Peter CohenJul 18, 2023

The dismissive tech worker discourse around #WGA and #SAGAFTRA #union workers striking basically fall into a predictable pattern:

a) They think actors and writers are a lot better off than most of them are;

b) They have made careers in an industry without any union protection, and somehow think this makes them virtuous;

c) They have no goddamn clue whatsoever how badly they themselves are being exploited.

Show threadPKMKII
@flargh There’s also a sort of mythology with tech bros that being in the STEM realm magically protects them from the sort of capitalist pressures that suppress wages, ruin work-life balance, and expose workers to job insecurity.
Jul 18, 2023 at 8:11pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadPeter CohenJul 18, 2023
@PKMKII wait until these motherfuckers turn 50 and find themselves unemployable.
Show threadNoel KellyJul 19, 2023

@flargh @PKMKII

And that totally unemployable.
By 40 getting a new job/contract starts taking longer.

It's always been that way. I [25ish] remember being told it would happen at a Christmas BBQ in 88 or 89.

Show threadAlanna 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Jul 20, 2023
@gnoll110 @flargh @PKMKII I'm 39 and it's been a struggle to find new work since being laid off in February.
Show threadDym SohinJul 19, 2023
@flargh @PKMKII
why would you let this happen?
i mean at 50 everyone should retire — not work for 30 more years till senile
Show threadSarahJul 18, 2023
@PKMKII @flargh some think they’re immune, yet they also work for people who exploit them and hold those who have in the past in high esteem—for ex https://mstdn.social/@SarahOestreich/110727930286059888 —and others recognize they are subject to the wills of mercurial billionaire/trillion dollar businesses and think others should have to suffer too, instead of imagining a different situation for all.
Sarah (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Emblematic of #VC #tech brain rot. Celebrating CEOs colluding to keep wages down. These people are gross. Oh, and it was highly illegal. Do these people love #SteveJobs or committing crimes? Either way, putting it in writing is a very stupid move.

Mastodon 🐘
Show threadPixelJonesJul 19, 2023

@PKMKII @flargh

Ask #GameDev developers working 80 hour weeks on $100M games for intern-level wages if they'd benefit from a #union

Likewise, ask contractors working "off the timesheet" on fix-bid projects for months to keep their jobs.

Twice, I've been on terrific teams when vulture capitalists swooped in w/ brutal layoffs, bribing/guilt-ing a few "rockstar" devs into keeping the ghost ship (& their profits) running on developers' sweat & tears. A union might've checked that exploitation.

Show threadDym SohinJul 19, 2023
@PixelJones @PKMKII @flargh
even within film industry CGI studios are basically a throwaway commodity b/c there are so many willing to work for pennies, something a guild would never allow to happen
Show threadsolientJul 20, 2023
@PKMKII @flargh the last bit of that myth has been dispelled by the fad-firing of a massive chunk of the sector.