✊
It’s May Day / International Workers’ Day, and a great reminder that we weren’t put on this planet to work. While most of us are in the position where we have to exchange our time and labor for money, there’s no reason why we can’t demand better pay, benefits, parental leave, safe work environments, and to be treated with respect by our employers. Organizing your workplace and forming a union is one of the best ways to build a collective voice and find strength in numbers so you can begin to lodge grievances and make meaningful changes to how the organization is run and your own quality of life at work.
Organizing my former workplace was a thrill, a career highlight, and something that I believe will lead to positive changes for current and future employees. There is currently a wave of cultural and municipal employees organizing in Chicago and across the country, a gorgeous reminder that we deserve more and better from our employers.
1d ago
Related Recs
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WORKER’S DAY!!!! i love having a union, i love being a union steward and getting to support my unit. when my union won its contract, i got a pay bump, better benefits, and increased protection as a worker. 🥳
unions help address racial and gender pay gaps, issues workplaces impose on families and those having kids, addressing unsafe conditions, plus things like better health insurance, wages and overtime, weingarten rights to representation, and more!!!
if you don’t have a union but are thinking about forming one, check out AFL-CIO’s page (linked) or Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. there’s always more power in a union!! ✊🥖🌹
1d ago
Duh. There are lots of resources out there. It's a great way to stop complaining about work, create solidarity between your co-workers and fight Capitalism. Just sayin'.
Apr 10, 2025
🌹
it genuinely is so empowering and makes you feel more protected in your job and you get to be a part of a group caring about and pushing for better working conditions for each other… worker solidarity is veryyy in
Apr 18, 2024
Top Recs from @salad_valet
i canceled my Spotify account over the summer and have spent the last few months rebuilding my digital music library on a refurbished iPod Touch. reading critiques of the app (and it’s enshittification), i realized i wasn’t even sure of my own musical tastes and preferences. i had stopped picking for myself, stopped seeking out new music, ceasing to know how to choose what i wanted or articulate what i like.
breaking free from the algorithm has been such a joy! i’m borrowing gobs of music from the library, rebuilding my old playlists, and consuming more music than i have in years. and better yet, my data isn’t being tracked by Spotify and i own what’s in my personal library. further, my receptors are more open when i’m out in the world exposed to music, searching for recommendations in an organic way.
Jan 16, 2025
i’ve been trying to articulate why i enjoy this space so much. yes, the UX is reminiscent of Tumblr and the early days of the internet. and there’s genuine sincerity and vulnerability on here that makes it feel really cozy and real, which i haven’t felt online in at least a decade.
but i think what’s undergirding my love of this space is how anti-capitalist it feels. most of the recs everyone shares are vibe-checks, quality of life shifts, meditations and offers, music and movies, just plain good art. i don’t feel compelled to buy anything when i come here. i feel excited and pumped to be a cheerleader, find connection, find common ground. and FWIW the recs i’ve shared that have gotten the most traction are my suggestions for leading a less capitalistic / consumerist life (quitting Amazon, getting off of Spotify, building community to take care of you and your things).
all of this is to say, i love it here and i love you guys.
Feb 7, 2025
hear me out—this one might feel impossible, but i quit purchasing items on Amazon in 2018 and cancelled my GoodReads account shortly after.
i did some serious reflection and realized i’d become super reliant upon, and frankly, quite used to the instant gratification of purchasing something and knowing i’d have it within a day. that’s not normal. the labor practices, economics, and environmental impacts of getting what you want from the internet delivered quickly and right to your door are skewed. i was filling a void in myself with mindless purchases.
i’m aware that they service a huge swath of the internet (Amazon Web Services), own Whole Foods and Abe Books, and will likely take over more businesses we like and rely on. weaning off and avoiding entirely is very very hard, but it can also be a measured decision. that said, i know that it is a privilege to abstain from Amazon. i am able bodied, i don’t have kids, i have access to a car, i live in an urban environment with access to a lot of stuff at my fingertips. but making the choice to break out of the Amazon loop has ultimately been better for my pocketbook and better for my relationship to these mega-tech-companies that have their fingers in everything.
in contrast, i’m becoming more interested in alternate economies, like bartering and sharing. i love the idea of having commonly shared tools and items (tool libraries are very cool). we don’t need to own it all, we have each other.
interested in exploring more? the zine pictured below is a great start, and summarizes a much larger book by the same author on how to resist the leviathan that is Amazon.
Jan 22, 2025