US $:
Rooms in shared flats $565
Studios $1200
2-3 room Apartments $1900
Large Apartments (ideal for flat sharing) $2350
So, the cost of living isn't worse than our largest cities.
Many GOP usual squawk, "but their costs are probably higher". I wanted to preemptively debunk that idea.
I live in Seattle with no rent control. The apartment prices are FAR higher than what my search in Copenhagen found.
Keep in mind I chose Copenhagen, because it is the most expensive city in Denmark. Other cities will have lower apartment rent, but McDonald employees are paid the same wage all over Denmark.
For all the US "greatest country in the world" stuff, Americans have never figured out that that greatest part doesn't reach them.
Now that we're losing freedoms...