The Worker Thread

[Vrede too]

60 Minutes segment on Greenville and the worker shortage

People like to spout off Adam Smith's Wealth Of Nations in regards to our economy without having actually read it. If they had read it, they'd understand the power dynamic between the employee/employer goes both ways and its equally as important that the employee have power in the relationship as well. Sometimes that power dynamic shifts, and it's currently shifted in favor of the employee.

Also - some of the commentators mentioned the data doesn't support gov benefits keeping people from working. I think SC cut the extra covid benefits anyway.

1/7 jobs are now remote. Prior to the pandemic, 1/64 were. People appear to be moving towards remote opportunities.

A local business owner even stated most of his former employees are currently employed. Not sitting at home collecting benefits as most would like us to think.

The onus is now on employers to adapt.

I think the fact that Texas Roadhouse employees are forced to wear this to work is very dystopian.

Home of the Whipper

[billy.pilgrim]

The Whataburger near me had a help wanted sign up for at least a year. Two months ago, they changed it to say, Starting pay $13.00/hour.
They have been fully staffed for a full month now.

[Whack9]

I had a discussion with a friend about the worker shortage. She's having difficulty hiring people, and is having to pay them a chunk more. She is perturbed that she had to bust ass going to school etc to make good money, now people performing jobs that don't require much of any education or skills are getting paid much more than they used to.

This zero-sum mindset is part of the problem, and I'd wager many people have this same mindset. That success is defined by how many people you are "above".

[O Really]

I had a discussion with a friend about the worker shortage. She's having difficulty hiring people, and is having to pay them a chunk more. She is perturbed that she had to bust ass going to school etc to make good money, now people performing jobs that don't require much of any education or skills are getting paid much more than they used to.

This zero-sum mindset is part of the problem, and I'd wager many people have this same mindset. That success is defined by how many people you are "above".

The value of any job isn't in the requirements of what one brings to it, but in the societal or organizational value of the outcome. How hard one works isn't much of a measure of worth, either, or garbage collectors and roofers would be among the top 2%.

[O Really]

Alabama workers again voting against their own interests. Why am I not surprised.

"Amazon workers in Alabama reject union for second time, but challenged ballots remain"
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/31/amazon- ... -time.html

[Ulysses]

Speaking of low wages, I found this thread by searching for "taxes". Well, this is as good a place as any for that.

Just did my taxes for 2021. I think. What with the pandemic assistance and all that it got a little complicated. The good news is that it appears I'll get a small refund, and paid enough estimated tax last year to avoid a penalty now.

One thing I noticed is that TurboTax/Intuit is really pushing people to upgrade their expenditure on tax related software for this or that add-on. Bullshit. I was able to avoid the extra expense by printing out the relevant data. Fuck you Intuit. Greedy bastards.

[O Really]

I've used TurboTax/Intuit for over 20 years, and they've never sold me anything I didn't need. They offer alternatives, though. Take 'em or leave 'em.

[Ulysses]

I've used TurboTax/Intuit for over 20 years, and they've never sold me anything I didn't need. They offer alternatives, though. Take 'em or leave 'em.

Well, I have actually read online complaints earlier this year about Intuit/Turbo Tax trying to get buyers to opt for extra stuff they don't need. I got the basic version, and as I recall that's what the complaining was also about. I was able to sidestep the repeated appeals for this or that to get the info I needed to complete my return. But I easily could see some people falling for it, to save some time, perhaps.

What version of TurboTax did you get?

[Ulysses]

I had a discussion with a friend about the worker shortage. She's having difficulty hiring people, and is having to pay them a chunk more. She is perturbed that she had to bust ass going to school etc to make good money, now people performing jobs that don't require much of any education or skills are getting paid much more than they used to.

This zero-sum mindset is part of the problem, and I'd wager many people have this same mindset. That success is defined by how many people you are "above".

Well, that's one way of looking at zero sum.

I actually had to google it to get the def.

IMHO, teamwork is what really matters, but in some situations, teamwork is dismissed as being somehow counter-productive. Such as, "Oh, you're just protecting the slackers on the team, and they are why the project failed".

It's also not hard to figure out when a project, company, or jobsite is doomed. Everyone is just out for their own benefit, without enough regard for the common goals and objectives. And yes, I've had jobs like that. Much better is the "team of equals" philosophy.

[Vrede too]

(signature: obsessed butthurt )

Awww. , Useless. So much for "Ignored". You fail again. Plus, Useless, you've been busted too many times for anyone to believe you're not reading my posts, anyhow. It's just your excuse for cowering. Awww.

[Ulysses]

Here's a good description of Zero Sum:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum_thinking

[Whack9]

Greenville Starbucks unionizes

[neoplacebo]

[Vrede too]

Greenville Starbucks unionizes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CU1cdTlQE

47 years old, still one of my all time SNL favorites. I watched it live and fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard.

[O Really]

"Look for the union label,
When you're buying your mocha latte ..."

[Vrede too]

"Look for the union label,
When you're buying your mocha latte ..."

Drug pushers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your snooty addicts.

[Whack9]

Sad.

[Vrede too]

Missing SC man fell into shredder at Greer recycling company, coroner’s office finds

A man missing since early May fell into a shredding machine in an Upstate recycling center and died, tests show.

Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said small pieces of a human body were found around the machine that Duncan Alexander Burrell Gordon, 20, was working on at Industrial Recovery and Recycling in Greer....

Ew. This could have been an episode of Bones. In fact, I think that maybe it was.

[O Really]

Back in the day, it wasn't common, but also not unheard of for a worker to fall into a bucket of molten steel. And then there was the guy who fell into the chocolate vat at Hershey. At Revlon a worker fell into a vat of mascara, but unlike the other two instances it wasn't fatal.

More recent non-fatal instance here at M&M
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/mms-ma ... ate-rescue

More recent steel vat
https://money.yahoo.com/worker-melted-h ... 47962.html

[Vrede too]

... At Revlon a worker fell into a vat of mascara, but unlike the other two instances it wasn't fatal.

And s/he looked fabulous.

More recent non-fatal instance here at M&M
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/mms-ma ... ate-rescue

Is that a problem or a perk?

... More recent steel vat
https://money.yahoo.com/worker-melted-h ... 47962.html

Worker melted in half after falling into vat of molten iron

... “He died instantly, but not all of him went in. Part of his body remained on the deck for the coroner to retrieve.”

He said it must have “been ghastly for those folks that witnessed it and to wait for the coroner with half of their coworker lying on the floor”.

Pretty ghastly reading about it. Do we really need all of the details?

A worker at the factory said in a social media post, according to the website, that he had been employed for 5 days and did not have “sufficient training” to be on the iron floor....

Opps. Lawsuit. That said, how much training does one need to know not to trip and fall into vat of molten iron?