just in case anyone missed this in the news or maybe not in the loop, Disney is currently refusing to meet with or acknowledge the newly formed animation production workers union that just voted to join IASTE and become an official part of TAG, the animators and animation artists guild
production workers across all studios are currently voting to be recognized for their hard work and invaluable skill at keeping these productions running, but studios are refusing to meet with them to let them negotiate deals or even exist
as someone who works in animation as a designer i know i wouldn’t be able to do my job at all without any of my production workers. they are the incredibly hard working people who oversee pretty much everything in animation. they make sure everything is running on time, that schedules are being followed, they have to know pretty much every single word of the scripts and beats from the storyboards to make sure nothing is missed, and most importantly, they make sure artists are being taken care of and not overworked. they really are the unsung heroes of the animation world
production workers are also by far the most exploited workers in animation currently. they make about a fraction of what artists make for just as much work put in, and currently have no agreement for health coverage or other benefits that artists protected by the union are guaranteed
BUT! there is some good news. right now there’s a petition on IATSE’s website that has over 80,000 signatures currently addressed to disney leadership to do the right thing and meet with this new union and recognized their vote to form. it still needs roughly 21,000 signatures and only takes a minute to sign! anyone with a zip or postal code can sign, meaning both US and Canadian residents can sign and help this union get the deal it deserves!!
WIBTA if I made my housemates sign a cleaning chart/rota/contract thing?
So I (20F) am a student and while it's currently the summer, I am going to be living with most of the same people I lived with last year when school starts again in Sept. These are friend A (20M), friend B (20M) and friend C (23M). Friend B's girlfriend (21F) lived with us last year, but in the coming year she will be living in the same building as us but not the same flat. She will probably be an unofficial 5th housemate.
Last year there were some issues, particularly in the cleaning department. The only two people who actually clean with any kind of regularity and competency are me and A. I've been a paid cleaner before and A works in a kitchen. The problem has been that B and C will be like "I'll do it later" then forget about it. I'm not a neat freak, I'm not bothered about carpets being hoovered at a particular time or dusting being done at a particular time. I do care about having kitchens and bathrooms that aren't biohazards. B and C will leave the kitchen and bathrooms until they start growing their own microbiomes before they'll do anything without prompting. I don't want to be some helicopter housemate standing over adult men being like "time to wash the dishes" but I am running out of options.
A and I both didn't stay in our uni town over the Easter break, and when we returned there was a sink full of orange mould waiting for us. This pissed me off more than usual because I had given the kitchen a very deep clean before I left and they just let it get to that state again, and their excuse was "Well we didn't really use the kitchen we had takeaways" but the evidence spoke for itself. I ended up deep cleaning the kitchen again, and A ended up deep cleaning the bathroom.
We tried a normal rota last year, but B and C half assed their stuff. Bins (in a house that had 7 people in it, so filled very quickly) would be left to pile out of the bin into some leaning tower of trash before they would take them out, but it was "in the deadline" so we couldnt complain without looking unreasonable. Neither of them seem to understand that you need to pick things up and clean under them too to have a clean space (wiping around cups left in the kitchen instead of like...washing them), and B's girlfriend tried to argue we didn't need to replace our broken hoover because we "didn't need one" and like I'm not that particular about carpets but come on? (This also wasn't a money thing, she's got rich parents who she has a good relationship with). A and I ended up having to do the same chore after them so that it was done to a competent standard where we wouldn't get ill.
A thinks they've both never had to clean up after themselves before and genuinely don't understand what it takes to live in a hygienic environment. I think it's weaponised incompetence. B's girlfriend had the nerve to say last term "going home really puts into perspective how gross this house is in comparison" and it took all my strength not to snap that if certain people got of their arses and did something we might actually have a sanitary house.
Anyway, my idea I might be the asshole about it that I think a good motivating factor might be money. My idea is if you dont do your chore/do it poorly, and someone else has to do it again after you, you have to pay them national minimum wage for their time you wasted. Currently NMW is £10.42 an hour. I don't actually want them to pay me and A, I want them to be motivated enough in not wanting to spend that money to be a competent housemate and clean the fucking kitchen. I sense though, that it might be too aggressive an action to take with people I'm going to be living with till next July.
Fandom Wikia runs off a FREE open-source software known as MediaWiki, it’s the same thing Wikipedia, Bulbapedia, and many others use.
This means that you can host your own wiki, or use any other wiki farm such as Miraheze, which is what the wiki I help run uses.
The best part about WikiMedia is that something made on one wiki can be cross-compatible with another. We often use and base our templates off of other wikis, and it makes it somewhat easier to transfer from FANDOM if necessary.
Stop FANDOM’s monopoly over wikis, they’ll stab you in the back as soon as it’s a choice between the user or profits.
[(WASHINGTON) – Today, the Teamsters reached the most historic tentative agreement for workers in the history of UPS, protecting and rewarding more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide. The overwhelmingly lucrative contract raises wages for all workers, creates more full-time jobs, and includes dozens of workplace protections and improvements. The UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee unanimously endorsed the five-year tentative agreement.
“Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters sacrificed everything to get this country through a pandemic and enabled UPS to reap record-setting profits. Teamster labor moves America. The union went into this fight committed to winning for our members. We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. … This contract sets a new standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers.”
“UPS came dangerously close to putting itself on strike, but we kept firm on our demands. In my more than 40 years in Louisville representing members atWorldport — the largest UPS hub in the country — I have never seen a national contract that levels the playing field for workers so dramatically as this one.…” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “We stayed focused on our members and fought like hell to get everything that full-time and part-time UPS Teamsters deserve.”
“Rank-and-file members served on the committee for the first time, … “Our hard work has paid off — from those members and leaders negotiating for more at the table to my sisters and brothers building a credible strike threat around the country. Our union was organized and we were relentless. We’ve hit every goal that UPS Teamster members wanted and asked for with this agreement. It’s a ‘yes’ vote for the most historic contract we’ve ever had.”
Highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement include:
Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract.
Existing part-timers will be raised up to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases.
Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paiddelivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.
New part-time hires at UPSwould start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.
All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s would be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.
Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024.All cars get two fans and air induction vents in the cargo compartments.
All UPS Teamsters would receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.
No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers would keep one of two workweek schedules and could not be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.
UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.
On July 31, representatives … will meet to review and recommend the tentative agreement. All UPS rank-and-file members will receive a list of improvements in the contract. … Member voting begins August 3 and concludes August 22.
The UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement is the single largest private-sector collective bargaining agreement in North America.]
Check the article for the full list; but ho ho holy shit.
This is huge. It shows the collective bargaining WORKS. The Teamsters sent a message to UPS and this win will send a message to Corporate America that unions can WIN for rank-and-file workers!!!
Teachers have tried this and are amazed when their classes don’t go feral like in the book. It’s almost as if the book was supposed to be satire and not a treaty on the nature of humanity.
there’s a timeskip
THERE’S A TIMESKIP
THERE’S A TIMESKIP
THERE’S A TIMESKIP
after losing control of the signal fire there’s a FUCKING TIMESKIP and when the next chapter starts everyone’s hair is several inches longer and their clothes have rotted to shreds and they’re still just kind of chilling!!!!
IT TAKES THE TERRIBLE IMPERIALISM MIND-POISONED EXCESSIVELY BRITISH BOYS IN THE ACTUAL BOOK SEVERAL MONTHS TO COMMIT A SINGLE ACT OF INTENTIONAL VIOLENCE, EVEN THE ONE (1) CHILD WRITTEN AS AN ACTUAL SOCIOPATH
AND then when they DO turn on each other it is because
THERE’S AN UNSPECIFIED WORLD WAR HAPPENING
AND A PILOT’S CORPSE CRASH LANDS ON THE ISLAND POST-DOGFIGHT AND THE CHILDREN MISTAKE THE PARACHUTE FOR A MONSTER AND SPIRAL INTO PARANOIA
BECAUSE CHILDREN INHERIT THE LEGACY AND TRAUMA OF VIOLENCE FROM THE ADULTS WAGING WAR AROUND THEM
HURR DURR IN THE REAL WORLD IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN LIKE IN LORD OF THE FLIES -
IT DIDN’T HAPPEN THAT WAY IN LORD OF THE FLIES EITHER YOU JUST HAVEN’T READ IT SINCE HIGH SCHOOL IF EVER AND DON’T REMEMBER WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE GODDAMN BOOK
yes. yes he did. i’m also gonna direct you to the real life ‘lord of the flies’ which occured in the 1960s, when six tongan schoolboys got stranded on a desert island for over a year before being rescued by an australian fisherman (who, it should be noted, later took on all six as crewmembers because the reason they were out in the first place was because they wanted to see the world, and named his ship the Ata after the island they were stranded on). nobody died. the only injuries that occurred were accidental, and when one of the boys broke his leg falling down a cliff, the others braced it and looked after him so well that it healed perfectly. if they argued, then they would literally go to opposite sides of the island until they’d cooled off. after leaving the island, they remained friends for the rest of their lives. here’s a photo of them as adults, with their rescuer (who is third from the left) and other members of his crew.
i read about this in rutger bregman’s human kind, a book i cannot recommend highly enough, but if you don’t want to go and read a whole book about the inherent goodness of humanity (which again, you really should) then the relevant excerpt can be found here.
If we were able to take Nassau, if we are able to expose the illusion that England is not inevitable, if we are able to incite a revolt that spreads across the New World…then yeah, I imagine people are gonna notice.
so I started a new anxiety medication this past week and so far it’s been going very well except that I have extremely vivid dreams and apparently sleep texting. I seem to have sent this at 3am and i have no memory of it
I'm asking this genuinely, as a 19 yo with no education in economics and a pretty surface level understanding of socialism: can you explain the whole Bananas discourse in a way someone like me might understand? In my understanding it's just "This is just a product we can give up to create better worker conditions and that's fine" but apparently that's not the full picture?
alright so some pretty important background to all this is that we’re all talking about the fact that bananas, grown in the global south, are available year-round at extremely low prices all around europe and the USA. it’s not really about bananas per so–the banana in this discourse is a synechdoche for all the economic benefits of imperialism.
so how are cheap bananas a result of imperialism? first of all i want to tackle a common and v. silly counterargument: ‘oh, these ridiculous communists think it’s imperialist for produce to be shipped internationally’. nah. believing that this is the communist objection requires believing in a deeply naive view of international traide. this view goes something like 'well, if honduras has lots of bananas, and people in the usa want bananas and are willing to pay for them, surely everyone wins when the usa buys bananas!’.
there are of course two key errors here and they are both packed into 'honduras has lots of bananas’. for a start, although the bananas are grown in honduras, honduras doesn’t really 'have’ them, because the plantations are mostly owned by chiquita (formerly known as united fruit) dole, del monte, and other multinationals–when they’re not, those multinationals will usually purchase the bananas from honduran growers and conduct the export themselves. and wouldn’t you know it, it’s those intervening middleman steps–export, import, and retail, where the vast majority of money is made off bananas! so in the process of a banana making its way from honduras to a 7/11, usamerican multinationals make money selling the bananas to usamerican importers who make money selling them to usamerican retailers who make money selling them to usamerican customers.
when chiquita sells a banana to be sold in walmart, a magic trick is being performed: a banana is disappearing from honduras, and yet somehow an american company is paying a second american company for it! this is economic imperialism, the usamerican multinational extracting resources from a nation while simultaneously pocketing the value of those resources.
why does the honduran government allow this? if selling bananas is such a bad deal for the nation, why do they continue to export millions of dollars of banans a year? well, obviously, there’s the fact that if they didn’t, they would face a coup. the united states is more than willing to intervene and cause mass death and war to protect the profits of its multinationals. but the second, more subtle thing keeping honduras bound to this ridiculously unbalanced relationship is the need for dollars. because the US dollar is the global reserve currency, and the de facto currency of international trade, exporting to the USA is a basic necessity for nations like honduras, guatemala, &c. why is the dollar the global reserve currency? because of usamerican military and economic hegemony, of course. imperialism built upon imperialism!
this is unequal exchange, the neoimperialist terms of international trade that make the 'global economy’ a tool of siphoning value and resources from the global south to the imperial core. & this is the second flaw to unravel in 'honduras has a lot of bananas’ – honduras only 'has a lot of bananas’ because this global economic hegemony has led to vast unsustainable monoculture banana plantations to dominate the agriculture of honduras. it’s long-attested how monoculture growth is unsustainable because it destroys soil and leads to easily-wiped-out-by-infection plants.
so, bananas in the USA are cheap because:
the workers that grow them are barely paid, mistreated, prevented from unionizing, and sometimesmurdered
the nations in which the bananas are grown accept brutally unfair trade and tariff terms with the USA because they desperately need a supply of US dollars and so have little position to negotiate
shipping is also much cheaper than it should be because sailors are chronically underpaid and often not paidat all or forced to pay to work (!)
bananas are cheap, in conclusion, because they’re produced by underpaid and brutalized workers and then imported on extortionate and unfair terms.
so what, should we all give up bananas? no, and it’s a sign of total lack of understanding of socialism as a global movement that all the pearl-clutching usamericans have latched onto the scary communists telling them to stop buying bananas. communism does not care about you as a consumer. individual consumptive choices are not a meaningful arena of political action. the socialist position is not “if there was a socialist reovlution in the usa, we would all stop eating bananas like good little boys”, but rather, “if there’s a socialist revolution in the countries where bananas are grown, then the availability of bananas in the usa is going to drop, and if you want to be an anti-imperialist in the imperial core you have to accept that”.
(this is where the second argument i see about this, 'oh what are you catholic you want me to eat dirt like a monk?’ reveals itself as a silly fucking solipsistic misunderstanding)
and again, let’s note that the case of the banana can very easily be generalised out to coffee, chocolate, sugar, etc, and that it’s not about individual consumptive habits, but about global economic systems. if you are donkey fucking kong and you eat 100 bananas a day i don’t care and neither does anyone else. it’s about trying to illustrate just one tiny mundane way in which economic imperialism makes the lives of people in the global north more convenient and simpler and so of course there is enormous pushback from people who attach moral value to this and therefore feel like the mean commies are personally calling them evil for eating a nutella or whatever which is frankly pretty tiring. Sad!
ALT
