UPDATE: Hennepin County workers reached an agreement and will not be going on strike.
Workers in the US are quitting their jobs by the millions, with the hospitality industry the hardest hit. They're calling it the Great Resignation. With inflation rising, wages have been falling relative to their purchasing power. "Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings fell 2.3% on a year-on-year basis in December," according to Reuters. This figure is based on CPI data, which understates inflation, so real earnings likely fell somewhat further. This comes against a backdrop of labor force participation that's been declining since 2001.
Some people are being pushed out of the labor market by inhospitable conditions, such as low wages and impossible scheduling. Others are attempting to change careers after reevaluating their priorities. A notable portion of these seem to be striking out on their own instead of looking for new employers. The formation of new businesses absolutely skyrocketed when the pandemic started.
All of these trends suggest a reduced tolerance for workplace exploitation. This is a big deal, because the legacy system is predicated on exploitation. If people are becoming less inclined to accept this, it means that the total system is shifting. As messy as that may get, the upside could end up being an improved quality of life for millions.
Personally, I'd like to see the Great Resignation build enough momentum to render all exploitative business models obsolete. This would of course create chaos throughout the economy, but the economy is already going haywire due to pandemic response measures, so a little more chaos in exchange for a fairer society seems like an acceptable trade-off.
One potential problem I see here is the risk that workers might choose to channel their frustrations through traditional forms of protest, instead of using their unprecedented access to technology to transform power dynamics directly. Right now, county workers where I live are preparing to go on strike. They're making $70k-$90k a year and they want more money. Many services that the county provides to low income residents will probably be impacted by this. I receive health services through the county that may be interrupted.
Essentially, from my perspective, county workers here are screwing over a bunch of poor people for reasons that are primarily administrative. County services are administered badly. As a recipient of these services, I've experienced this a number of times in scheduling and communication errors. If these services were administrated competently, with good software, it would free up a ton of time in their system. Freed up time translates into budgetary excess, which could then be applied to increasing worker salaries.
Contests between workers and management are part of the legacy system. I view everyone as a worker, from top brass to janitorial staff. If some workers are unhappy with other workers, striking might sometimes be reasonable. But I think strikes, in this day and age, are blunt instruments where more personal forms of conflict resolution could prove more effective.
If average workers have an issue with the administrators in charge of county budgets, they should go after these administrators directly instead of using poor people as pawns in their bid to get more money. They could keep providing essential services while making life a living nightmare for those in charge of the purse strings. A coordinated campaign of communicating worker dissatisfaction on social media and offline would change managerial minds more quickly than any strike could. This formula, if applied across industries, could begin shift the power dynamic between between regular workers and workers in managerial roles.
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
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