Cory DoctorowA word to Facebook employees
Albatross@pluralistic This dovetails closely with my thoughts on 21st-century work actions. Striking - walking off the job whether union or wildcat - is risky and expensive for the worker. Stressing the supply chain - doing work slowly, ineptly, sabotaging things - safe-ER, LESS risky, and with the system so fine-tuned for profit, more impactful than one might expect. Now, coordinate all of that over the Internet and you can expect some real fireworks... Who wants to write a work-slowdown app?
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)@Albatross @pluralistic When I was a university employee, I encouraged people not to strike (which lets the university not pay you) but to work to contract instead. Especially postdocs (who are very poorly paid anyway). Their contract usually includes a clause that explicitly says no teaching obligations, so don’t do any teaching (including supervising labs, small group teaching, and so on). For lecturers, there are research and teaching obligations but things like sitting on committees are extra work. Don’t resign from the committees, just don’t show up and don’t let them achieve quorum. Most universities would collapse within six months if union members did only the things that their contracts require.