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[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago

Kind of an odd article, as sometimes there really are reasonable times for a “promotion” with little/no pay increase.

A lot of manual labor and trades positions require experienced people to be management, supervisors, etc. When you take a promotion in a field like this you might have “more responsibility” but the same pay, and that makes sense. Why? Well - because you’re not fucking breaking your back or manning a line all day. I think most people who have worked one of these jobs sees that as reasonable.

Unfortunately, most journalists and many people making online posts about the topic are people who have really only ever worked behind a computer, or ever worked in a big city - so these articles tend to focus on that kind of “technocrat” job sphere where everyone is just some variation of “computer manager person”

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

Nah, fuck that. Promotions should be coming with a reasonable wage increase in every job.

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Did you not actually read anything I wrote.

In many professional circles, especially blue collar unions or close knit groups - there is wide transparency and a mutual understanding regarding pay. No one wants to be the fucker making twice as much money than the guys they just worked with who are breaking their backs in the sun while you run excel spreadsheets. It’s simply a different type of job

I know it can be hard to understand if you’ve only worked “computer jobs”, but not everything is a hyper corporate job that takes place in a tower or whatever.

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Instead of being indignant, you should ask about my experience. I've done blue collar work, and so has everyone I know. Not a single person would be willing to take a promotion if it didn't also mean a raise.

Edit: Where I grew up, we called people who took promotions without wage adjustments "suckers".

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago
[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

That fine if you don't believe me, but I know my lived experience.

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

What are your blue collar jobs my man. Don’t be shy

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I've worked as a field hand on multiple farms, picked rock, pulled ragweed, moved grain bins, fixed tractors, etc. I grew up in a rural area. Everyone I know has done work similar to this.

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[-] Maeve@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago

And you're still saddled with responsibility for the whole crew, the whole job and coming in on budget. Mental work saves the body but at mental expense. Maybe C-suite and board should take pay cuts so everyone gets decently paid for quality work with quality tools and quality materials.

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Again, you’re assuming there is a “c-suite and board” to every job and there often isn’t. Many many many people work for their local sewer company or whatever that just has a single owner or maybe two co-owners in it.

Yes, obviously people at the “top of of the pack” often make too much moneys but I don’t think anyone who has actually done hard manual labor for 10-12 hour shifts is going to tell you it’s so much easier than the ‘responsibility of coming in on budget’. It’s simply not the same.

[-] Maeve@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Of course not. I never said otherwise, and said everyone should be decently paid.

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Ok, awesome, so the laborers busting their balls every day should make the same money as the middle managers on the computers

[-] Maeve@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I'm not wasting time on someone intent on "winning" than on inner standing. Maybe you really don't get it, somehow I doubt it. The bottom line is, if you can't post everyone a living wage (more than scraping by), you can't afford to be in business or you're too greedy.

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

… yeah no shit man. Did you come here just to regurgitate vaguely progressive talking points or actually discuss anything that anyone is actually talking about.

I’m sure it makes you feel very good to just kind of say things that are obvious and completely ignore anything I actually say.

Why don’t you respond to my last comment? Laborers should typically make as much as middle management on computers, right?

Be careful! Don’t make up another conversation that no one said and respond to that instead!

[-] KidnappedByKitties@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

You need to join a union.

What your spouting is corporate propaganda, designed to make you value your labor less. As is the "not making more than the others"-lie which oppressors have used to control their populations for ages.

But there are different perspectives to the situation, so for academical purposes, let's explore a few:

Labour market model; If you're doing work that requires skills, knowledge and/or combinations thereof that are harder to acquire, your rarity and thus value increases - you should be paid more in cash and/or benefits.

This includes institutional knowledge, how things are done at the specific workplace, including who to talk with and how.

Economics/value capture; If you're doing work that brings the employer more profits, such as organising, costing, budgeting or taking over tasks to let the employer scale up - you should be paid a part of those increased profits.

The case for cooperatives; If you truly would be equal, and comfortable, in a workplace there's much to be said that wage differences disturb that harmony, and you could see it as playing different parts in a commune.

This does however assume that you are all equally invested in the goal, it is profitable enough to compensate all of you fairly and equally, and enough that you are not wanting, or at least equally lacking. This is the case for situations like homesteads, communist society, and anarchist societies like Star Trek or The Culture.

Hmm...

From my perspective, the only reasonable way to get a promotion without increased pay is if you're working less (which 4-day week studies show isn't connected to weekly hours), and getting benefits to compensate.

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don’t think you actually understand union/communist philosophy if you think “rigid promotion structure where the managerial class always has more money and power than the laborer is super worker friendly

[-] KidnappedByKitties@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

That... is not at all what I'm saying, nor implying.

I'm actually agreeing with you that the managerial system should not have more power and/or money, but if that class wants more labor from you it is only fair they cede some power and money.

I'm saying that not compensating someone for more complex labor, to benefit an owner, is never worker friendly.

You can compensate in other ways than money and benefits, and you can remove the exploitative/segregating systems by paying everyone enough and not extracting value (as owner profits do), but both require collective action.

And other things as well, like vision, plan and funding. But without collective action, the only incentive is for the owning class to squeeze you tighter and manipulate you to blame the worker class.

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[-] comfydecal@infosec.pub 6 points 1 year ago

This is a very interesting take and observation, thank you for sharing

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Yes, I like Lemmy - but it’s almost bizarre how much of a monolith the user base seems to be. I’d think that every single person here was a desk jockey of some sort who has never worked a blue collar job in their life. And that really does warp mindsets regarding what the “average” work experience is like (again, similar to how many journalistic outlets seem to assume that the ‘average American’ works in a major metro city in a white collar office job)

[-] KidnappedByKitties@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

To be fair, the typical American does work in a major city in an office job, as that's where the jobs are.

By some estimates there's only about 20 million US blue collar jobs in total.

[-] Delphia@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I agree wholeheartedly, Lemmys userbase seems to be heavily weighted to certain demographics and especially on certain topics to the point where sometimes Id like to join in on the discussion but I take a moment and think "Do I want to argue with communists today?"

[-] Minotaur@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it’s a really ugly side of the website imo. Like, I’m sympathetic to a lot of communist ideals! But the “communism” people preach here is often variations of people looking for every opportunity to call you a fascist because you said maybe computer programmers aren’t the most oppressed demographic in the world.

It’s kind of a shame, because these same people will turn around and say “why can’t socialism get off the ground?” And it’s basically entirely their fault

[-] Jimbo@yiffit.net 3 points 1 year ago

Lemmy is full of nerds that tend to use computers in their jobs, go figure

[-] AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Naw dude, you legit just onboarded every bit trash that's been fed to you. You are getting suckered into taking less pay for more work. It doesn't matter if the work changes, the venn diagram of your responsibility increases.

I would never and have never offered or have taken a promotion without an increase in pay. I have had responsibilities added to my position without an increase, but when I figure that out, I ask to be paid what I'm fucking owed.

Someone owes you, and has been taking from you, you have lost time not being paid for the work you're doing by accepting experience in lieu of compensation. Or maybe you are the boss taking from someone else because that's what someone did to you. That's a fucking cycle of abuse imo.

As another user noted, you are kind of a sucker.

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[-] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago

Hatred of intellectual elites is one of the signs of fascism, BTW.

Anyway, you are not paid for breaking your back, you're paid for having a valuable skill. If that skill is just being a grunt, everyone can do it, you are replaceable. If that skill is managing grunts, only few can do it, you are less replaceable, thus can get a higher pay.

If you really think, moving into a superior role doesn't deserve more pay, you are being fucked by your employer. You don't understand the system you're working in and you're lashing out against those stoopid office workers because you don't understand that they are not responsible for your misery, your boss is.

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[-] Delphia@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

In my current role taking a management position would not result in a pay increase becuase I already wear a few hats that give me slight bumps in rate and allowances so I'm effectively paid the same take home.

What it would mean is that I no longer have to go outside in sweltering heat, freezing cold or pissing down rain for 4 to 6 hours a day. Would I take a promotion with no pay bump? In a fucking heartbeat.

[-] Mirshe@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Nah, that's the wrong attitude. If they're giving you more responsibility, regardless of the quality of work overall, you should get paid commensurately, whether or not you're effectively taking home the same pay due to multiple hats.

this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
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