The cost of living in my area has skyrocketed over the past decade, particularly in the last few years. This is the third most expensive state in the USA for housing, and has been for quite a while.
I work at a large statewide corporation. A lot of my co-workers are pissed. We've been getting between 1% to 3% raises per year, most years, but that's NOTHING compared to the cost of living.
At a corporate-wide online meeting not too long ago, management made the mistake of leaving the side-chat open to all. The cost of living came up *immediately*. A number of people, the younger ones mostly, asked the CEO about cost of living raises. They dodged the question as much as they could, but eventually someone - a flunky, I think - said "The cost of living is not a factor in our recompense decisions."
That was NOT what they wanted to hear! People were furious, and saying things that honestly surprised even me with their stark honesty. The meeting ended early. Just in case you were wondering, the chat option was never available again.
After that meeting, I called a union organizing number. They told me I needed to get people to sign union cards. There was NO WAY I could get that done; the company has thousands of employees, and the few that I know personally moved up into management long ago. I'd considered trying to start an online group (on Facebook, Discord, wherever) to reach co-workers, but that would mean putting my name on it or at least having the very high probability that I could be tracked and found. Which would mean I'd be out on the street.
For some reason they couldn't or wouldn't set up an online group. I don't know why. I approached one person I knew pretty well at work, but it seemed clear from their reaction that they weren't open to the idea of a union. What could I do?
It seems to me that there should be some way to set up a "XXX Company Union Talk" group somewhere anonymously. But of course that's the sort of thing that the oligarchs are DEAD set against. I think that's a big part of their reason for eliminating anonymity from the web.
Still, it bothers the hell out of me. Any thoughts?
#Union #Labor #Unionization #Inflation