Remote work risks wiping $800 billion from the value of office buildings in major cities, highlighting the potential losses that landlords are facing from post-pandemic changes in employment trends.
I’m very pro-union, but in my line of work, creating a union is nearly impossible, even in a company very heavily focused on my job; I work in I.T. and often we’re the last to be included. Most workers are happy to omit IT workers from unions, and legislation usually omits us from some worker protections, like how many hours you can work in a row, or how many hours you have on the books per week, etc. The factory owners (as you call them) see IT as a cost center, not as the critical resource it is. Even in very large companies, IT workers are usually a vast minority and often, at least from what I can tell, we’re lumped in with middle management, to be excluded from the workers. There’s usually very small teams of IT folk, usually far fewer than are required, and we’re treated like garbage from both sides; despite every effort we make being for the good of everyone, either management or worker, we’re trying to help. IMO, we’re far closer to the workers than we are the management, but people don’t seem to see it that way.
So my hopes for a union are effectively pointless, since even if I get in with a company that has a union, it’s very likely that the union will specifically omit my job as one covered by them. So I’m left to struggling against the ruling class in the organization, alone, since all my IT coworkers are too fearful of their own job security to present a unified front against anything. I seem to be unique in that I will forcefully make myself heard; I will speak up about it, and I’m not afraid of it. I’m not in a position to remain unemployed for any length of time, but I do it anyways.
My friend has a rather significant financial cushion to land on. He has long since paid off his debts and has been putting away any money he didn’t otherwise need to spend, whether on food, or rent or whatever… so with few expenses (mainly internet, phone and rent for him), and significant income ( six-figures CAD/yr), he was able to make substantial savings; so he was in a privileged position to relieve himself from his employer based on that, and live comfortably on savings for many months before acquiring new work. That was a few weeks ago for him, so he’s taking the time to de-stress and relax before getting back into the job market - an opportunity that he has, which I do not.
Luckily for me (and I recognise the privilege here) I’m in Canada, and we have several social structures that can support someone through unemployment; in my case, I’m able to leverage our healthcare system, specifically with my general practitioner (family doctor), who has put me on a medical leave due to stress. He may use a different diagnosis, but his specific justification to the business/government doesn’t matter as much as the purpose of my leave, which is to alleviate stress and improve my mental well-being. The government supports in place (here it is called “employment insurance” or EI), provide enough that I should be able to coast along with few compromises without work until I am either ready to return to the workplace, or I am ready to find a new job (the choice is up to me at this point). It is very fortunate for me that my GP is on my side in all this, and he’s willing to facilitate what I need for my well-being. Not everyone has this luxury, but since I have it, I’m going to leverage it to keep myself from going off a cliff, either metaphorically, or literally.
there’s a lot more that can be said, but I’ll keep it as brief as I can: I understand what you’re saying and I agree, it’s not a great situation to need to deal with, but with capitalism as strongly situated as it is, it’s difficult to fight against it for something better. I appreciate you and all you’ve said and tried to understand, and I wish you all the best.
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well, I appreciate your efforts.
I’m very pro-union, but in my line of work, creating a union is nearly impossible, even in a company very heavily focused on my job; I work in I.T. and often we’re the last to be included. Most workers are happy to omit IT workers from unions, and legislation usually omits us from some worker protections, like how many hours you can work in a row, or how many hours you have on the books per week, etc. The factory owners (as you call them) see IT as a cost center, not as the critical resource it is. Even in very large companies, IT workers are usually a vast minority and often, at least from what I can tell, we’re lumped in with middle management, to be excluded from the workers. There’s usually very small teams of IT folk, usually far fewer than are required, and we’re treated like garbage from both sides; despite every effort we make being for the good of everyone, either management or worker, we’re trying to help. IMO, we’re far closer to the workers than we are the management, but people don’t seem to see it that way.
So my hopes for a union are effectively pointless, since even if I get in with a company that has a union, it’s very likely that the union will specifically omit my job as one covered by them. So I’m left to struggling against the ruling class in the organization, alone, since all my IT coworkers are too fearful of their own job security to present a unified front against anything. I seem to be unique in that I will forcefully make myself heard; I will speak up about it, and I’m not afraid of it. I’m not in a position to remain unemployed for any length of time, but I do it anyways.
My friend has a rather significant financial cushion to land on. He has long since paid off his debts and has been putting away any money he didn’t otherwise need to spend, whether on food, or rent or whatever… so with few expenses (mainly internet, phone and rent for him), and significant income ( six-figures CAD/yr), he was able to make substantial savings; so he was in a privileged position to relieve himself from his employer based on that, and live comfortably on savings for many months before acquiring new work. That was a few weeks ago for him, so he’s taking the time to de-stress and relax before getting back into the job market - an opportunity that he has, which I do not.
Luckily for me (and I recognise the privilege here) I’m in Canada, and we have several social structures that can support someone through unemployment; in my case, I’m able to leverage our healthcare system, specifically with my general practitioner (family doctor), who has put me on a medical leave due to stress. He may use a different diagnosis, but his specific justification to the business/government doesn’t matter as much as the purpose of my leave, which is to alleviate stress and improve my mental well-being. The government supports in place (here it is called “employment insurance” or EI), provide enough that I should be able to coast along with few compromises without work until I am either ready to return to the workplace, or I am ready to find a new job (the choice is up to me at this point). It is very fortunate for me that my GP is on my side in all this, and he’s willing to facilitate what I need for my well-being. Not everyone has this luxury, but since I have it, I’m going to leverage it to keep myself from going off a cliff, either metaphorically, or literally.
there’s a lot more that can be said, but I’ll keep it as brief as I can: I understand what you’re saying and I agree, it’s not a great situation to need to deal with, but with capitalism as strongly situated as it is, it’s difficult to fight against it for something better. I appreciate you and all you’ve said and tried to understand, and I wish you all the best.