I always loved "If our store wins the holiday sales contest your manager wins a free trip to Italy" (literally happened, but we came in second so she got a trip to NYC to see Broadway shows). Expert demotivation technique, people!
If we're really all here about wage theft and how bad it is, let's maybe not use a wage theft machine to make the point. Leave the AI garbage out please.
Imagine working in a restaurant and this is how the new boss treats the staff, when the old GM, she got fired used to take us out bowling or golfing or go karting. Dianna of the chilis world, fuck you.
There are Billions made through undercharging for labour & materials, overcharging for products & services & avoiding paying as much tax as possible.
Yes taxing at going rates, but we should seize their assets to pay for rebates to their out of pocket customers, employees, contractors & suppliers.💸
Me can teach economics lesson too! Say you work at bakery, and boss give you 10 cookies. So you eat those cookies. Then you eat cookies in display case, then you go to boss' house and eat cookies in their kitchen, and then you go home and eat more cookies. Me forgot where me was going with this.
Man, big birds face in that second panel looks like he’s been saying this for decades to no avail. He would have retired in a month except the state government sued the teachers union, won, thanks to the republican appointed judges on the panel and now big bird has to teach until he’s 90
nonononono, wage theft occurs when you promise to pay someone X amount of money for Y amount of work, then cut it to, let's say, ½X for the same Y because "oh you know times are tough for everybody" and then never increase it back up again
That's exploitation, or specifically, increasing the rate of exploitation
Wage theft is when workers aren't paid for their work according to the terms set for their employment
There's so many more examples. Do you go through security to get into work, is it necessary for the company, is it PAID time? How far is the company parking from your office, are you PAID for the extra time. Your company is located somewhere you can't afford to live, so you commute, is it PAID.
I wish people would realize that as long as corps get these big tax breaks they're going to nickle & dime everything out of the system that they can because they DON'T HAVE TO PAY TAXES ON IT.
That's why food portions are smaller, seats on planes are smaller, rolls of toilet paper are narrower... 1/
If corps had to pay taxes on all the money they're squeezing out of employees & customers they'd be looking for tax write-offs, not ways to screw all of us harder.
I posted this on Twitter yesterday. It shows a purchase I made late last year and what the same item costs today.
The increase is PURE PROFIT. NO TAXES WILL BE PAID ON THAT INCREASE.
I agree with the sentiment, but I feel this muddies the definition of a very important term. What's described by Big Bird is just capitalist exploitation
Wage theft is specifically when capitalists don't even pay you what they owe under contract/law, and THAT is the biggest form of theft in the US.
We bought a mattress recently and were shocked they wanted $147 delivery and set up few (simple frame). But we were even more shocked when the independent driver told us he only got $11 to deliver and setup. He was planning to exit the business.
[alt text]
2 panel comic of Big Bird in front of a grade school classroom talking to the students
"Hi kids, today we're going to learn about WAGE THEFT."
Closeup on Big Bird: "Record-breaking profits without any increase in worker wages is called: WAGE THEFT."
credit line
@youcantsayitstrue
It's funny, but it isn't wage theft. What BB is describing is bog-standard modern capitalism. Wage theft is when your employer is not meeting the agreed terms of your employment.
They have steadily reported record-breaking profits, since COVID began. Get when it comes time for them to participate in trickle down economics, and give the employees who worked through COVID the rightful raise they deserve, All of a sudden there's no money in the budget for a raise.
I like to think of this as economic terrorism.
Workers are less able to participate in their local economy. Not to mention it is fucking with other business profits.
Adam Smith advocated for low profit margins and high wages. An early chapter in Wealth of Nations argues that when rates of profit nationwide are high, poverty and inequality follow.
When that happens, raise salaries, spend on quality, spend on building. Actually use all that extra income!
