this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
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Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
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Sure. They said that about degrees a couple of decades ago and then outsourced all the jobs. They'll do the same thing to these vocational jobs.
Only so much outsourcing you can do for trade work. Indians living in India can't exactly fix your pipes remotely.
You know. After declaring a teacher shortage, they imported teachers from Mexico. They could import plumbers, carpenters, or a lot of people that aren't computer savvy. They need them for the corporate owned housing.
Seems unlikely in my country (the US) given the current political climate.
Oh it won't be long till those kept in ICE concentration camps start being used as slave labor
I dunno I don't really foresee armies of ICE laborers being let out of detention to come fix your HVAC...to arrive more back at the point.
They already do this with inmates, and ICE centers are a form of incarceration. If it gets easier, it's not hard to imagine them being used as "unskilled" labor.
With all due respect, which I have no idea what amount that is, this is completely absurd. Most trade work is just not being outsourced because it has to be done locally and that they have a vocational program in a jail somewhere doesn't prove anything.
It's fine if you don't, but you'll find yourself surprised more than a few times in the next few years with that attitude. The point I was trying to make with the article is they state that there's a 43% lower odds someone doesn't return to prison, which means that there's still high chance that when they return to prison, and now they are now enslaved skilled labor. Do you think that the lost investment of reincarcerated workers by the companies will go unnoticed and unpursued? With automation of the industry, the required skill floor is dropping, meaning it will be even easier to train new labor. I hope I don't need to explain that slave labor exists through the current prison system.
No, you don't need hoardes for a payoff, just enough to push a profit.
Am I making sense now?
I'm sorry but the idea that they're going to use ICE captives to replace your plumber remains ridiculous. I see very few people using such a service if it were even offered, and certainly not enough people would use it to make getting into the trades not worth it.
Inmates aren't used for individual homeowners. They're used in corporate farms, public beautification projects, or fire fighting. Settings where it's easier to manage groups in one place. Not have them roam around in place where they have unrestricted access to potential victims.
There's a large amount of trade work to be done for individual homeowners. That's my point. Of course you can have slaves clean the factory boilers, and in a cruel and unjust enough society it's practically guaranteed that you will do so (it's hazardous work after all, and who better to do hazardous work than someone you deem subhuman?). But the idea of replacing residential plumbers with ICE prisoners is ridiculous. It's much more likely that productive residential plumbers would become ICE prisoners because of cruel, unjust, and bad governance.
Homeownership is declining.
I don't want an endless thread about this issue, because I don't really care anyway. I have a plumber and the dude's house is worth twice as much as mine.
Don't worry it was pretty obvious you didn't care.
How are their knees? Do they need to be replaced? How about their hip and back? Do they experience any work-related joint pain?
I have no idea. I didn't say I had a friend that was a plumber. I said I had a plumber. This is the states man, people don't usually get all up in each other's business like this. We're a transactional, individualistic, and now fascistic people. But he seems like he's doing pretty well.