this post was submitted on 13 Aug 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.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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I'm for better paid leave. But do companies pay it or is there a national fund? Because as someone who runs a very small nonprofit organization that feeds our community with a handful of employees, if three of them went out on paid leave and I had to pay them plus temporary replacements long term, we would go under. There's a reason we don't have more employees. We paid two people on long term leave last year for good reason, and we lost 65% of our savings.
In a better country, your non-profit wouldn't need to exist because it was a government service.
We feed people with no strings attached. There are a million places where people who qualify can get help. But the guy who is working but he just had to replace his HVAC and has no money left, or maybe the lady whose transmission just went out and she has no money for food but doesn't qualify for assistance - we help a lot of those people too. And we help people who would qualify for government aid, but we still don't ask. We also serve community meals regularly and lots of people come from all income brackets. Most of the wealthier people who come are supporters.
And that's wonderful. But you should all be government employees with access to full benefits. People shouldn't have to worry about proving they qualify for the right to have access to food.
Food, shelter, healthcare, and clean water are human rights that should be guaranteed to anyone regardless of income, citizenship, criminal background, or anything else.
Listen, I agree that people need time to have lunch and take shits.
But why are businesses forced to pay for these hours of idle labor? Shouldn't we have the government assume the cost they're imposing on private industry?
We should be privatizing the profits. We need socialize the losses. That's the only way a business can actually function profitably.
Should definitely be keeping a staffer with influenza on site, making food for other people.
Whatever works for Europe, let's do that.
Eh, I've lived there a couple of times. They don't have everything figured out.
Sure, that's kind of a truism. But I really, really struggle to find one thing* that the United States, as a nation, does better than, say, Germany or the Netherlands.
(* ) Here I'm restricting myself to stuff that the people benefit from obviously. The US is really good at killing civilians in other nations, they're really good at holding the world economy hostage, that sort of stuff.
That is true, but the United States is particularly bad on this issue. I would trade for the German or French paternity leave and healthcare systems in a heartbeat.